Classical Concert Reviews Cinci

@cincinnatiopera continued its 2026 summer season with one of the most Avery anticipated events in the opera world: the world premiere of Lalovavi, the first production in the company’s Black Opera Project initiative. With music by Kevin Day and libretto by Tifara Brown, its Afrofuturist story, set 400 years in…

@cincinnatiopera opened its 2026 summer season with a truly wonderful production of Richard Strauss’s first major operatic masterpiece, Salome, its first I. Set to a libretto by Hedwig Lachmann and based on the play by Oscar Wilde, it follows the attempted seduction of John the Baptist (Jochanaan) by the stepdaughter…

What a wonderful program to close out the 2026 @mayfestivalcincy, highlighted by an extended selection of excerpts from George Gershwin’s opera Porgy and Bess.Under guest conductor Anthony Parnther and joined by members of the May Festival Youth Chorus and Classical Roots Community Choir, @cincysymphony and the May Festival Chorus opened…

@mayfestivalcincy continued its 2026 season with a unique pairing of works by Igor Stravinsky and Carl Orff rarely encountered on concert programs today, under the direction of the festival’s Director of Choruses, Matthew Swanson and joined by members of @cincinnatiballet’s Company 2 dancing to choreography by Yoshihisa AraiStravinsky’s ballet Les…

What a spectacular treat is was to hear @vaecinci offer a special program for the 2026 @mayfestivalcincy, a rare U.S. performance of Gioacchino Rossini’s late masterpiece Petite messe solennelle.Scored for the unusual combination of SATB soloists, SATB chorus, harmonium and two pianos, it ended up being one of the last…

@mayfestivalcincy continued its 2026 offerings with a rather unique pairing – a relatively unknown orchestral score by Duke Ellington with one of the most well-known of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ choral-orchestral works, under the direction of @cincysymphony’s music director, Cristian Măcelaru.Ellington’s suite The River, written in 1970 on a commission from…

This evening’s opening concert of the 2026 @mayfestivalcincy, An Eclectic Opening Night, more than lived up to its title. Under @cincysymphony music director Cristian Măcelaru (the first time since Thomas Schippers in 1976 that a CSO music director conducted at the festival), the orchestra and May Festival Chorus turned in…

@cincysymphony concluded its 2025-26 subscription season with a wonderful program combining two of the most well-known works in the classical repertoire with one of today’s most acclaimed pianists.Under the direction of guest conductor Roderick Cox, music director of the Opéra Orchestre National de Montpellier Occitanie, the orchestra opened with an…

@cincinnatifusionensemble prssented its annual spring program in memory of Sandy Sanborn Martin in the beautiful acoustics of Clifton’s Calvary Episcopal Church under the leadership of artistic directors Howard Helvey and Brad Caldwell.Joined by guest organist Mitchell Miller, a native of Cincinnati, evening’s program skewed heavily toward sacred anthems that have…

@cincysymphony entered its final weeks of performances for the 2025-26 season with a program shining a spotlight on one of the most well-known orchestral works of Felix Mendelssohn, his Scottish Symphony.Under the direction of Kristiina Poska, principal guest conductor of the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, the orchestra opened the evening…