An entirely new vision announced for Cincinnati's oldest music festival

The May Festival announced details of its 2024 season today. But unlike similar announcements in previous years, this one was far more than an introduction to the festival’s musical lineup. In many ways, in fact, it was the presentation of an entirely new vision of the May Festival.

A “new artistic model” is the description preferred by Steven Sunderman, May Festival executive director. However you choose to describe the changes – and they are vast – they are intended to reinvigorate the 151-year-old festival, billed as “the oldest choral festival in the Western Hemisphere.”

“For a lot of years we didn’t make many changes here,” explained Sunderman. “So maybe we’re just playing a little bit of catch-up now. The world moves at a much faster pace today. So we decided that the way we think about ourselves has to change, too. We need to become more innovative, more relevant, more creative.”

But when May rolls around, how will all of this talk of newness manifest itself on the Music Hall stage?

The most significant aspect of the new model is in the festival’s artistic leadership. For most of its history, the May Festival engaged music directors for an indefinite tenure. James Conlon, for instance, led for 37 years, from 1979 to 2016.

The new look for Cincinnati May Festival

Beginning this year, though, a festival director will curate the performances for a single season. This year, the director is Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Julia Wolfe. But in subsequent years, the director could be a singer or instrumental musician.

“Or,” added Sunderman, “it could be a stage director or actor. Or a visual artist. Or a designer.”

So each year, presentations will reflect the aesthetic values of a different creative artist. Ideally, this formula will introduce Cincinnati audiences to a vastly expanded range of music, musical artists and stage productions.

“I think this will be great for the orchestra and chorus,” said Sunderman. “And great for the audiences.”

Engaging Wolfe to become the first of this new breed of festival directors was an enlightened move. At 65, she is a well-established composer, winner of a Pulitzer Prize (for 2015’s “Anthracite Fields”) and a 2016 MacArthur Fellowship, known popularly as a “genius grant.” And given her proclivity for musical collaborations, she can tap into a rich vein of connections throughout the music world.

“I have to be honest,” said Wolfe, speaking by phone from her mother’s home in Pennsylvania. “I was not familiar at all with the May Festival. I know Louis (Langree) and the Cincinnati Symphony. But the May Festival was new to me. Once I started learning about it, though, I couldn’t wait to say ‘yes.’”

May Festival 2024 schedule

We’ll hear several of Wolfe’s works in the course of the festival – “Anthracite Fields,” “Her Story,” “Pretty” and the world premiere of a new choral fanfare titled “All That Breathes.” Also included in the festival, which runs May 17-25, are works by Michael Gordon (“Natural History”) and David Lang (“The National Anthems”).

Wolfe’s influence will also be felt in the roster of guest performers. Among them are soprano Camilla Tilling, tenor Nicholas Phan, the all-female Lorelei Ensemble, the Steiger Butte Singers from Chiloquin, Oregon, and the Bang on a Can All-Stars, co-founded by Wolfe in 1992.

The “new” festival won’t be completely devoid of musical warhorses. This year, there will be Haydn’s “The Creation,” Fauré’s “Requiem” and Vaughan Williams’ “Dona nobis pacem.”

This spring’s guest conductors are Teddy Abrams, Stephanie Childress and François López-Ferrer, son of former CSO music director Jesús López-Cobos and himself a former associate conductor of the CSO and the May Festival.

Director of choruses Robert Porco will also conduct and be the featured guest at “Bob’s Big Sing: A May Festival Reunion” on March 23. The event commemorates Porco’s 35 years leading the May Festival Chorus. When he retires at the end of this year’s festival, he will be replaced by Matthew Swanson, currently the chorus’ associate director.

You can find more detailed information about the 2024 May Festival at mayfestival.com or by calling 513-381-3300.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati May Festival 2024 season will launch entirely new vision