Season 2, Episode 5: Behind every summer is a community that keeps Fire Island alive. This episode explores the history of the beloved Pines Pantry through the eyes of its iconic Pantry Girls, alongside the volunteer firefighters of The Pines and Cherry Grove who protect the island from fires, hurricanes, beach erosion, and an uncertain future.
Cincinnati Opera to Broadcast 2026 Festival on 90.9 WGUC
The classical public radio station will air operatic performances and studio sessions from Music Hall.
By: A.A. Cristi
Cincinnati Opera and 90.9 WGUC, Cincinnati’s classical public radio station and the Opera’s media partner, continue their collaboration to bring local opera to the airwaves this fall and winter.
Beginning November 1, 2026, WGUC will broadcast six performances from Cincinnati Opera’s 2026 Summer Festival on Sunday evenings at 8 p.m. ET. Then, on Saturday, January 23, 2027, WGUC will air Cincinnati Opera’s 2027 Season Preview live from the Cincinnati Public Radio studios, and the public is invited to join the studio audience.
Cincinnati Opera’s 2026 Summer Festival took place June 18–August 2, 2026, at Cincinnati’s historic Music Hall. The fall broadcasts include Richard Strauss’s Salome; the world premiere of Kevin Day and Tifara Brown’s Lalovavi, the first work in Cincinnati Opera’s Black Opera Project; Georges Bizet’s Carmen; Ricky Ian Gordon’s Orpheus and Euridice; and both of Cincinnati Opera’s 2026 Studio Sessions: “Soul & Sound 2.0: The Gospel of Tomorrow” and “Matthew White in Recital.”
The 2027 Season Preview in January offers an early look at Cincinnati Opera’s 107th Summer Festival, which features the world premiere of Maria Thompson Corley and Diana Solomon-Glover’s John Lewis: Good Trouble, the second work in the Black Opera Project; the all-star concert Viva Verdi!; Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro; Puccini’s Turandot; and the return of Studio Sessions.
All broadcasts can be heard locally on air at 90.9 FM and online at wguc.org.
CINCINNATI OPERA’S 2026 SUMMER FESTIVAL ON 90.9 WGUC
Broadcast Schedule:
Sunday, November 1 | 8 p.m. ET
Salome
Originally performed June 18 and 20, 2026, at Cincinnati Music Hall
Music by Richard Strauss; libretto by Hedwig Lachmann, based on the play by Oscar Wilde
Robert Spano, conductor; Jose Maria Condemi, stage director
Featuring: Kathryn Lewek, Alfred Walker, Chad Shelton, Michelle DeYoung, Zach Borichevsky; Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
Salome, the teenage princess of Judea, becomes dangerously fixated on the imprisoned prophet John the Baptist. When he rejects her advances, her desire curdles into obsession. At her stepfather Herod’s birthday feast, Salome dances and, at her maniacal mother’s behest, demands a gruesome reward. Set to Richard Strauss’s lush score, Salome is a fever dream of lust, power, and prophecy, where every glance is loaded, and no desire is without cost.
Sunday, November 8 | 8 p.m. ET
Studio Sessions—Soul & Sound 2.0: The Gospel of Tomorrow
Originally performed June 25, 2026, at Cincinnati Music Hall’s Wilks Studio
Featuring: Tifara Brown (poet and host), G. Thomas Allen (countertenor), Donald Lee III and Kevin miller (pianos)
Hosted by poet Tifara Brown and featuring countertenor G. Thomas Allen and pianists Kevin miller and Donald Lee III, this intimate cabaret-style performance is more than a concert—it is a living, breathing ceremony, rooted in the gospel tradition and expanded through virtuosic performance and storytelling. The artists remember and reimagine the power of Black music across time, from the sacred foundation of spirituals into the heart of gospel, through the freedom of jazz and the depth of Black classical excellence, and into a bold Afrofuturist horizon.
Sunday, November 15 | 8 p.m. ET
Studio Sessions—Matthew White in Recital
Originally performed July 1, 2026, at Cincinnati Music Hall’s Wilks Studio
Featuring: Matthew White (tenor), James Maverick (piano)
Cincinnati audiences will remember tenor Matthew White from his 2025 starring role as Cavaradossi in Tosca and his Don José in 2026’s Carmen. During this Studio Session, White takes to the cabaret stage for his first-ever solo recital, featuring an enthralling evening of music, from opera arias to Appalachian folk tunes, with Cincinnati Opera’s Head of Music Staff James Maverick at the piano.
Sunday, November 22 | 8 p.m. ET
Lalovavi (world premiere)
Originally performed July 9 and 11, 2026, at Cincinnati Music Hall
Music by Kevin Day; libretto by Tifara Brown
Kevin miller, conductor; Kimille Howard, stage director and dramaturg
Featuring: Brittany Olivia Logan, Adrienne Danrich, Morris Robinson, Talise Trevigne, Zoie Reams, Terrence Chin-Loy, Michael Preacely, G. Thomas Allen; Cincinnati Opera Chorus; Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
Set 400 years into the future, Lalovavi (lah-low-VAH-vee) is an Afrofuturist adventure that follows Persephone, the youngest daughter of the ruler of Atlas, the city formerly known as Atlanta. Currency and status in Atlas are determined based on the presence of Syndica, a gene that promotes vitality and longevity. When Persephone is found to possess a version of Syndica that confers immortality, she is betrayed by her family and must run for her life. She is thrust into an epic journey, uncovering a hidden past that leads her to discover love’s true meaning and the power to determine her destiny.
Sunday, November 29 | 8 p.m. ET
Carmen
Originally performed July 25, 29, 31, and August 2, 2026, at Cincinnati Music Hall
Music by Georges Bizet; libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy
Ramón Tebar, conductor; Paul Curran, original stage director; Anderson Nunnelly, revival stage director
Featuring: J’Nai Bridges, Matthew White, Teresa Perrotta, Ryan McKinny, Sam Smith, Kayleigh Decker, Jeysla Rosario Santos, Thomas Dreeze, Jack Keller, Nathan De’Shon Myers; Cincinnati Opera Chorus; Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
The fiercely independent Carmen lives—and loves—on her own terms. When she sets her sights on Don José, a straitlaced soldier with a sweetheart back home, he quickly unravels, abandoning everything for her. But Carmen’s heart doesn’t stay in one place for long, and when the charismatic toreador Escamillo enters the ring, jealousy turns deadly. Set to Bizet’s iconic, rhythm-driven score, Carmen is a story of desire, freedom, and fatal choices.
Sunday, December 6 | 8 p.m. ET
Orpheus and Euridice
Originally performed July 28, 30, and August 1, 2026, at Cincinnati Music Hall’s Wilks Studio
Music and text by Ricky Ian Gordon
Stephen Mulligan, conductor; Audrey Chait, stage director
Featuring Heidi Middendorf (soprano), Christopher Pell (clarinet); members of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
Orpheus, a grieving musician, loses his beloved Euridice too soon—and is granted one impossible chance to bring her back from the underworld. Guided by music and memory, he descends into a realm of shadows with only one rule: don’t look back. Ricky Ian Gordon’s Orpheus and Euridice retells the ancient myth with lyrical intimacy and emotional clarity, blending classical voice with contemporary style.
CINCINNATI OPERA’S 2027 SEASON PREVIEW: LIVE ON 90.9 WGUC
- Saturday, January 23, 2027 | 11:45 a.m.–1 p.m. ET
- Cincinnati Public Radio, 2117 Dana Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45207
- Broadcast live on 90.9 FM and wguc.org
- Tickets: $15; to order, visit www.cincinnatiopera.org beginning Monday, October 26.
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