Cincinnati May Festival Announces 2021 Programming

The Cincinnati May Festival has announced program details and artists for the 2021 Festival with five performances taking place between May 21 and 30, 2021 at Cincinnati Music Hall. Principal Conductor Juanjo Mena will conduct two performances each of two separate programs with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, vocal soloists and members of the May Festival Chorus, for a total of four concerts. Director of Choruses Robert Porco will conduct one concert featuring the CSO and vocal soloists. Nearly every work programmed will be a Festival premiere, and many of the soloists, Sara Couden, Elliot Madore, Sophia Burgos, Sasha Cooke, Davóne Tines and Joélle Harvey will be making their May Festival debuts.

"It is an emotional time as we take our first steps coming together again," said May Festival Principal Conductor Juanjo Mena. "My heart has never been more full of hope and optimism. I can think of no better way to connect and express the complex emotions we all feel that through voices raised together in song. This May, we will discover the voice in everything: From challenge and sadness to hope, joy and triumph-this will truly be a Festival of music that speaks to our time."

In addition to the concerts, though the May Festival Youth Chorus will not have a physical presence at Music Hall this year, they will participate through the premiere of a new collaborative project commissioned from composer Robert Busiakiewicz and digital designer Stacey Fox. singing / everything, inspired by writings of Gertrude Stein, invites the listener to alter the musical work through an innovative online platform. Youth Chorus members individually recorded "modules" or "tracks" in March and Fox has used the modules to build a web-based immersive digital environment. singing / everything will be available on mayfestival.com during the Festival.

2021 Cincinnati May Festival

Juanjo Mena, Principal Conductor

Robert Porco, Director of Choruses

Opening Weekend

Friday, May 21, 2021, 7:30pm

Saturday, May 22, 2021, 7:30pm

Juanjo Mena, conductor

May Festival Chorus Tenor and Bass Ensemble

Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra

Sara Couden, contralto

Elliot Madore, baritone

Anton Bruckner Adagio from String Quintet WAB 112

Orchestral Transcription: Stanislaw Skrowaczewski

Julia Perry Stabat Mater

Gustav Mahler Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen ("Songs of a Wayfarer")

Arr. Arnold Schoenberg

Gustav Holst Selected Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda

Fourth Group H.100

Julia Perry's Stabat Mater is an emotionally powerful setting of the traditional Catholic text imbuing the deeply human suffering and ultimate healing of Mary during the crucifixion. Mahler composed his own text for his Songs of a Wayfarer, depicting lost love, beauty, despair, and resolution. Members of the May Festival Chorus perform Holst's settings for tenors and basses of sacred Sanskrit text from the Rig Veda.

Voice and Verse

Friday, May 28, 2021, 7:30pm

Robert Porco, conductor

Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra

Sasha Cooke, mezzo-soprano

Sophia Burgos, soprano

Davóne Tines, baritone

Aaron Copland Eight Poems of Emily Dickinson

Maria Schneider Winter Morning Walks

John Adams The Wound-Dresser

Poems of Emily Dickinson, Ted Kooser and Walt Whitman provide the text and inspiration for three iconic American composers whose works express the range of emotions evoked by the pandemic. Aaron Copland's setting of the Dickinson poems speaks to isolation. Maria Schneider's Winter Morning Walks (the recording of which won two Grammy awards) follows Kooser's path to wellness after cancer treatment. And Whitman's The Wound-Dresser looks back at his time as a young medic during the Civil War, a poignant tribute to the love and service provided by health care workers.

Hearts and Voices Soar

Saturday, May 29, 2021, 7:30pm

Sunday, May 30, 2021, 2:30pm

Juanjo Mena, conductor

May Festival Chorus Soprano and Alto Ensemble

Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra

Joélle Harvey, soprano

Paul Appleby, tenor

Gustav Mahler Adagietto from Symphony No. 5

Benjamin Britten Les Illuminations

Schubert Nacht und Träume D.827 (Arr. Reger)

D.343 (Arr. Reger) Gruppe aus dem Tartarus D.583 (Arr. Reger) Der Erlkönig (Arr. Berlioz) H136

Gustav Holst Selected Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda

Second Group H. 98

Reena Esmail I Rise: Women in Song

The Beauty of their Dreams (Eleanor Roosevelt)

River Song (Arlene Geller)

The CSO gave the American premiere of Mahler's fifth symphony, and the heart wrenching Adagietto movement opens this program. Wide-ranging verse and prose by the French poet Arthur Rimbaud provides the text for Britten's song cycle Les Illuminations, sung here by Joélle Harvey. Paul Appleby sings four Schubert songs, with orchestrations by Max Reger and Hector Berlioz. Complementing the opening weekend program, members of the May Festival Chorus offer Holst's Rig Veda hymns for upper voices. The Festival culminates in two movements from Indian-American composer Reena Esmail's song cycle I Rise: Women in Song, for women's chorus and chamber orchestra, inspired by female authors whose words, thoughts and actions have shaped our world.

* * *

SAFETY

Among other precautions and in accordance with state and CDC safety protocols, the in-person concerts and events will be 60-90 minutes with no intermission and the audience capacity is greatly reduced with a physically distanced seating arrangement. Vocal soloists, members of the May Festival Chorus and instrumentalists from the CSO are also maintaining appropriate physical distance as dictated by the American Federation of Musicians and further recommendations from infectious disease specialists. Chorus members will be masked at all times, as will string instrumentalists and conductors. Vocal soloists and wind and brass instrumentalists will be masked while not actively performing. The Festival continually monitors the COVID situation and adjusts capacity and plans as governmental restrictions fluctuate.

DIGITAL ACCESS

As part of the Festival's ongoing commitment to accessibility, the Saturday, May 22 and Sunday, May 30 performances will be streamed live and available FREE for 24-hours on mayfestival.com.

TICKETS

Subscriptions for two or three concerts will be available beginning March 29; single tickets will be placed on sale May 3 and start at $15. Due to COVID restrictions, seating capacity is severely limited.

PARKING

Guaranteed pre-paid parking will be available ($15/concert) at Washington Park Garage to all ticket buyers starting March 29.

CINCINNATI MAY FESTIVAL

CONDUCTORS AND ENSEMBLES

JUANJO MENA

One of Spain's most distinguished international conductors, Juanjo Mena is Principal Conductor of the Cincinnati May Festival and Associate Conductor of the Spanish National Orchestra. He has been Chief Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic, Artistic Director of the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra, Chief Guest Conductor of the Orchestra del Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa and Principal Guest Conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. A guest of international festivals, he has appeared at the Stars of White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg, Russia, the Hollywood Bowl, Grant Park (Chicago), Tanglewood and La Folle Journée (Nantes). He has made several recordings with the BBC Philharmonic, including recent releases of Arriaga's orchestral works, Ginastera's orchestral works to mark the composer's centenary, three discs of works by Manuel De Falla including his opera "La Vida Breve", a Gabriel Pierné release which was a Gramophone Editor's Choice, and works by Albéniz, Montsalvatge, Weber and Turina which have gained excellent reviews from the specialist music press. Future highlights include Mena's return to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and the Minnesota Orchestra, and his debut with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

ROBERT PORCO

Since 1989, Director of Choruses Robert Porco has led the May Festival Chorus in inspired collaboration and music-making which "shook the rafters" at the Chorus' most recent Carnegie Hall appearance in 2014. "Carnegie has seldom felt so alive," according to The New Yorker. Robert Porco has been recognized as one of the leading choral musicians in the United States and for more than 40 years has been an active preparer and conductor of choral and orchestral works, including most of the major choral repertoire, as well as of opera.

MATTHEW SWANSON

Matthew Swanson is the Associate Director of Choruses and the Director of the Youth Chorus at the Cincinnati May Festival. In this capacity, he leads the Youth Chorus in an active series of concerts across greater Cincinnati and their annual appearances at the May Festival. He has prepared the May Festival Chorus for performances with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the Cincinnati Pops at Cincinnati Music Hall and the Riverbend Music Center. In addition to his artistic duties, Mr. Swanson leads community outreach, education, and engagement activities for the May Festival.

MAY FESTIVAL CHORUS

The May Festival Chorus has earned acclaim locally, nationally and internationally for its musicality, vast range of repertoire and sheer power of sound. The Chorus of 130 professionally trained singers is the core artistic element of the Cincinnati May Festival as well as the official chorus of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the Cincinnati Pops. Throughout a typical season the Chorus Members collectively devote more than 40,000 hours in rehearsals and performances.

MAY FESTIVAL YOUTH CHORUS

The May Festival Youth Chorus connects, inspires, and educates young people through the study and performance of choral music. Since its founding in 1987, the Youth Chorus has appeared annually at the May Festival to perform masterworks of the choral repertoire with the May Festival Chorus, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and internationally renowned conductors and soloists. In addition, the chorus presents its own concert series and collaborates with cultural institutions and organizations throughout greater Cincinnati.