Jennifer Koh is a prolific champion of new works and stars in the premiere of a CSO co-commission by “Brooklyn’s post-millennial Mozart,” Missy Mazzoli. The May Festival Chorus makes a triumphant return to Music Hall for Mozart’s poignant Mass, taking us from anxiety and darkness to glorious transfiguration.

JMR and the Pops join with three powerhouse vocalists to pay R-E-S-P-E-C-T to Aretha Franklin, “the #1 singer of all time” (Rolling Stone). Come celebrate the life and music of an American icon featuring your favorite hits from the Queen of Soul!

GRAMMY Award-winning Eighth Blackbird joins the CSO for a premiere from
Kinds of Kings, a U.S.-based composer collective amplifying and advocating for underrepresented voices. A new fanfare by Wynton Marsalis shows off the Orchestra’s brass, and Symphonie fantastique completes the concert with a delirious dream fueled by Berlioz’s obsessive passion and unrequited love.

One night only! Experience the extraordinary talent of Grammy® Emmy® and Tony® Award-winning actress and singer Cynthia Erivo. After bursting onto West End and Broadway stages in THE COLOR PURPLE, she has taken the world by storm! Erivo wowed Cincinnati audiences at Classical Roots in 2017, and, back by popular demand, she now brings her powerful and soul-stirring vocals to Music Hall’s stage, reuniting with JMR for her Cincinnati Pops debut!

Prokofiev’s powerful hymn to humanity anchors a program featuring the CSO debuts of conductor Kazushi Ōno and star pianist Seong-Jin Cho. The vivid musical imagery of Japanese composer Tōru Takemitsu sets the stage for Bartók’s airy and virtuosic Piano Concerto No. 3.

Powerhouse pianist Yefim Bronfman returns to the CSO with Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3. Julia Adolphe’s premiere evokes the power of nature and its malleable, playful, childlike qualities. With La Mer let your imagination soar—Debussy’s masterful use of orchestral colors makes this impressionistic work a perpetual audience favorite.

We're celebrating 10 years of JMR by pulling out all the stops—and the stars, including Broadway's Brian Stokes Mitchell, vocalist Tatiana Mayfield and Over the Rhine! Enjoy music from every genre, including iconic movie themes, pop, classics, Broadway and jazz, plus a cache of musical memories. We'll also look ahead with a new work commissioned from Grammy Award-winning composer Eric Whitacre.

Rachmaninoff’s lush and romantic Second Symphony uses the full force of the orchestra to deliver one of the most popular symphonic works. Opening the concert is a world premiere by French composer Guillaume Connesson, written for CSO Principal Oboe Dwight Parry.

Louis Langrée calls Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony “a cathedral of sound—spiritual, soaring and transcendent." The concert opens with a new work by Gabriela Ortiz, identified by NPR as “one of Mexico’s most sought-after classical composers,” whose musical language stems from her heritage and yet is all her own.