As we near the end of the 2021–22 season, we reflect upon our first complete season of activity following the onset of the pandemic, and there is much to celebrate.

It was during Dwight Parry’s debriefing after performing Richard Strauss’s Oboe Concerto with the CSO in 2017 when talks turned to commissioning a new work for the orchestra’s principal oboist.

Even Gabriela Ortiz admits that her music is not an obvious pairing with Bruckner. “I truly respect him as a composer,” she says. “But Bruckner’s music is very far from my own.”

If viewers could see behind the scenes, they would see the equivalent of a chamber orchestra working to deliver every aspect of the livestream. The work begins weeks before the broadcast and involves meticulous planning.

This year’s Classical Roots concert explores the music and history of Black theater across different eras and from multiple dramatic forms. With such a broad topic, how did John Morris Russell narrow down the options? He started with inspiration from the rich musical history of Cincinnati.

Conductor Antoine T. Clark aims to be known as an innovator in the classical music world, and he is taking steps in the right direction. Recently named as the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s 2022 MAC Music Innovator, Clark...

With the conclusion of the 2021–22 season, the Cincinnati Symphony and Pops Orchestra congratulates four musicians on their retirements. Violist Paul Frankenfeld, cellist Susan Marshall Petersen, bassist Matt Zory and violinist Lois Reid Johnson served the Orchestra for a combined 164 years.

View the full isue of Fanfare Cincinnati.