24/25 CSO Season

Dalia Stasevska, conductor  

Bruce Liu, piano

The CSO’s emotional range emerges in Mahler’s First Symphony — a world-building Titan that rises from ethereal beginnings to tectonic eruptions of orchestral light. The finale is truly an enormous treat. Bruce Liu, First Prize Winner of the 18th Chopin International Piano Competition, makes his Music Hall debut with Prokofiev’s colorful and fantastically cinematic Third Piano Concerto. 

Thomas Wilkins, conductor  

Béla Fleck, banjo  

16-time Grammy Award-winner Béla Fleck joins the CSO for a celebration of the American sound. Fleck’s reimagining of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue pays homage to the legendary composer while redefining an all-time classic. Contemporaries Florence Price and Aaron Copland did the same in their time, shaping, contextualizing and creating indelible music that feels like it was always here. Copland’s ballet music to Rodeo, featuring the rip-roaring and instantly recognizable "Hoe-Down," became a new soundtrack to the American West. Florence Price, merging traditional African American themes with the latest music of her day, established a singular voice all her own.

Joshua Bell, violin

Larisa Martínez, voice
Peter Dugan, piano

Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell and renowned soprano Larisa Martínez are joined by celebrated pianist Peter Dugan for “Voice and the Violin,” an evening of beloved romantic arias and modern classics, featuring music by Mendelssohn, Bernstein, Puccini and more.

Subscribe to 12 or more concerts and select a CSO Recital Series performance for FREE! Subscribe to 18 concerts and select TWO free.

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra does not appear on CSO Recital Series performances. Recitals not eligible for subscriber exchange or voucher redemption. Free recital(s) for 12+ subscribers will be seated in a location of the same or lesser value as their subscription.

Ramón Tebar, conductor

Benjamin Beilman, violin

Sibelius’s First Symphony arrives with the composer’s icy and expansive musical language fully formed, forged from influences by Strauss, Tchaikovsky, Berlioz and Beethoven. Violinist Benjamin Beilman joins the CSO for Saint-Saëns’ Third Concerto, a piece that oozes melodic and technical exuberance. Wang Lu’s Surge bottles the rush of hearing an orchestra for the very first time.

Marek Janowski, conductor

Mozart and Bruckner’s late symphonies explore drama on radically different scales. Mozart’s compact and wonderful Symphony No. 39 opens with plenty of pomp, interweaving effortless genius, elegance, and playfulness to the very end. Taking nearly a decade to write, Brucker’s last symphonic statement is a gloriously vast cathedral of sound built on foundations of infinite brass.

Marin Alsop, conductor

May Festival Chorus

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. 

Carlos Miguel Prieto, conductor

Francesco Piemontesi, piano
Catalina Cuervo, mezzo-soprano

A trio of influencers had hands in creating the Three-Cornered Hat — the impresario Sergei Deaghilev, Pablo Picasso and composer Manuel de Falla. De Falla’s ballet score stands apart, setting a lighthearted story (a love triangle) to dances full to the brim with Spanish flair and castanets. Gabriela Ortiz’s Téenek transcends place and time, and pianist Francesco Piemontesi joins the CSO for Beethoven’s gentle and poetic Piano Concert No. 4.

Sir Andrew Davis, conductor

Joélle Harvey, soprano

Jennifer Johnson Cano, mezzo-soprano

Paul Groves, tenor

John Relyea, bass

May Festival Chorus

The trumpet shall sound. Join the CSO, the May Festival Chorus with Director of Choruses Matthew Swanson, and an all-star cast of soloists for the return of Messiah to Music Hall. Sir Andrew Davis leads a true-to-original edition of the Handel’s masterwork, bringing out the glories of movements like the Hallelujah Chorus with sparklingly highlights from the entire Orchestra — an uplifting event for making forever and ever holiday memories.

Matthias Pintscher, conductor

George Li, piano

Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto churns with uber-romantic melodies and Unsuk Chin’s music delights in contrasts. Copland’s last symphony, ringing with bells and brass, brings us home. The finale builds on Fanfare for the Common Man — an enduring masterpiece written for and premiered by the CSO at Music Hall — signaling the culmination and convergence of the composer’s entire career.

Hilary Hahn, violin

Violinist Hillary Hahn’s playing is “at once impetuous and authoritative, brilliant and beautiful,” (The New York Times). The 3-time Grammy Award-winner returns to Music Hall for the first time since 2016 to perform timeless solo works by Johann Sebastian Bach.

Subscribe to 12 or more concerts and select a CSO Recital Series performance for FREE! Subscribe to 18 concerts and select TWO free.

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra does not appear on CSO Recital Series performances. Recitals not eligible for subscriber exchange or voucher redemption. Free recital(s) for 12+ subscribers will be seated in a location of the same or lesser value as their subscription.

Christian Reif, conductor
Ilya Finkelshteyn, cello

The richness and beauty of the cello comes through brilliantly when CSO Principal Cello Ilya Finkelshteyn plays the spellbinding melodies of Saint-Saëns’ firework First Concerto. The magical evening ties-in music by Mozart and Jimmy Lopez Bellido, each inspired by fairy tales. Prokofiev’s poignant and profound orchestral farewell provides a thrilling showpiece for the entire Orchestra.

Jun Märkl, conductor

Elizabeth Freimuth, horn

Till Eulenspiegel follows the exploits of a noted trickster — but doesn’t fool around — the super virtuosic work is a freewheeling tour de force for every member of the Orchestra, beginning with a famous French horn solo. CSO Principal Horn Elizabeth Freimuth steps into the spotlight with a popular early concerto by Strauss and Debussy’s impressionistic Images create the musical equivalent of a Monet masterpiece.

Cristian Măcelaru, conductor

Randall Goosby, violin

Dvořák’s New World Symphony moves with magnificent energies and melodies that feel like home. Hearing it performed by the CSO at Music Hall is a must-have experience. Randall Goosby, a new champion of Florence Price’s solo works, returns for the composer’s Second Violin Concerto plus Chausson’s most popular work. Selections from Wynton Marsalis Blues Symphony trace the blueprints of a quintessential American style.

John Storgårds, conductor

Gil Shaham, violin

This Valentine’s weekend, fall in love with the intensity and driving pulse of Brahms’ last symphony, an exhilarating bouquet of heart-on-sleeve melodies and relentless passion. Violin virtuoso Gil Shaham brings his signature joy and pitch-perfect technique to Dvořák’s Violin Concerto and conductor John Storgårds returns, starting the program with the CSO premiere of music by Victoria Polevá.

Conrad Tao, piano

Conrad Tao is a Cincinnati fan favorite at this point. The pianist-composer returns for an all-solo program playing Debussy studies by the book, a shimmery reimagining of Schumann’s haunting music for a weeping bride, and one of Tao’s own explosive explorations of the piano’s far-reaching potential.

Subscribe to 12 or more concerts and select a CSO Recital Series performance for FREE! Subscribe to 18 concerts and select TWO free.

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra does not appear on CSO Recital Series performances. Recitals not eligible for subscriber exchange or voucher redemption. Free recital(s) for 12+ subscribers will be seated in a location of the same or lesser value as their subscription.

Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor

Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha, soprano

Take a musical tour of Rome with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Two of Respighi’s epic showpieces bring rushing fountains, towering pines, mysterious catacombs, and triumphant Roman legions to Music Hall. Richard Strauss’ final work, four hauntingly beautiful last songs, sing of acceptance, transformation, and fruition at the end of one’s long journey.

John Morris Russell, conductor
Classical Roots Community Choir

Love and community ring throughout Music Hall when the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Classical Roots Community Choir and Nouveau Program celebrate a much-beloved Queen City tradition. JMR leads an inspirational program — an evening of powerful performances that will fill your heart with joy and bring you to your feet!

Keitaro Harada, conductor

Anne Akiko Meyers, violin

Rimsky-Korsakov’s Sheherazade, based on the legendary stories of One Thousand and One Nights, is a wild ride full of big moments for brass plus a famous violin solo for CSO Concertmaster Stefani Matsuo. Arturo Márquez’ Fandango pays tribute to dances of Mexico, performed here by Anne Akiko Meyers, the soloist it was written for. Yuzo Toyama’s Rhapsody centers on folk songs from his native Japan.

Sir Donald Runnicles, conductor
Maria Ioudenitch, violin

Sir Donald Runnicles leads a peak Orchestral experience. Violinist Maria Ioudenitch brings elegance and poise to Mendelssohn’s soaring violin concerto. Strauss’ An Alpine Symphony follows the path of a mountain ascent, from dawn until night, through mist and storms, darkness and unfathomable heights, taking you to another world from the very first chords. Where it leads is nothing less than a total exploration of the possibilities of sound and the CSO at Music Hall.

Case Scaglione, conductor

Simone Lamsma, violin

Beethoven’s symphonies are revolutionary, genre-defining triumphs. The Third, originally titled “Bonaparte,” in dedication to Napoleon, creates a conquering storm that doesn’t resolve until the very end. Soloist Simone Lamsma returns for Max Bruch’s astonishingly beautiful and ultra-challenging First Violin Concerto and the CSO begins with Lili Boulanger’s introspective ode to spring.

Jaap van Zweden, conductor

Conductor Jaap van Zweden leads the CSO in Mahler’s colossal Sixth Symphony. From the first ominous beat of the strings, the work builds to shocking intensity, full of soaring melodies and towering brass, abruptly contrasted by profoundly sweet interludes. It’s all the drama you need. In time, Mahler’s whole heartfelt world becomes obliterated by cataclysmic hammerblows.

Damon Gupton, conductor

Michelle Cann, piano

Grieg’s Piano Concerto is a jewel that dazzles from every angle. One of the most famous and enjoyable works of all time, its radiant charms shine in the hands of pianist and former MAC Music Innovator Michelle Cann. Pops Principal Guest Conductor, Damon Gupton leads the CSO in a treasure trove of evocative works, from Dvořák's symphonic poem of Slavic mythology to Duke Ellington’s many hues.