“Founded in 1873, the May Festival is being re-imagined for 2017,” writes Aaron Epple in Wednesday’s (5/17) Journal-News (Middletown, OH). The festival is “anchored by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the all-volunteer May Festival Chorus.” After the festival’s longtime music director James Conlon stepped down last year, “ ‘We took the opportunity of a gap year to talk to new conductors, [community engagement coordinator Matthew] Swanson said…. ‘We have a new creative partner, Gerard McBurney (a composer and former creative director for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra). He and his video collaborator are going to incorporate projection, lighting and visible changes (to the Taft Theatre)…. Furthermore, the festival this year will feature four conductors instead of just one, leading to a diverse repertoire that includes Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Mendelssohn’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream,’ Edward Elgar’s ‘The Dream of Gerontius,’ Bach’s B Minor Mass and others…. The festival’s multimedia approach … will also include actors onstage … during ‘The Midsummer Night’s Dream.’ ” Swanson attributes the festival’s success to “the music programs in Cincinnati.… The schools, churches, and community programs are the ones that teach young people about choral music…. The bedrock is the festival chorus itself.”
Posted May 19, 2017
