May Festival Season at a Glance

Festival subscription packages on sale now! Individual tickets on sale MAR 4.

ALL TOGETHER NOW

Sun Feb 16 2025 | 5:00 pm

May Festival Chorus

Matthew Swanson, conductor

Andrew Miller, conducting fellow

May Festival Youth Chorus

Jason Alexander Holmes,

conductor

Cincinnati Boychoir

Lisa Peters, conductor

Can't wait until May? Hundreds of singers take the stage at Music Hall in February to celebrate a new alliance between the May Festival and the Cincinnati Boychoir! Featured performances by the Cincinnati Boychoir, May Festival Youth Chorus and May Festival Chorus culminate in the world premiere of a new work by Cincinnati's own Howard Helvey, commissioned for the occasion.

VERDI REQUIEM

Fri May 16 2025 | 7:30 pm

Ramón Tebar, conductor
May Festival Chorus
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra

Visceral and soul-gripping, Verdi’s Requiem will rip your heart out and put it back together again. From its tender solo moments to the terrifying cries of the “Dies irae,” it’s a journey both fragile and powerful as the May Festival Chorus and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra combine for this breathtaking Mass for the departed.

CHASING THE DAWN: A Choral Journey

Sun May 18 2025 | 2:00 pm

Matthew Swanson, conductor
Jason Alexander Holmes, conductor
Lisa Peters, conductor
May Festival Chorus

May Festival Chamber Choir

May Festival Youth Chorus

Cincinnati Boychoir Ambassadors

Follow the unbroken path of light from sunset to sunrise as the May Festival Chorus, Chamber Choir, Youth Chorus and Cincinnati Boychoir Ambassadors illuminate Springer Auditorium through song, staging and dynamic lighting in a choral music event like never before.

 

THE BRIGHTNESS OF LIGHT

Thu May 22 2025 | 7:30 pm

Juanjo Mena, conductor

Renée Fleming, soprano

Rod Gilfry, baritone

May Festival Chorus

Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra

 

Glimpse into the love, life and intimacy between two of the 20th century’s most prominent artists. Celebrated soprano Renée Fleming and baritone Rod Gilfry portray painter Georgia O’Keeffe and photographer Alfred Stieglitz as a montage of their lives, captured through art, photos and love letters, is revealed on a screen above the stage.

VOICE OF NATURE: The Anthropocene

Sat May 24 2025 | 7:30 pm

Renée Fleming, soprano
Robert Moody, conductor

May Festival Chorus

Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra

 

In a performance inspired by her 2023 Grammy-Award winning album, experience the turbulence and resilience of Mother Nature's life as Renée Fleming performs music by Handel, Nico Muhly, Björk and Lord of The Rings' Howard Shore—all set against a backdrop of stunning film from the National Geographic Society.

Then, Renée Fleming performs her all-time favorites joined by the May Festival Chorus and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in this not-to-be-missed grand finale.