Classical Concert Reviews Cinci

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 fine performances of music spanning five centuries.
Soprano Julia Bullock, this year’s festival director, joined in the first half for excellent readings of Anton Bruckner’s Psalm 150, an enjoyable work somehow lesser known than the vast majority of his choral output. Baritone Sankara Harouna then joined Bullock and the orchestra for a selection of solo songs by Alexander von Zemlinsky and African-American composer Margaret Bonds. Harouna sang the Zemlinky selections (from his Opus 20 Synphonische Gesänge) with elemental power, grace snd a wonderfully lyrical sense of line. Bullock likewise treated the Bonds selections she sang with the utmost tenderness and care, with a supple, occasionally smoky yet always inviting voice, particularly in Bonds’ most famous song The Negro Speaks of Rivers.
The second half of the program, an Eclectic Mass, drew from works by Bach, Palestrina, Bonds and Handel but was primarily built around excerpts from the Good News Mass, a new score from composer Carlos Simon (who also appeared as soloist on Hammond organ throughout the more gospel-inflected sections).
While as a concept, an eclectic Mass sounded convincing enough, it came off in the end as more disjointed than expected. Switching between styles and composers seamlessly across an hour of music may have left many in the audience confused. However, the brightest spots came from Simon’s music, primarily orchestral music with spoken word interpolations by playwright and poet Marc Bamuthi Joseph wonderfully read by Jason Alexander Holmes, serving the role of celebrant. Baritone Norman Garrett also turned in fine solo performances, however brief, in excerpts from Margaret Bonds’ Credo. A rousing performance of Soulful Hallelujah brought this unique opening night to a rousing close.
Looking forward to Vaughan Williams and Duke Ellington tomorrow evening.