This story originally appeared in our Sept. 30 – Oct. 13, 2026 print edition. Check out the edition online here and find where you can get a print edition near you here.

Wynton Marsalis is a phenomenon in the music world. A world-renowned trumpeter across genres, Marsalis is an award-winning composer, band leader and educator, with 136 albums spanning jazz, classical and alternate genres. 

Marsalis is also a good friend of Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra music director Cristian Mǎcelaru, who regularly includes Marsalis’s music in his programming. “We’ll be hearing a lot from Mr. Marsalis,” he told CityBeat in 2024. 

On Oct. 2, the CSO kicks off its 2026-27 season with a three-day festival showcasing Marsalis’s artistry as a composer, soloist, band leader and advocate for American culture (and an unseen but looming presence in the 2010-2013 HBO series “Treme”). 

Mǎcelaru and Marsalis met in 2015 and forged a friendship grounded in mutual respect and shared values. 

“We met at Chautauqua in upstate New York, where we were rehearsing his violin concerto,” Mǎcelaru recalled. “As we discussed the piece, it felt like we had known each other forever. We discovered that although we grew up in different worlds, we were surrounded by families who were dedicated to and passionate about music. Our fathers were educators and our mothers were really strong figures.”

Mǎcelaru and Marsalis did several residencies together in Mǎcelaru’s native Romania and in New York.

“When I talked with Wynton about doing one in Cincinnati, he said, ‘Man, we’ll do whatever you want us to do.’”  

As Marsalis winds up his tenure as leader of the big band Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, or JLCO, Mǎcelaru felt an urgency to go all out in celebrating Marsalis’s achievements.

It’s been 42 years since Marsalis appeared with the CSO and he’s joined by his wife, Scottish violinist Nicola Benedetti, who performs Bruch’s poignant violin concerto on opening night, and the 15-member JLCO, the group he helped to establish in the 1980s, now recognized as the world’s premiere jazz ensemble. The JLCO performs with the CSO and concludes the festival with their own concert.

The evening’s featured work is Marsalis’s “Liberty” symphony, a CSO co-commission, composed in honor of America’s 250th birthday that premiered on Sept. 12 with the National Symphony Orchestra and the JLCO at Wolf Trap in Virginia.

Marsalis’s works reveal a lifelong devotion to unifying different cultures, locations and musical influences throughout American history. 

“About once a decade, he makes a big statement about where we can go,” Mǎcelaru said. “This symphony tells us what has been building up inside of him and why it’s so important for him to safeguard liberty and democracy.”

The New York Times review of the world premiere stated, “This year hasn’t yet produced any new art about the United States that hits harder than ‘Liberty.’”

The JLCO joins the CSO for the symphony’s six movements that capture society’s struggles during historic time frames, emphasizing humanity, resilience and optimism. 

Expect to hear heavy blues, big band swing, jazz musings and orchestral power. In an interview on Wolf Trap’s website, Marsalis described his work as “transcendent. I was shocked by how uplifting the ending was.”

The following evening, Benedetti returns to perform Marsalis’s Grammy award-winning Violin Concerto, and JLCO joins the CSO for a reimagined take on Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition.”

The violin concerto was written for Benedetti. A recording of the Violin Concerto was released in 2019 with Benedetti and Mǎcelaru conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra, winning Grammys for instrumental soloist and conductor.

“It’s been 10 years since we were all in the same room together working on the concerto at Chautauqua in New York,” Mǎcelaru said. “This is going to be incredible!”

The concerto is indeed incredible, a meditation on the fiddle as a uniquely American sound culminating in a wildly gleeful hoedown.

“Pictures at an Exhibition,” originally a piano suite, was orchestrated by Maurice Ravel and quickly became a symphonic classic. Mǎcelaru envisioned the piece as an opportunity to showcase the versatility of both the CSO and the JLCO. The arrangements by JLCO’s alto sax player Sherman Irby create diverse soundscapes in all the movements.

“The structure of the piece really lends itself to this collaboration,” said Anthony Paggett, chief artistic officer with the CSO. “With the punctuation of the promenades, the ethereal saxophone solo in the Old Castle, there are tons of threads to pull. The audience will hear familiar material exactly as orchestrated by Ravel, and movements fully arranged for JLCO. The forces will combine to create aural delights!”

The festival concludes with a concert by JLCO and a last chance to see Marsalis leading this extraordinary ensemble of some of the world’s best jazz musicians, many of whom are composers and arrangers for major artists.

Mǎcelaru has led the world’s leading orchestras, and he is clearly awed by JLCO’s high standards of performance and dedication. He’s especially impressed by how it’s done without a conductor.

“Their rehearsals are deeply intellectual in nature. I did not expect that they would be as detail-oriented as our orchestra rehearsals,” he said. “But they were. And they were dealing with the same issues we were addressing. The only difference is they don’t have a conductor. So different members of the ensemble will take the leading role at different times. They listen to every note that they play, they understand its purpose.”

And as Mǎcelaru noted, the JLCO decides who’ll lead a specific number, “and that person has the same authority I have as conductor. And this changes from minute to minute.”

“I’ve learned so much from Wynton and from his musicians. They have found the way where the instrument they play isn’t just musical instruments. It’s truly a voice that is so human, so expressive.”

Mǎcelaru looks forward to the first joint rehearsal as much as the first concert. “I’ve seen it over and over: as soon as they walk on stage and they start performing, everyone in the CSO and the audiences will understand and appreciate their artistry so much.”

The post CSO Opening Weekend celebrates music legend Wynton Marsalis appeared first on Cincinnati CityBeat.

Lalovavi, an Afrofuturist opera by Kevin Day and libretto by Tifara Brown, makes its world premiere this week.

Lalovavi, premiering July 9, is the first of three operas commissioned by the Cincinnati Opera’s Black Opera Project.

The audience finds Lalovavi 400 years in the future in Atlas, once known as Atlanta, controlled by the dictator Titan. His daughter, Persephone, escapes her father’s sinister plans for her future and encounters the Nunewak society outside Atlas, a culture attuned to nature with its own language. 

Among the cast members is internationally acclaimed bass Morris Robinson, who also had a major role fostering the initiative that became the Black Opera Project.  

In summer of 2019, Robinson was singing Porgy in Cincinnati Opera’s production of the Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess.

Related: Local artist creates prequel to Lalovavi in graphic novel form

“I appreciate the role, I love it, but my problem is the perpetuation of narratives that are always present in dramatic genres: violence, drugs, alcohol, submission, gambling, police intervention,” he said. “We’re downtrodden.”

He shared his frustration with Cincinnati Opera’s artistic director Evans Mirageas, who had further conversations with other cast members and with Tracy Wilson, Cincinnati Opera’s director of community engagement and special projects, who shared Robinson’s concerns. 

Mirageas was determined to respond to Robinson’s challenge.

“I didn’t know where we’d come up with funding for commissions,” he said,  “But our company’s long history with new works was crucial to achieving our goal.”

Cincinnati Opera’s reputation for introducing new operas strengthened in 2011 with the launch of Opera Fusion: New Works, a collaborative partnership with the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music. Funded by the Mellon Foundation, the program hosts week-long residencies in Cincinnati that allow composers and librettists to workshop and refine new American operas.

Many of those workshopped operas have gone on to major productions internationally, including Doubt, Hadrian, Champion, Fellow Travelers, Blind Injustice, Morning Star, Intimate Apparel and Lincoln in the Bardo.

Mirageas contacted the Mellon Foundation’s then program officer Susan Feder, who notified him several months later that the Foundation would fund not one but three operas, which became the Black Opera Project.

The partial funding was for commissions. Cincinnati Opera committed to raising $6 million for production and artistic costs. 

Lalovavi is Black Opera Project’s first commission and Morris Robinson helped recruit composer Kevin Day, whose music he heard when performing in Fort Worth, Texas.

“His music is beautiful, with a cinematic sweep,” Morrison said. “He was in mid-20s and many of his works for brass and woodwinds are now standard audition pieces for conservatories and top ensembles.”

Day, in turn, recruited spoken word artist Tifara Brown, with whom he worked at a college festival. Neither Brown nor Day had worked in opera, but Morris said, “they dove in” and immersed themselves in the genre.

“Cincinnati Opera gave us the resources we needed, from going to performances to working with us throughout the process,” Brown said. “I found that opera is song with poetic elements, not poetry in song. My craft as a spoken word artist and poet helped bring those images to life and helped elevate the storytelling aspect of what my characters were going through.”

Kevin Day found himself slowing down his usual composing process, spending time at the piano and trying out melodic lines.

“But I wasn’t only writing vocal lines,” he said. “I was writing for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, a large, amazing ensemble, and that was so exciting.”

The challenges were substantial for both creatives and they went through three iterations before Lalovavi’s stage director and dramaturg Kimille Howard urged them to envision their opera on a grand scale.

“What if we allowed ourselves to dream and see ourselves in a world that we create, where we aren’t constantly traumatized by reminders of how difficult our existence is,” she said.

  The shift to Afrofuturism encouraged the team to create a narrative of power—one featuring women and men as leaders in a nation of community that is whimsical, magical and joyful.

Brown imagined a world 400 years in the future, set in the deep South but transformed into an epic, science-fiction reality. She also incorporated Tut, a secret language created in the 18^th and 19^th centuries by enslaved Africans, making it the first time Tut will be heard in an opera. The opera’s title is Tut for love.

Tut serves as a dramatic metaphor. English is the state language of the rigid, oppressive world of Atlas, while Tut is spoken by the rebels. Tut expert Veronica Bey worked with cast members on pronunciation and the language’s history. 

Musically, Kevin Day’s score incorporates moments of orchestral grandeur and human intimacy. Highlights include a tone poem Day calls “Luminous Forest” in Act II—a musical interlude and ballet showcasing the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. There are powerful arias and choral moments utilizing the full power of a 24-member chorus. As a brass player himself, Day ensured that the brass section is featured throughout the opera. 

Visually, scenic designer Steven Kemp describes the sets as “space that breathes. Structures that listen. Design isn’t backdrop—it’s emotional architecture.” 

Kara Harmon’s vivid costume designs draw on ancestral heritage, technological potential and nature’s colorful palette. They are at once futuristic and evocative of the old South.

For Wilson, Lalovavi is already an extraordinary achievement. She shares Robinson’s aspiration for a Black Panther moment in opera, depicting Black people in positions of power and agency and says  there is widespread enthusiasm for the opera throughout the area’s Black communities.

Wilson has been a force for Cincinnati Opera’s community engagement for over 40 years, and her “boots on the ground” initiatives range from creative team members interacting with students in the juvenile court system and a community-powered mobile mural series overseen by Soul Palette founders Brandon and Ewaniki Hawkins.

She’s delighted by excitement from unexpected places, like the woman who’s celebrating her 65^th birthday by inviting 65 friends to join her on opening night, and learning that people who never attended a Cincinnati Opera performance are buying Lalovavi tickets.

For Tracy Wilson and for Cincinnati Opera, these responses are as vital to the Black Opera Project as the creation of new works.

“My goal has always been to have as many different people in the room at the same time experiencing this amazing art form,” Wilson said. “It’s exciting, it’s powerful, it’s a celebration.”

Lalovavi premiers July 9 in the Springer Auditorium at Music Hall, located at 1241 Main Street in Over-the-Rhine. Click here to purchase tickets to the July 9 show; click here to purchase tickets for the July 11 show.

The post Cincinnati Opera premiers Afrofuturist show Lalovavi this week appeared first on Cincinnati CityBeat.

Cincinnati Opera’s season reveals opera in grand mutations: a rarely performed masterpiece, a classic re-imagined, a world premiere grounded in Afrofuturism, a contemporary chamber work and two intimate studio sessions.

The season runs June 18 through Aug. 2.

It’s thrilling to hear the human voice going from obsession to rage to grief, sometimes in less than 10 minutes. And this season provides the full range of emotional expressions.

The four operas feature charismatic, independent and fully realized women performed by leading artists and rising stars.

Click here to read more articles from Anne Arenstein

Artistic director Evans Mirageas views his 21^st season with the company as continuing a commitment to artistic excellence and innovation.

“We’re one of the few American companies with resources to do the grandest of the grand and the newest of the new,” Mirageas said. “Audiences have multiple opportunities to experience it all this season.”

Richard Strauss’ Salome opens the season after a 25-year absence. Mirageas describes this one-act masterpiece as “cataclysmic.” Based on a German translation of the play by Oscar Wilde, Salome takes place over an evening in which the teenage princess agrees to perform the dance of the seven veils for her stepfather, Herod, in exchange for the head of John the Baptist, who rejects Salome’s lustful obsession.

“Obsession is the opera’s compelling force,” Mirageas said. “Everyone is caught up in their own webs of desire until it reaches the pitch of a horror movie.”

The opera’s roles demand sustained dramatic singing throughout the opera’s single act. Soprano Kathryn Lewek makes her role debut as the tempestuous princess, following her acclaimed Gilda in Verdi’s Rigoletto last season. 

“It was a bold choice because Salome is usually sung by a dramatic soprano (Lewek is known for singing coloratura roles),” Mirageas said. “But she was determined to do it, and she may go on to be one of the leading Salomes today.”

John the Baptist is portrayed by bass-baritone Alfred Walker, who has sung leading roles throughout the world and appeared last month singing Porgy in the May Festival’s concert setting of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. Tenor Chad Shelton is the wily Herod, a role he’s performed at the Metropolitan Opera, and his wife Herodias is the great mezzo, Michelle DeYoung. Members of Cincinnati Ballet appear in the infamous Dance of the Seven Veils.

Veteran director Jose Maria Condemi, University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music associate professor of opera, stages the production. The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra will be augmented to 80 musicians led by the renowned conductor Robert Spano, music director of Washington National Opera and the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra.

The highly anticipated world premiere of Lalovavi in July marks the first of three operas commissioned through Cincinnati Opera’s Black Opera Project, funded in part by the Mellon Foundation.  An Afrofuturist story set 400 years from present time and featuring debuts for composer Kevin Day and librettist Tifara Brown, with Cincinnati Opera debuts for conductor Kevin Miller and director Kimille Howard.

“Kevin Day’s score is stunningly beautiful and so cinematic,” Mirageas said. “There are gorgeous orchestral passages and brilliant vocal writing for an all-star cast.”

Bass Morris Robinson, the acknowledged godfather of the Black Opera Project, sings Titan, the aptly named ruler of Atlantis. Soprano Brittany Olivia Logan, CCM alum and an award-winning artist, is Titan’s daughter Persephone. Her mother, Niamara, is portrayed by Talise Trevigne, and in another company debut, genre-defying artist G. Thomas Allen sings Ivavi.

 Lalovavi is also the first opera to incorporate Tut, a language created by enslaved Africans to secretly teach spelling and reading. 

“Using Tut helped me convey the resilience of Black enslaved people and to celebrate joy in every part of life,” said librettist Tifara Brown.

Classic and contemporary works conclude the season. George Bizet’s Carmen returns in a production setting the action in a non-specific Hispanic country in the 1950s, a decadent society under the government’s military control. The great mezzo soprano and activist J’nai Bridges makes a welcome return as the fiercely independent Carmen, a role she owns, according to Mirageas.

“J’nai inhabits the role with Carmen’s ‘live free or die’ attitude and with scrupulous musicianship,” Mirageas said. “She understands completely that no one has to overact: the drama is in the music and she’s faithful to the score.”

Tenor Matthew White is her hapless lover Don Jose and American bass-baritone Ryan McKinny plays the dashing bullfighter Escamillo. Anderson Nunnely makes his directorial debut and Ramón Tebar leads the CSO in Bizet’s unforgettable score.

In the intimate Wilks theater, Ricky Ian Gordon’s Orpheus and Euridice re-imagines the classic story as a song cycle in two acts for soprano with Orpheus expressed by solo clarinet confronting loss, love and moving on. 

CSO’s principal clarinet Christopher Pell plays Orpheus, joining CCM alum Heidi Middendorf as Euridice, accompanied by a chamber ensemble made up of CSO musicians and members of Cincinnati Ballet.

The Wilks Theater is the setting for two Studio Sessions offered throughout the season. On June 25, “Sound & Soul 2.0: The Gospel of Tomorrow” goes beyond celebrating gospel. Hosted by Lalovavi librettist Tifara Brown and featuring pianist Kevin Miller and Donald Lee III and countertenor G. Thomas Allen, the performance is designed as a ritual, exploring the rich history of Black American music, from spirituals through gospel, jazz and the depth of classical excellence and the Afrofuturist horizon.

Tenor Matthew White makes his solo recital debut on July 1 with a program of arias and music from his Appalachian roots. Mirageas noted that White is working with The Ballad Book of John Jacob Niles. Niles, a composer, balladeer and author who sang character tenor roles with Cincinnati Opera in its early seasons. When White isn’t accompanying himself on banjo, he’ll be accompanied will be James Maverick.

Reflecting on the start of his third decade with Cincinnati Opera, Mirageas takes pride in maintaining the company’s commitment to artistic excellence while taking a leading role in creating new works that reflect the depth of American experiences. 

“We cherish great operas and help create the future,” Mirageas said.

Cincinnati Opera performs at Music Hall, located at 1241 Elm Street in Over-the-Rhine. For more information or to purchase tickets, click here.

The post Cincinnati Opera preview: Bold season brings style, obsession appeared first on Cincinnati CityBeat.

This story originally appeared in our May 13-26 print edition. Check out the edition online here and find where you can get a print edition near you here.

The May Festival is the oldest choral festival west of the Alleghenies, and it continues to broaden the palette for choral music to include contemporary and neglected works performed by the superb 140-member May Festival Chorus, the resident choral ensemble for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the Cincinnati Pops.

This year’s artistic director is Grammy-winner soprano Julia Bullock, acclaimed for curating programs reflecting probing intelligence and commitment to a vivid aural experience.

Also joining the May Festival is CSO Music Director Cristian Măcelaru, leading the season’s first two concerts.

The invitation to be May Festival’s 2026 artistic director was “an unexpected gift,” Bullock wrote in an email. It was also a challenge to be at the helm of a revered music event that celebrates its 150th season this year.

“The May Festival is more than two weekends of choral music,” she said. “I see it as a cycle where history and the present contend. It was critical to honor the 150-year legacy of the festival, which has encouraged the Cincinnati community to commit to it year after year, alongside aspects of the festival’s history that — like much of North American history — were outright discriminatory and prejudiced.”

She became a scholar of the festival’s past, working in close collaboration with May Festival Chorus Director Matthew Swanson to ensure this year’s program was both a celebration and a necessary reckoning.

The opening night underscores the two concepts. Works by Bruckner and von Zemlinsky are followed by songs and choral works by Margaret Bonds, concluding with what Bullock calls “an eclectic mass” inspired by the early May Festival openings, which were famously diverse offerings of arias, choral pieces and orchestral works.

“Bonds’ music has a forceful presence and an immediate delicacy,” Bullock said.

The festival places Bonds’ music in a dialogue with other giants of the American experience. Specifically, Bullock paired German settings of Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen with Bonds’ own settings of these poets, creating a cross-continental dialogue on the Black American experience.

Bullock and Swanson assembled a “one-time only” mass spanning 500 years of choral history. The mass is framed chronologically, incorporating various religious and musical traditions to explore the idea of celebration in the face of death and loss. A highlight of this assembly is the inclusion of Carlos Simon’s “Good News Mass,” with Simon himself performing on the Hammond organ.

“Weaving Simon’s work into the traditional mass framework, we hope to connect forces of good across religious traditions, concluding with the high-energy ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ from Quincy Jones’s ‘A Soulful Celebration,’” said Swanson.

The focus on the American identity is further explored through William Grant Still’s “Plain-Chant for America,” featured in the concluding concert.

 “This premiered just weeks before the attack on Pearl Harbor,” Swanson explains. “The piece serves as a deeply compelling reminder of America’s status as a beacon of freedom and the profound responsibility that identity entails.”

By including these works alongside those of Bonds and Stephen Paulus, the festival highlights voices that were historically overlooked but remain vital to the American choral canon.

Bullock’s programming approach also explores a confluence of musical interests between the CSO and the May Festival. Pairing a journey through water combines Duke Ellington’s “The River” with Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “A Sea Symphony,” the latter of which utilizes the poetry of Walt Whitman.

“These two works are extraordinarily congruent,” says Swanson. “Both composers use water as a primary metaphor for the human experience.”

In addition to these sweeping orchestral works, the festival offers highly theatrical challenges for chorus and orchestra with Swanson conducting. A bold pairing features Igor Stravinsky’s “Les Noces (The Wedding)” and Orff’s “Catulli Carmina.” Both pieces utilize a unique instrumentation of four pianos and percussion, creating a percussive, primal atmosphere.

“Les Noces” depicts a peasant wedding, grounded in Stravinsky’s fascination with the stark, sensual rhythms and music of his native Russia. Original choreography by Yoshihisa Arai will be performed by Cincinnati Ballet 2.

Orff’s work is based on poetry by the Roman poet Catullus, a play within a play that displays the chorus’ singing skills in a distinctive a cappella style. The poetry is gleefully satiric, bawdy and poignant.

Perhaps the most significant aspect of this year’s festival is its direct engagement with its own history. Bullock was mindful that while the festival has a storied 150-year legacy, it also possesses a history less well known and up until recently, ignored. For more than half of its existence, persons of color could not join the May Festival Chorus.

This year’s finale marks a symbolic anniversary: It has been 70 years since baritone William Warfield and soprano Leontyne Price performed selections from “Porgy and Bess” in Cincinnati. By bringing “Porgy and Bess” back to the stage, the festival commemorates the first time Black Cincinnatians sang with the May Festival Chorus. The CSO’s Classical Roots Community Choir joins the May Festival Chorus for this grand finale.

Bullock emphasized that including more “community choral moments” in this anniversary year was a priority, ensuring the festival maintains a welcoming and warm feeling while pushing for greater access.

Leonard Bernstein’s “Make Our Garden Grow” is a choice Swanson calls the “capstone” of the festival. From the community picnic in Washington Park to the final notes in Music Hall, the focus remains on “getting people together,” which Swanson asserts has always been at the heart of the festival.

Through Bullock’s vision, the May Festival has become more than a concert series; it is a collaborative effort involving the CSO, the Vocal Arts Ensemble, Cincinnati Ballet, the Classical Roots Community Choir and local institutions.

“I relied on muscle memory and the support of the brilliant team at the May Festival to navigate the complexities of being both a curator and a performer,” she says.

“Human utterances are boundless in terms of expressiveness,” Bullock continues. “When we call out to each other, sometimes in the most primal ways, it’s difficult to not be impacted even if it’s just to the sound itself, be it intense or intimate, it’s profoundly powerful.”

The post Harmonic Reckoning: Julia Bullock and the May Festival appeared first on Cincinnati CityBeat.

“The Firebird,” a classic ballet boldly reimagined with African dancers and larger-than-life puppets, takes the stage at Music Hall later this month, accompanied by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra led by music director Cristian Măcelaru.

The puppets, originally created by Handspring Productions and now by Janni Younge Productions, with choreography by Jay Pather, will be operated and danced by fourteen South African puppeteers and dancers.

The original ballet with music by Igor Stravinsky premiered in 1910 and quickly became a mainstay for orchestras and ballet companies. The story of a prince rescued by the firebird who leads him to free an imprisoned princess transforms into an odyssey of self-discovery for a young South African woman, the Seeker.

At the heart of this theatrical spectacle lies the Seeker’s journey as she embarks on a quest to unleash her creative power. With the first notes of Stravinsky’s electrifying score, spectators are whisked into a whirlwind of vibrant choreography, rich music and spectacularly crafted puppetry. The stage becomes alive with oversized puppet creatures, ranging from towering giants to delicate forms, culminating in a breathtaking finale as the mythical firebird ascends, a symbol of transformation and triumph.

The production debuted in South Africa and had a triumphant American tour in the summer of 2016. Măcelaru, then a rising conductor, led three of the performances at outdoor venues in Chicago, Washington and Philadelphia. 

“My kids still talk about it,” Măcelaru said. “Ten years later, they say it’s one of their favorite concerts.”

Janni Younge, a South African artist and master puppeteer, was on the staff of Handspring Productions when the company was commissioned to create a synthesis of classical music with large-scale puppetry. Handspring was a logical choice, following its breathtaking creations for “War Horse” and other British stage productions. 

In a 2016 interview, Younge said that “Firebird” was an obvious choice for her and she was determined to make the production distinctly South African. “Being South African, it was about bringing my context, where I live and my world to the Russian mythology. I was inspired by the original story, and it was never either/or. We knew it could be successfully adapted for the world we live in.”

Younge described the firebird as mythological creature representing a quality of inspiration emerging and developing. “You see birdlike forms emerging as the Seeker develops her own creativity and potential.”

Now head of Janni Younge productions, Younge oversees the “The Firebird” puppets, huge complex constructions, requiring as many as five or six puppeteers to manipulate them. Younge described the puppeteers’ role as “unusual and demanding.”

“They must dance and move fluidly, matching their body’s energy with the object. They must have imagination to believe because they are the puppet, looking, perceiving, breathing and bringing it to life. This is what creates magic.”

The puppets are constructed from bamboo, paper and vellum, with mechanisms that allow for heads, legs and arms to raise and wings to spread.

Younge noted that the wings are uniquely challenging because “wings don’t flap up and down, they move forward, especially when the bird is fighting.”

“I was so moved by the human qualities of these puppets, especially the eyes,” said Măcelaru. “When you look at them close up, it’s like looking at a living creature.”

“There are as many as five or six people operating the puppets, dancing as well as controlling the levers so that it looks like a living creature that moves independently. It’s really spectacular!”

This will be the first time Măcelaru will see the staged production. His previous three experiences were in outdoor venues, and the orchestra was positioned behind the performers.

The CSO will be seated in front of the stage, at a level where audiences can see both the stage and the orchestra.  

Măcelaru prepared for the complexities of having music and movement in sync, based on his past experiences.

“Actually, the most challenging part is that once they start to unfold the puppets, you cannot stop the rehearsal, because it takes 6 hours for one of the puppets to be put back into its initial position.”

“I sent Janni Younge Production recordings for my speeds, tempos and cues so that they understand exactly how to time everything,” he continued. “Stravinsky’s music is very calculated, and the puppeteers need a certain amount of time to trigger a sequence.”

The Firebird and the dragon are huge puppets, but their puppeteers are always visible.  Younge describes her production as artistic magic. “Of course, we want people to see and experience this,” she said. “And it’s equally important for audiences to feel the music because the performance is so tied in with the Stravinsky’s sound world, which is everything to us.”

This isn’t the first time a ballet’s story has been changed, and Măcelaru added that Stravinsky’s score was always meant to accompany a story. “The puppets are another version of the story that audiences can understand and be inspired by. And we hope they’ll want to see other versions of it.”

“This is truly a concept for all ages,” Măcelaru said. “It’s quite accessible for everyone and I hope this encourages parents to bring their young ones.

The concert opens with Gustav Mahler’s “Totenfeier” (Funeral Fire), which Mahler composed in 1888. Described as “a huge funeral march,” the piece was later incorporated into “Mahler’s Symphony No. 2,” known as the “Resurrection Symphony.”

“I was looking for a fiery connection with ‘Firebird,’” Măcelaru said. “I do think it’s a beautiful way to present a piece that many will recognize because of its connection with Mahler’s second symphony, but as a standalone piece, it’s rarely performed.”

“And of course, there’s a tongue-in-cheek connection!” 

The Firebird and Mahler’s Totenfeier, April 24-25, 7:30 pm, Music Hall, cincinnatisymphony.org.

The post Firebird reborn: Giant puppets, African dance and Stravinsky to ignite Music Hall appeared first on Cincinnati CityBeat.

The Cincinnati Pops 2026-27 season continues the orchestra’s celebration of American music with a broadened palette of styles, artists and experiences.

Under dynamo music director John Morris Russell, known as JMR, the Pops welcomes and amplifies American music from its roots in Black and Appalachian traditions to hip-hop, jazz and salsa, and of course, the big screen.

JMR has been a tireless advocate for breaking down barriers in old-school pops programming, working with underserved communities to ensure their voices are heard and seen. Next year’s schedule includes internationally acclaimed artists and rising regional talent in concert experiences that promise to engage the eyes and the ears.

“The Pops has always been about great American music, brought to life in super creative and engaging ways,’ JMR wrote to CityBeat. “From Broadway to Hollywood, bluegrass to hip-hop, the Pops plays it all.”

The Pops kicks off its season on Sept. 5 with a tenth anniversary celebration of the film “La La Land” with a screening and live accompaniment by the Pops orchestra and a jazz band led by principal guest conductor Damon Gupton—who also appears in the movie!

Film experiences include “Psycho” with Sarah Hicks leading Bernard Hermann’s unforgettable screeching violins for the ultimate Halloween experience on Oct. 27. Then, Nov. 27 and 28 offer Disney’s “The Muppets Christmas Carol” with Pops assistant conductor Dupo Shen, and to bring in the new year, Stephen Spielberg’s “Hook” features a John Williams score, led by Pops assistant conductor Alex Amsel.

Tony-award winning artist Lea Salonga takes the stage Sept. 12 and 13 for an evening of Broadway and film songs with the Pops orchestra led by JMR. Before singing the roles of Jasmine in Disney’s “Aladdin” and “Mulan,” Salonga starred in the Broadway hits “Miss Saigon” and “Les Misérables.”

Two weeks later, the Pops offer a feast for the ears and the eyes with “Orchestral Canvas,” a multimedia concert pairing orchestral classics with famous artworks choreographed by Cincinnati’s acclaimed production company Lightborne. The program includes Gershwin’s “An American in Paris” and Respighi’s “Pines of Rome.”

JMR says “Canvas” is an immersive experience with a dazzling mélange of popular works of art and brilliant orchestral showpieces.”

“It has been a real joy working with the Lightborne team to create something unique that you can’t experience anywhere else,” he continues.  “But that’s like most everything we do at the Pops.”

Holiday tradition continues with the Pops Christmas concerts Dec. 11-13, featuring Grammy winner Gaby Moreno, “The Pops Holiday Chorale.”

The Pops continues to explore daring synchronisms between European classical forms and today’s most celebrated Black artists. Next season brings the return of Steve Hackman with his latest symphony fusion “Stravinsky X Kendrick Lamar,” meshing Stravinsky’s score for the ballet Petrushka with tracks from Lamar’s Pulitzer Prize-winning album “DAMN.”

Hackman’s website states that each work offers “a challenging commentary on the human soul … as Petrushka and Kung-Fu Kenny struggle with their identities and realities.”

Kendrick Lamar does not appear, but the production will feature vocal soloists and instrumentalists.

In March, Pops Principal Guest Conductor Damon Gupton returns to lead an evening of Billy Joel hits featuring singer, pianist and composer Tony DeSare.

The Pops season concludes in April with celebrations of America’s pastime and two of America’s musical foundations. Leading off on April 3 is “Play Ball!,” a concert that promises a musical journey from warm-ups to the ninth-inning finale.

On April 17, the annual Classical Roots concert presents one of the most eagerly anticipated events on the Pops calendar. Next year marks Classical Roots’ 26^th anniversary, highlighting Black music’s many influences and contributions to every aspect of American music. 

JMR will be on the podium, joined by resident conductor Jason Alexander Holmes, members of the CSO’s Nouveau Program for young musicians of color, and the rousing Classical Root Community Choir. The joyful energy is sure to raise the roof.

The season concludes April 30-May 2 with the next installment of “American Originals,” the Pops’ tribute to American Roots music. Bluegrass takes center stage with leading artists who will more than likely raise the roof again. Dynamic fiddler Michael Cleveland and his Grammy-award winning band Flamekeeper are joined by Sister Sadie, 2020 International Bluegrass Music Awards Entertainer of the Year.

“Each season at The Pops we endeavor to capture the essence of America’s dizzyingly diverse and intensely imaginative popular music scene, to create orchestral programs that inspire,” says JMR.  “We can’t wait to share these programs with all of Cincinnati.”

The post Cincinnati Pops 2026-27: Cutting edges, fusing artforms appeared first on Cincinnati CityBeat.

Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra music director Cristi Măcelaru has demonstrated his commitment to the orchestra, the Greater Cincinnati community and American voices since his first full season’s opening concert.

The CSO 2026-27 season is a through-line of Măcelaru’s vision, a fearless, compelling series that invites audiences to experience the thrill of new concert experiences and to savor familiar favorites.

The CSO’s exciting lineup spans 400 years of music by a global cohort of classical and living composers, works from the past making CSO debuts, commissions, and co-commissions. The roster features world-class guest conductors and soloists, including CSO members.

Măcelaru is on the podium for twelve pairs of concerts, and in October, he will lead a workshop for rising conductors—another first for the CSO.

Speaking from his home in Paris, Măcelaru emphasized the necessity to explore music, whether it was composed centuries ago or last week. “It’s absolutely essential for us as artists to stretch the boundaries of what we do in every direction,” he said. “You will see that I’m playing around with the idea of genres and what they actually mean.”

In an interview last year Măcelaru promised that “we’ll be hearing more from Wynton Marsalis.” He wasn’t kidding. October 2-4 kicks off with a three-day residency featuring the acclaimed trumpeter, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and violinist Nicola Benedetti.

The residency opens with Benedetti performing Bruch’s Violin Concerto and the CSO playing Marsalis’s Symphony No. 5, “Liberty,” a CSO co-commission honoring the USA’s 250^th anniversary. 

On Saturday, Oct. 3, Benedetti will perform Marsalis’s Violin Concerto, which won the 2020 Grammy for best classical recording. And in what promises to be an epic event, the CSO and the JLCO join for a Marsalis- Măcelaru jazz-infused arrangement of Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition.”   

Măcelaru has worked with Marsalis for several years and the riff on Mussorgsky’s classic symphonic poem grew out of their friendship and Marsalis’s frustration with the piece.

“He was playing an arrangement he didn’t like, so I suggested we do one ourselves,” Măcelaru recalled. “The way we’re performing it starts with the CSO playing and the JLOC responds. But what happens is that our responses get closer until we perform as one orchestra.”

The residency concludes with a concert by the JLCO led by Marsalis, who steps down from his leadership role in 2027.

New works receiving US and world premieres are Mark Simpson’s Piano Concerto, performed by Icelandic pianist Vikingur Ơlafsson and Errollyn Wallen’s Concerto for Orchestra. Wallen is a Belize-born British composer appointed Master of Music in 2024 by King Charles III. 

Wallen’s concerto concludes a concert in March, Women’s History Month, featuring works by three 19^th century German women: Fanny Mendelssohn, Clara Schumann and Emilie Mayer, whose music is enjoying a revival 150 years after she was acclaimed as Beethoven’s peer.

Măcelaru credits a CSO staff member with bringing Mayer to his attention.

“The name was familiar but I never heard her work. Once I started listening and looking at the scores, I thought, ‘This is really good,'” he said.

Măcelaru, a tireless advocate for the works of his countryman, Romanian composer George Enescu, thrilled CSO audiences last fall with a stunning performance of Enescu’s Romanian Rhapsody No. 1, and next season, the CSO will play “Enescu’s Symphony No. 3” for the first time, joined by the May Festival Chorus.

“Enescu is a composer we don’t hear enough, and he really has something to say,” Măcelaru commented. “This symphony is his most accessible, and his sound world is fascinating with a wordless chorus just the way that the same way that Ravel did, for effect.”

Măcelaru’s commitment to Baroque works continues with Bach’s iconic “St. Matthew Passion,” with the May Festival Chorus and vocal soloists Louise Alder, Karen Cargil, Nicholas Phan and Morgan Smith. Măcelaru’s background as a Baroque violinist was a tremendous asset for the sold-out performances of Handel’s “Messiah” in December, and Măcelaru says “Bach’s Passion” expands the idea of performance as storytelling.

CSO Proof, a series offering music experiences curated by musicians and media artists brings Matthias Pintscher to conduct “The Genesis Project,” a co-commission by seven composers writing a piece for each day of creation according to the Old Testament. 

Guest conductors include four CSO debuts: the legendary Phillipe Jordan, Gemma New, Delyana Lazarova and Marta Gardolińska. CSO Music Director Laureate Louis Langrée returns for two concerts. 

Returning artists include piano divo Lang Lang, violinists Gil Shaham and Leila Josefowicz, and cellist Alicia Weilerstein. Four young pianists make their debuts, including Isata Kanneh-Mason, and the phenomenal, edgy vocal band Room Full of Teeth makes its CSO debut.

Three CSO musicians are featured soloists: Principal Oboe Dwight Parry, Principal Violist Christian Colberg and Principal Trumpet Anthony Limoncelli.

Creating the season went beyond artistic and logistical coordination. Măcelaru works closely with CSO staff to discuss audience responses to CSO concerts.

“Many of our future concerts are concept experiences informed by audience surveys,” he explained. “I was fascinated to see that the experience wasn’t necessarily about changing music but starting from the beginning, how they are invited into the hall.” 

He recalled a conversation with a first-time CSO audience member.

“She told me she enjoyed the concert, but what impressed her most was when I raised my hands at the end of a piece. The music stopped and there was silence. ‘That was incredible!’ she said. ‘You got everyone to stop just by raising your hand!’

“When I talk to the team behind the scenes, I use a phrase they’re probably tired of hearing me say,” he laughed. 

“I say, you know, people really listen with their eyes.”

Visual elements will have an increased presence in the coming seasons, whether it’s the CSO and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra facing off, the configuration of the St. Matthew Passion or simply watching the orchestra tune up, the experiences will be multi-sensory.

Great music and great performers are the power behind it all, fueled by Cristi Măcelaru’s expansive vision.

CSO 2026-27 season and ticket information: www.cincinnatisymphony.org

The post Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra unveils bold 2026–27 season under Cristi Măcelaru appeared first on Cincinnati CityBeat.

“Sincerely Yours, Pauli Murray” is a ten-movement dramatic cantata celebrating the life of Reverend Dr. Anna Pauline “Pauli” Murray, a Black woman of astounding achievements you’ve likely never heard of. The Ohio premieres of the cantata are Nov. 7-9, with two performances in Yellow Springs at Antioch’s Foundry Theater and one in Cincinnati at the House of Joy Christian Ministries in Clifton.

Murray was an activist for civil and women’s rights with a jaw-dropping list of achievements that includes being the first woman to graduate from Howard University’s law school at the top of her class. A paper she wrote in her final year was influential to the NAACP arguments in Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954. She was the first Black woman to earn a J.S.D. degree from Yale Law School. In 1940, Murray was arrested for attempting to sit in the white section of a bus headed to North Carolina — fifteen years before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat in Montgomery, Alabama. She was a co-founder of the National Organization for Women (NOW).  In 1977, she became the first Black woman to be ordained as an Episcopal priest. Following her death, she was the first woman to have a residential college named for her at Yale. 

But her fiercest struggle was with gender dysphoria. She had mental breakdowns, was frequently hospitalized and begged doctors to acknowledge her masculinity. As a cover, Murray shortened her name from Pauline to the androgynous Pauli. Publicly, Murray had two intense romantic relationships, both with white women. 

Jane Ramseyer Miller, choral conductor, activist and artistic consultant for GALA Choruses in Minneapolis, is a longtime advocate for celebrating BIPOC and genderqueer people erased from history books through choral music. She heard a podcast on Title IX and Murray’s name came up

“Her story just blew my mind,” Miller said. She began researching Murray and contacted composer Steve Milloy, who worked with her on a cantata about Black activist Bayard Rustin in 2017. “We have another project,” she told him.

Milloy was artistic director of Cincinnati Men’s Chorus from 2017-2022 prior to moving to southern California where he is currently interim artistic director for San Diego Gay Men’s Chorus. 

Miller also enlisted the help of acclaimed Minneapolis actor, director, poet and visual artist Kim Hines, who knew of Murray’s activism for women’s rights. “Her combined experiences in the theater made her the ideal librettist,” Miller said.

The creative team faced two formidable challenges. The first was to choose which aspects of Murray’s life to highlight. The second was how to craft the libretto to reflect Murray’s words.

“The family would not allow us to use her words,” said Kim Hines. “We could use her concepts but nothing from her letters, her poetry or other writings.” 

“I have a music background, and because I’m an actor and a director, it’s my job to interpret,” she continued. “I could put myself in her shoes because I’m a Black lesbian and I know what it’s like to maneuver around the landmines.”

In the “Sincerely Yours, Pauli Murray,” Murray’s life is told in ten episodes, beginning with her childhood in North Carolina through her fight for equal rights to her spiritual journey following the death of her longtime partner, leading to her ordination as an Episcopal priest.

The musical styles include ragtime, classical, Motown, blues, pop, gospel and jazz.

“For every segment, I set Kim’s words in a musical style that fit the time period — except for the opening and closing segments,” said Milloy. “The first movement is “You Think You Know,” inspired by the theme from the ‘70s sitcom Maude.

“Pauli’s aunt’s song, “BoyGirl,” is set to a slow ragtime tempo, and you hear Pauli’s role in the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education case set to close harmonies of the late big band and early doo-wop eras.”

Despite Murray’s pushing back against embedded and vicious racism and sexism, her internal struggle with gender dysphoria was never completely resolved. Her decision to enter the priesthood followed the death of her beloved partner Irene “Renee” Barlow, who shared her commitment to the Episcopal faith.

The performances in Cincinnati and Yellow Springs follow the world premiere in April, with ten more scheduled across the U.S. In addition to the 115-voice World House Choir based in Yellow Springs directed by Dr. Catherine Roma, Dayton performance artist Aleah Vassell and soprano Sharisse Santos are narrators and vocal soloists. 

Roma led the regional performances of the Rustin cantata and sees Murray’s story as even more vital today, stressing the importance of getting Murray’s story to wider audiences. A panel discussion follows each concert with Milloy, Ramseyer Miller, Murray’s niece Rosita Steven-Holsey and Miriam McKenney, the Director for Dismantling Racism at the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio.

“Rosita brings the personal perspective of Pauli’s family, and Miriam offers historical and spiritual insight from her role within the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio,” explained Rachel Kramer, event producer. “On Nov. 8, we’re hosting ‘Pastries with Pauli’ at St. Andrew’s Church in Evanston, where Miriam’s father served as priest, and he invited Pauli to Cincinnati, so Miriam will likely share that story.”

On Nov. 1, a symposium, “Defying Jim and Jane Crow: The Power & Impact of Pauli Murray,” takes place at Antioch College, featuring Anjalique Knight, director of education and outreach at the Pauli Murray Center in Durham, North Carolina, and Serena Mayeri, faculty member at the Penn Carey Law School and author of Reasoning From Race: Feminism, Law, and the Civil Rights Revolution.

The performances and the panels push back against recent moves to silence Murray’s life and achievements. Early this year, the Pauli Murray Center, which houses her papers, lost a multi-year $300k grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

“The relevance of doing this piece at this moment in time cannot be overstated,” Dr. Roma said. “Pauli Murray’s fights for equal rights and her personal struggles with gender dysphoria need to be known and celebrated.”

For more information about “Sincerely Yours, Pauli Murray,” visit worldhousechoir.org. 

This story is featured in CityBeat’s Oct. 29 print edition.

The post ‘Sincerely Yours, Pauli Murray’ Honors a Civil Rights Pioneer’s Life Through Music appeared first on Cincinnati CityBeat.

Cristian Mǎcelaru makes his official debut as the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s music director on Oct. 3 with a program that models his goals as a conductor and leader.

Mǎcelaru spoke to CityBeat from his native Romania, where he was on a brief vacation before gigs in Romania, Germany and France before he arrives in Cincinnati in late September.

“In my role as music director and the season’s curator, I want to make sure there’s a balanced approach to challenging ourselves, even when we hear familiar music,” he said. “I hope we’ll challenge our audiences just enough to maintain their perspectives and the context of how they listen to Beethoven or any of the composers we’ll introduce this season.”

Mǎcelaru’s vision for the entire season is holistic, with familiar classics informing contemporary music and rarely performed works.

The opening program leads off with Abstractions by Anna Clyne, a British-born, U.S.-based composer. “Anna is a composer that I’ve collaborated with and championed for many years,” Mǎcelaru said. “She writes in a way that is so mesmerizing, and this piece is such a beautiful reflection of her ability to use the orchestra in a very poetic and intimate way.”

Internationally acclaimed pianist Hélène Grimaud follows, performing Gershwin’s Concerto in F, much less familiar than Rhapsody in Blue. 

“I’m a big fan of putting in a composition that is less performed, and this is one of them,” Mǎcelaru said. “Gershwin is a quintessentially American composer. He isn’t thought of as an intellectual composer but he’s extremely sophisticated. The concerto has so much sophistication in the thematic material, in the orchestration, in the way he takes motifs and changes them. And there’s an unbelievable trumpet solo in the second movement.” 

Richard Strauss’s suite from his opera Der Rosenkavalier is the concert finale, and it’s the perfect contrast to Clyne’s introspective piece, according to Mǎcelaru.

“It’s so important to acknowledge what has been created so we can understand how we build on that,” he said. “The Rosenkavalier suite presents the orchestra in both intimate and virtuosic passages,” he continued. “That’s why Strauss is there: nothing is more virtuosic for an orchestra to play than that.” 

“To be able to present the entire spectrum of the orchestra’s ability across different kinds of music is one thing that I really want to highlight with this concert.”

The job of music director encompasses all the season’s programs, and includes discussions with guest conductors, soloists and orchestra personnel across time zones and continents.

“We want every guest conductor to have the opportunity to bring to the Cincinnati Symphony the things that they are most passionate about, and they have the most expertise in,” Mǎcelaru explained. “The music always comes first.”

He highlighted Dame Jane Glover, renowned for her expertise in Mozart and the Classical repertoire, who makes her return the weekend after the season’s first concert.

“It’s an all-Mozart program, ranging from an opera overture to a chamber piece to a full symphony, again showing off the CSO’s ability to play a variety of Mozart works led by an artist the musicians respect so much,” he said.

CSO Conductor Laureate Louis Langrée returns in November to lead the orchestra in Stravinsky’s score for the ballet Petrushka, and later in the season, he returns to conduct Brahms and Schumann. 

CSO Creative Partner Matthias Pintscher returns in November to ring the bells with performances of Rachmaninoff’s massive cantata The Bells, based on Edgar Allen Poe’s poem of the same name and Berlioz’s phantasmagoric Symphonie Fantastique.

Contemporary music and commissions are a priority for Mǎcelaru and are regularly featured throughout the 2025-26 season.

“For me, new music does so many wonderful things, touching on themes and areas of the music world that are difficult to express in other media,” he said. “A lot of the new music that we’re performing this season was already set before my time, but it’s also a reflection of what attracted me to the Cincinnati Symphony.

“I was impressed by the CSO’s progressive approach to commissioning and to performing contemporary music, which is why I’ll be conducting a lot of this new music this season. I strongly endorse new works and I’m so happy to be able to bring this new music to our community.”

Mǎcelaru is equally passionate about Baroque music, a result of studying violin with Sergiu Luca, a musical pioneer performing early music on period instruments.

“It’s no surprise that one of the first things that I will be doing is Handel’s Messiah because I have a very strong affinity for this style in my own playing as well as this repertoire, and this is something that is very close to my heart.”

It promises to be a holiday highlight with the always terrific May Festival Chorus and a roster of world-class soloists: Lauren Snouffer, Sasha Cooke, Nicholas Phan and Jonathan Lemalu.

Mǎcelaru continues a deep dive into American music history in November, leading Dvořák’s 7^th Symphony, Tales: A Folklore Symphony by Kennedy Center Composer-in-Residence Carlos Simon, Copland’s Variations on a Shaker theme from Appalachian Spring and Lisa Bielawa’s violin concerto Pulse with Kentucky native Tessa Lark making her CSO debut. 

The program reflects another thematic element: incorporating American music into European forms and emerging with a unique American sound.

“With American music, we don’t eliminate an entire genre just because we’re not used to it,” Mǎcelaru explained. “Simon’s symphony is very powerful, based on songs he grew up with in an African American church where his father was a minister. Lisa’s piece is grounded in Roots music and so is Tessa Lark, a Kentucky native. “

Other featured artists include legendary cellist Yo-Yo Ma in November, pianist Daniil Trifonov, bass Morris Robinson and conductors James Conlon and Roderick Cox. The 2026 season offers a powerful concert in January honoring the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., with select movements from Margaret Bonds’ Montgomery Variations and former poet laureate Rita Dove reading poetry commissioned by the CSO, inspired by Samuel Barber’s exquisite Adagio for Strings.

Mǎcelaru’s final concert in late April isn’t the season finale, but it’s a blaze of music and stagecraft. Stravinsky’s Firebird ballet is a spectacular production staged by award-winning puppet creator and director Janni Younge, postponed two years ago. 

For Mǎcelaru, the entire season expresses his excitement about being a presence in Cincinnati. 

“It’s the excitement for this new role in my life and hopefully the excitement that the audience will share for this new journey that we are beginning together so that we can discover yet one more color in this beautiful rainbow that is classical music.”

For more information about Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s 2025-26 season, visit cincinnatisymphony.org. 

This story is featured in CityBeat’s Sept. 3 print edition.

The post Cristian Măcelaru Makes His Official Debut as CSO Music Director appeared first on Cincinnati CityBeat.

When I attend Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra performances, I make sure to get there early enough to watch the musicians assemble on stage. In the past, as many hastily ran through a passage or quietly acknowledged colleagues, my eyes instinctively looked to the cello section, searching for the lanky, dignified, elegant Black man. I’d spot him and think, okay — everything’s cool.

I can’t explain why he was my focal point, but cellist Norman Johns, who served as the CSO’s assistant principal cello, was a vital presence, a source of strength and assurance — especially for the legions of students he taught and mentored during his astounding 50-year career with the CSO.

The CSO announced Johns’ death last week following a two-year ordeal with cancer. While the announcement wasn’t surprising, it hit hard. To honor his memory, I turned to his colleagues at the CSO and beyond, all of whom were heartfelt and generous in sharing memories.

Everyone I spoke to used the same words: Presence. Elegance. Dignity. Selfless. Dedicated. Johns was a real mensch.

Johns’ presence was deeply felt, even by those who rarely encountered him or never met him at all, as it was for Cristian Măcelaru, CSO’s music director.

“I had the privilege of meeting Norm twice when I was conducting in Cincinnati, and I remember vividly the elegance he carried in the way he played as well as his entire presence,” Măcelaru wrote in an email to CityBeat. “There was a quiet confidence in him, a calm assurance paired with a deep curiosity that stood out. I was always struck by the depth of his insights into the music.”

And while he projected extreme reserve, according to his colleagues, he “held court” after rehearsals or concerts, discussing everything from politics, religion and ultimately music with laughter and no pretense. He was an avid chess player, a pool shark and loved jazz.

Johns was hard to miss: at 6’5”, he was one of the tallest CSO members, and as assistant principal cello, he was seated near the front of the stage. For 25 years, he was the only Black musician in the CSO.

In a 2016 interview for the Enquirer, he told my colleague Janelle Gelfand that the prospects for a Black and Native American boy who wanted to study music in Philadelphia in the ’60s were almost nil.

But thanks to robust music and art programs in Philadelphia’s public schools, Johns began studying the cello as a nine-year-old. He was part of his high school’s string quartet, coached by the conductor of Philadelphia’s All-City Orchestra, which led to the quartet receiving full scholarships to what is now the University of the Arts.

Johns taught music in the Philadelphia public school system for three years while studying privately. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in Weill Recital Hall in 1973, winning a competition sponsored by the National Association of Negro Musicians. 

He used the prize money for advanced studies in Switzerland. Two years later, he auditioned for the CSO — his one and only orchestra. 

Johns always expressed gratitude for being welcomed by the CSO and the Cincinnati community. He remained the CSO’s sole Black musician until 2000, when 20-year-old clarinet phenom Anthony McGill joined the CSO as associate principal clarinet.

“I just know it wasn’t easy for him,” McGill said, speaking from Vermont. “I can’t even recall what he told me, but it was enough.”

McGill spoke with deep affection and admiration for Johns. 

“He was the coolest cat in the building, no doubt about that. “

“He was more than a role model,” he continued. “He established himself and showed what it meant to be a player in that orchestra. Having him there made me feel like I could do it… Everyone was supportive. But having somebody like him representing what he represented to me as a young kid — that was so important. He was there for me. He was there.”

McGill left the CSO in 2004, joining the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and in 2014, became the New York Philharmonic’s principal clarinet.

Johns began teaching privately as soon as he moved to Cincinnati and usually didn’t charge, quietly advocating for inclusion and being one of its prime movers, whether through teaching, artists or music.

“When we began Classical Roots nearly 25 years ago, Norm’s steadfast encouragement helped me in particular, and our entire team, to build it right,” recalled Cincinnati Pops Conductor John Morris Russell. “Quick to rattle off composers, soloists and repertoire I should take a serious look at, he was a teacher at heart. And like a great teacher, he would pull me aside after the performance with thoughtful and kind words that would impel me to do even better the next time.”

Johns’ love of music extended across genres. When Maya Angelou died in 2014, shortly after recording Aaron Copland’s A Lincoln Portrait with the CSO, the family asked the CSO to provide a string quartet for her funeral service. 

“Norm eagerly volunteered, though feeling unwell that morning — and seriously ill by day’s end — he was determined to honor the moment,” wrote Robert McGrath, CSO president and CEO, in an email to CityBeat. “He played with all his heart and signature artistry. And I’ll never forget his expression listening to Alyson Williams’ performance of “God Put a Rainbow in the Clouds” — pure joy radiated from him. That moment captured everything Norm stood for: a life dedicated to beauty, service and uplifting others through music.”

Johns was a CSO veteran when Ilya Finkelshteyn joined the CSO as principal cello in 2009, and CSO Music Director Laureate Louis Langreé was appointed music director in 2013. 

Finkelshteyn agreed with McGill’s description of Johns as the “coolest cat in the building,” adding that his way of walking was equally cool, even as cancer progressed. “His walk was almost a glide.”

“Norm was always very supportive of me when I first arrived, and that support extended to his colleagues in the orchestra and to soloists,” Finkelshteyn said. 

“He had an attitude that’s extremely rare nowadays,” Finkelshteyn continued. “He was also always very grateful for being able to play music on stage, to make music for other people. I think that is something that I’m going to miss the most. Besides, we had wonderful conversations. He had a very beautiful way of speaking, a wonderful kind of language that reflected his deep spiritual sense.”

The veteran cellist had a presence that Langreé called “elegant with an attitude of nobility that his reserve seemed to emphasize. In my first season, we performed Dvořák’s New World Symphony and immediately after, he told me, ‘I’ve done this symphony millions of times and tonight I had the feeling it was the first time!’” recalled Langreé, speaking from Paris. “He was ecstatic, and it was so moving for me, especially coming from a musician of his age and experience.

“Thanks to his commitment, he allowed our ‘norms’ to expand, to develop and move forward.”

Johns was devoted to teaching throughout his CSO tenure. He had a gift not only for music, but for seeing the potential in others, according to Carol Dunevant, the recently retired CSO director of learning. 

“A friend whose child studied with Norm told me he gave private lessons freely, never accepting payment, believing that music should be passed from heart to heart, not transaction to transaction,” she wrote in an email to CityBeat. “Norm wove a legacy of kindness, ensuring that the music would live on in the hands of the next generation.”

It didn’t matter if the student wanted to play drums, sax or flugelhorn — Norm would find the instrument and a teacher, according to Aurelia “Candie” Simmons, longtime chair of the CSO’s Multicultural Awareness Council (MAC).

 Simmons led the campaign to endow the Norman E. Johns Chair award to encourage participation from middle and high school orchestra students traditionally underrepresented in youth orchestra programs.

The award was established by the CSO to commemorate Johns’ 20th anniversary with the CSO — and he was totally shocked, by all accounts.

“He never expected any recognition,” Simmons said. “He always gave from the heart.”

One of the award’s beneficiaries was violinist Michael Jorgensen, who went on to attend Eastman School of Music and is now a professor of practice in orchestral strings at Lehigh University. 

“Norm mentored Mike and so many more with opportunities to perform chamber music and learn about the orchestral field,” wrote Jorgensen’s mother, Kathy Finley, a former CSO staff member. “Thanks to Norm, we’ve witnessed the positive growth of many talented adults who work in the music industry and are lifelong classical music lovers.”

Following the cancer diagnosis, Johns continued to play until it became too difficult. 

“If he couldn’t play at the top of his game, he didn’t want to be there,” Simmons said.

“He was always an optimistic person, from beginning to end,” Finkelshteyn said. “The last time I saw him was in May when he was honored for his retirement. He was pretty frail, but it didn’t seem like he lost a lot of energy. He urged us to keep bringing the light in, to everybody, to society.”

That was indeed a poignant, bittersweet moment. Seeing Johns in a wheelchair was a shock, but as Finkelshteyn and his section immediately stood up, followed by the audience, Johns’ radiance warmed the hall.

Award recipients compiled a book of photos that were presented to Johns in May, and he constantly looked through it in the last weeks of his life, according to Finkelshteyn. 

“As much as I thought, oh no, when he’s not here anymore, the face of the orchestra will have changed, but actually, no, the face has changed, thanks to him,” said Langreé. “He was very involved with our Diversity Fellows Program, an important evolution in the life of the orchestra. He was a role model for young musicians. We can really be so grateful. His legacy is so much larger than a human life.”

Johns’ life was an inspiration and a source of hope. For those musicians who felt excluded from orchestral music, he was a beacon.

“Part of the reason why my time in the CSO was smooth and supported was because of me being able to literally stand on his shoulders,” McGill said. “Sometimes people say we’re standing on the shoulders of the people that came before us, but his shoulders were right there.” 

The post A Towering Presence, Onstage and Off: Remembering CSO Cellist Norman Johns appeared first on Cincinnati CityBeat.