Name: Handel’s Messiah
Start: 2025-12-06T19:30:00
Location: Cincinnati Music Hall

The May Festival 2025 season offers a diverse array of musical journeys, from the raw power of Verdi’s Requiem to the introspective exploration of nature in 'Voice of Nature: The Anthropocene.' The festival welcomes renowned artists such as Renée Fleming and Ramón Tebar, and unfolds across breathtaking venues, enriching the cultural tapestry with performances that resonate beyond the concert hall. Whether through orchestral magnificence or choral glow, this year’s lineup promises soul-stirring experiences that connect deeply with audiences.

A Symphony of Voices: The May Festival's 2025 Season

Embark on a captivating journey this May and December as Cincinnati's May Festival brings a series of breathtaking musical events. From the haunting beauty of Verdi's 'Requiem' to the innovative choral masterpiece 'CHASING THE DAWN,' and the intimate portrayal of artists in 'The Brightness Of Light,' these concerts promise to stir the soul and ignite the imagination. With the powerful sounds of orchestras and the melodic charm of choral ensembles, this year's lineup is set to resonate with music lovers and cultural enthusiasts alike.

A Symphony of Sound: Cincinnati's May Festival 2025

The May Festival's 2025 season offers an extraordinary line-up of performances that promise to engage the heart and soul. From Verdi's soul-stirring Requiem to Handel’s timeless Messiah, each event brings unique artistic elements and emotional depth. Renowned artists like Renée Fleming and Ramón Tebar join forces with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the May Festival Chorus to create unforgettable musical experiences. With diverse genres ranging from choral to orchestral, this season is set to captivate audiences and leave lasting impressions.

A Symphony of Emotions: Exploring May Festival's 2025 Lineup

Nicholas Phan

Sasha Cooke

Lauren Snouffer

Jonathan Lemalu

Cristian Mӑcelaru

Matthew Swanson

May Festival Chorus

Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra

The trumpet shall sound. Join the CSO, the May Festival Chorus and an all-star cast of soloists for Handel’s Messiah. Music Director Cristian Mӑcelaru conducts one of his most cherished works, featuring joyful movements like the famous Hallelujah Chorus that have become forever and ever holiday traditions. This is the Messiah experience of the season!

Handel’s Messiah

Cincinnati Music Hall

There's nothing quite as magical as the Pops during the holiday season, when family memories are created anew at festive, sold-out performances of Holiday Pops! This December, Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Cody Fry will join JMR, the Pops, choruses and dancers from around the city to bring your holiday favorites to life.

Holiday Pops

Password, please! Travel across Berlin, New York, Paris, Buenos Aires and beyond as you ring in the New Year in the style of 1930s cabaret speakeasies. With an intoxicating blend of decadence, rebellion and raw emotion, cabaret music thrives on the tension between love and tragedy. Join JMR and the Pops as they perform iconic songs of Kander and Ebb (Cabaret, Chicago), Kurt Weill (Threepenny Opera), Edith Piaf (La Vie en Rose) and more. Your evening at our cabaret café will be one of playful indulgence.

NEW YEAR’S EVE: Cabaret Café

Ever wonder what your toys do when you’re not around? Toy Story answers that question through the eyes of two rival toys — Woody, the lanky, likable cowboy, and Buzz Lightyear, the fearless space ranger. When circumstances separate them from their owner, the duo learn to put aside their differences and embark on an adventure-filled mission to return home. The Cincinnati Pops go to infinity and beyond as they bring Buzz and Woody’s journey to life on the big screen!

DISNEY & PIXAR'S TOY STORY in Concert

Music Director Cristian Mӑcelaru leads a program featuring two music innovators from two different centuries — Beethoven and Bjarnason. Beethoven was considered the greatest music innovator of his generation, and piano powerhouse Daniil Trifonov returns to Music Hall to lend his signature finesse and emotional sensitivity to the composer’s elegant Second Piano Concerto. Then, the Orchestra performs the final installment of Icelandic composer Daníel Bjarnason’s multi-year Trilogy for Orchestra.

Trifonov Plays Beethoven

Celebrate the life of Martin Luther King Jr. in a program highlighting some of the most influential African American artists and composers of our time. Margaret Bonds’ Montgomery Variations, her tribute to civil rights leader Rosa Parks, is infused with themes of struggle, resistance and dignity. Bass Morris Robinson narrates an original poem by Rita Dove, former Poet Laureate Consultant to the Library of Congress, against Barber’s solemn Adagio for Strings, and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Wynton Marsalis takes the 12-bar blues and explodes it into a lyrical, kaleidoscopic history of American music.

American Voices

From introspection to exhilaration, experience a rich tapestry of chamber music that bridges centuries and styles. The concert opens with J.S. Bach’s iconic Chaconne, arranged for two cellos — a powerful transformation of a solo Baroque classic into a rich dialogue. Martinů’s String Quartet No. 4 follows, bursting with rhythmic drive and modern energy. The evening concludes with Ravel’s mesmerizing Piano Trio, a dazzling display of color, nuance and French impressionism. 

Baroque And Beyond

Dolly Parton’s Threads: My Songs In Symphony, is an innovative multimedia experience featuring Dolly on screen, leading audiences in a visual-musical journey of her songs, her life, and her stories. Guest vocalists and musicians selected by Dolly, along with the Cincinnati Pops, will present new and innovative orchestrations of her hit songs, including “Jolene,” “Coat of Many Colors” and “I Will Always Love You,” in addition to her personal favorites and a selection from her upcoming Broadway musical.

DOLLY PARTON’S THREADS: My Songs in Symphony

In her CSO debut, Ukranian conductor Oksana Lyniv leads a program that weaves together powerful stories. Evgeni Orkin’s Five Interrupted Lullabies opens with a series of haunting lullabies, each symbolically interrupted to mark innocence lost to war. Smetana’s “The Moldau” spins and swirls as it journeys along the winding Vltava River, while Dvořák’s Golden Spinning Wheel weaves a tale of fate and destiny, where enchanting melodies intertwine with dark, mysterious forces. Esther Yoo joins for Prokofiev’s First Violin Concerto, written during the 1917 Russian Revolution and telling a story all its own.

Slavic Legends

This all-ages, sensory-friendly performance celebrates the connection between autism and music, both of which exist on a vast spectrum. Produced in partnership with The Well, and featuring orchestral music from across genres, the program invites you to explore how sound shapes emotions, thoughts, and interactions. Much like neurodiversity, music reminds us that there is no single way to experience the world — we hope this concert will inspire you to feel, imagine and connect with music in your own unique way.

Access To Music

Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s ARCHORA hums with a tension that builds to a haunting ethereal calm, creating an atmospheric soundscape where swirling textures and deep resonances evoke the primal forces of nature. Then, Mahler's Rückert-Lieder soars with profound lyricism, transporting you through fragile, introspective moments of beauty and sorrow. Finally, Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 unfurls in radiant orchestral color, its playful, soaring melodies eventually giving way to a serene, celestial finale.

Mahler Symphony No. 4

Big sounds for little ears! Bring your kiddos to Music Hall for a magical musical adventure as Sergei Prokofiev’s beloved tale of Peter and the Wolf comes to life on stage through the sounds of the orchestra. With a playful narrator and vibrant music, kids will meet Peter, the duck, the cat, the bird — and even the big, sneaky wolf — as they learn how music can tell a story without words.

Handel’s Messiah

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