Matthew Swanson, 35, has been a fixture of the May Festival Chorus since 2012, when he joined the ensemble as a tenor. In the intervening years, he’s worked for the organization at multiple levels: in the box office for two years, as a Festival Conducting Fellow in 2015, and as Associate Director of Choruses, leading the Festival’s special projects and conducting the May Festival Youth Chorus.

We have worked hard behind the scenes to bring this new artistic model to life for the 2024 Festival. I cannot tell you how excited I am to welcome Julia Wolfe as our inaugural Festival Director and for you to hear these amazing concerts. Julia is a multi-dimensional and collaborative artist who seeks to bring people into community around music, which makes her the perfect artist to serve as our first Festival Director!

May Festival Chorus and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra are honored and excited to present the May Festival’s 150th season, which is poised to be our biggest season yet!

Ken Smith highlights the upcoming May Festival, which will bring back treasures from previous Festivals and introduce new works to celebrate this momentous year.

After two years of limited engagements, we are overjoyed to be able to say: Welcome to May Festival 2022 with full chorus, full orchestra and a full house!

Explore program books from the 1873-1920 May Festival housed at Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library online archive