Johann Sebastian Bach's Christmas Oratorio blends the soaring melodies of Baroque music with the joyous spirit of the holiday season. The rich harmonies and intricate counterpoint come together in jubilant choruses and tender arias, narrating and reflecting upon the stories of the Feast of Christmas. Richard Egarr leads the May Festival Chorus and soloists in the timeless glories of music that resonates with the warmth and wonder of Christmas.   

Bach's Christmas Oratorio

The Geraldine V. Chavez Center for the Choral Arts

Conductor Marin Alsop leads the CSO in essential classics by Leonard Bernstein and Dmitri Shostakovich. The May Festival Chorus joins for Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, sacred music that illuminates a path to eternal peace, and which notably includes music cut from the Prologue of West Side Story. Shostakovich’s Leningrad martials every artistic defense, and might of the whole Orchestra, against a merciless and tyrannical siege threatening to consume all. 

Bernstein & Shostakovich

Principal Conductor Juanjo Mena opens the 150th Festival with world premieres by American composer James Lee III and former May Festival Creative Partner James MacMillan. Given its American premiere at the 1875 May Festival, Bach's celebratory Magnificat was described then as we would now— as "the highest form of human expression."

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Bach's Magnificat

Cincinnati Music Hall

Can't wait until May? Hundreds of singers take the stage at Music Hall in February to celebrate a new alliance between the May Festival and the Cincinnati Boychoir! Featured performances by the Cincinnati Boychoir, May Festival Youth Chorus and May Festival Chorus culminate in the world premiere of a new work by Cincinnati's own Howard Helvey, commissioned for the occasion.

All Together Now

Follow the unbroken path of light from sunset to sunrise as the May Festival Chorus, Chamber Choir, Youth Chorus and Cincinnati Boychoir Ambassadors illuminate Springer Auditorium through song, staging and dynamic lighting in a choral music event like never before.

Matthew Swanson

Events

Upcoming events

Feb 16, 2025

All Together Now · The May Festival

May 18, 2025

CHASING THE DAWN: A Choral Journey · The May Festival

Past events

6 - 7 Dec, 2024

Bach's Christmas Oratorio · The May Festival

16 - 17 Nov, 2024

Bernstein & Shostakovich · The May Festival

About

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