JMR and the Pops open the new season with a powerful celebration of iconic divas of soul, pop, Broadway, R&B, jazz, opera and gospel that'll blow the roof off Music Hall. Experience some of the most popular songs made famous by the likes of Adele, Aretha Franklin, Carole King, Dolly Parton, Whitney Houston and others. Three powerhouse singers join the Pops for an inspiring display of vocal fireworks sure to make you say, “I’m with HER!”

Typically a composer responds to a director’s ideas in a film scoring capacity, or a filmmaker is given music to respond to visually, but Sun Dogs explores how stories can be told with music and film from equal footing.

Academy Award, Emmy and GRAMMY-winning artist, actor, author, and activist, Common joins the Pops and Principal Guest Conductor Damon Gupton for a special one-night-only performance! After dazzling a sold-out crowd with the CSO at Classical Roots in 2016, the legendary R&B and hip-hop icon takes the stage at Music Hall to make his debut with the Pops.

MISSY MAZZOLI: Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres)

JEAN SIBELIUS: Violin Concerto

BÉLA BARTÓK: Concerto for Orchestra

CAROLINE SHAW: The Observatory [CSO Co-Commission]

GEORGE GERSHWIN: Rhapsody No. 2 for Piano and Orchestra

GUSTAV HOLST: The Planets

Damon Gupton and the Pops give the holidays an afterglow and keep the celebration going into the New Year! Quiana Lynell, “a vocalist comfortable and commanding in styles including pop, jazz classics and the blues” (DownBeat), makes her Cincinnati Pops debut with timeless classics from the Billie Holiday songbook—songs like "I Cover the Waterfront," "Lady Sings the Blues," and "In My Solitude."

JULIA PERRY: Homunculus CF

PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY: Violin Concerto

SERGEI PROKOFIEV: Symphony No. 3

Do you remember your brain before the internet? Before you became tethered to a tiny computer that travels on an infinite loop from nightstand to pocket to purse to your hand and back again? Were your dreams different? Did you wander the streets of a strange city, and did you delight in the terror of getting lost? In a new song cycle, Gabriel Kahane examines our cultural and economic obsessions with convenience and efficiency, and the debts that accrue as a result: debts to labor, to the planet, to privacy and, increasingly, to our free will.

QIGANG CHEN: The Five Elements

FRANZ LISZT: Piano Concerto No. 2

ZHOU TIAN: The Palace of Nine Perfections

MAURICE RAVEL: Rapsodie espagnole

FELIX MENDELSSOHN: Die schöne Melusine ("The Fair Melusine")

ERICH WOLFGANG KORNGOLD: Violin Concerto

ALEXANDER VON ZEMLINSKY: Die Seejungfrau ("The Mermaid")

After a sold-out performance with the Pops in 2017, Ben Folds is back! Widely regarded as one of the major music influencers of our generation, this genre-bending, multi-platinum selling artist brings his brilliant lyrics, moving melodies, and clever wit for this one-night-only performance.

DARIUS MILHAUD: La création du monde ("The Creation of the World")

COURTNEY BRYAN: Piano Concerto [World Premiere, (orchestral version), CSO Co-Commission]
DUKE ELLINGTON: Night Creature

GEORGE GERSHWIN: An American in Paris (ed. Clague)