Tag Archives: Cincinnati Pops Orchestra

Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor
Michelle Cann, piano

Treble Voices of the May Festival Chorus, Robert Porco, director

Holst’s The Planets has a gravity all its own—from the merciless rhythms of Mars to the magnificence of Jupiter. Caroline Shaw’s The Observatory acts like a musical telescope—in her words, exploring “some very large spaces…chaos and clarity.” Michelle Cann, former CSO MAC Music Innovator and featured soloist on the 20th anniversary of Classical Roots, is known for delivering “knockout” performances (Philadelphia Inquirer), and shines in music by Gershwin.

CSO Co-Commission by Caroline Shaw is made possible by Irwin and Melinda Simon.

Thomas Søndergård, conductor
Augustin Hadelich, violin

It’s no surprise to Cincinnati audiences that “the essence of Hadelich’s playing is beauty” (The Washington Post). Experience the inimitable violinist’s return in Britten’s Violin Concerto along with esteemed Danish conductor Thomas Søndergård’s CSO debut. Themes of Sibelius’ Second Symphony coalesce into sparkling waves of sound for the work’s breathtaking finale.

Louis Langrée, conductor
Elizabeth Freimuth, horn

Richard Strauss conducted Death and Transfiguration at Music Hall in 1904. More than a century later, Louis Langrée and the CSO once again bring Strauss’ vivid musical image of the infinite to Music Hall. The program features Elizabeth Freimuth, the CSO’s Principal Horn, and an expansive world premiere by ascendant American composer Samuel Adams.

Kevin John Edusei, conductor
Simone Lamsma, violin

Mermaid tales inspired thrilling musical adventures from Mendelssohn and Zemlinsky. Mendelssohn’s work is brief but fiery, while Zemlinsky’s Die Seejungfrau takes us through the dramas of Hans Christian Andersen’s original Little Mermaid. Kevin John Edusei leads the CSO, and Simone Lamsma, whose playing is “absolutely stunning” (Chicago Tribune), returns to perform Korngold’s gorgeously cinematic Violin Concerto.

Anna Rakitina, conductor
Sterling Elliott, cello

Russian conductor Anna Rakitina leads works by two composers who have lived with hearing loss—Beethoven, whose hearing struggle began a decade before the premiere of his Fifth Symphony, and British composer Richard Ayres, whose No. 52 explores, in the composer’s words, “one specific subject: Ludwig van Beethoven’s hearing loss and its effect on him.” Soloist Sterling Elliott, in his CSO debut, brings “impeccable technique and musicality” to Dvořák’s Cello Concerto.

Louis Langrée, conductor
Stephen Hough, piano

If there is any symphony that operates like a “double agent,” it is Shostakovich’s Fifth. Having found himself targeted by Stalin, Shostakovich composed himself out of a dangerous situation−with immensely gripping results. Stephen Hough returns for Rachmaninoff and Louis Langrée conducts the first part of a new multi-year work by Icelandic composer Daníel Bjarnason.

CSO Co-Commission by Daníel Bjarnason is made possible by Ann and Harry Santen.

Ramón Tebar, conductor
Steven Banks, saxophone

Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition is an epic musical stroll through an eclectic gallery of paintings, from a drawing of unhatched dancing chickens to an image of towering city gates. Originally for piano, Ravel’s version for orchestra adds a bursting palette of instrumental color. Saxophonist Steven Banks, who “has the potential to be one of the transformational musicians of the 21st century,” plays a new concerto by GRAMMY-winning pianist and composer Billy Childs.

Matthias Pintscher, conductor

If Mahler’s symphonies are like worlds, the Seventh is like the universe in a single night. Patterned in gigantic symmetry, the opening and closing movements are packed with enormous sounds, each like symphonies in themselves. The interior music is lighter by contrast, pivoting at the center with a ghostly dance. CSO Creative Partner Matthias Pintscher returns to conduct the huge orchestral forces needed for Mahler’s dusk-to-dawn universe, from clanging cowbells to titanic brass.

Sponsored by Peter Landgren and Judith Schonbach Landgren.