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

Embark on a musical journey from the bright and sunny to the stormy and emotionally exhilarating. The CSO Chamber Players bring to life Gounod’s delightful Petite symphonie, Schumann’s frenetic Piano Quartet and Beethoven’s tempestuous String Quintet, aptly nicknamed Sturm ("Storm").

Michael Francis, conductor

Behzod Abduraimov, piano

Michael Francis leads Vaughan Williams' war-torn Sixth Symphony 150 years after the English composer’s birth. Pianist Behzod Abduraimov shares his “prodigious technique and rhapsodic flair” (The New York Times) in Rachmaninoff’s variations on an iconic melody by legendary violinist-composer Paganini—a brilliant showcase of stunning moments and orchestral thrills. Panufnik's trumpet fanfare signals the start of the program, while Ives' somber trumpet ponders the "perennial question of existence.”

Join JMR, the Pops and audience favorite Michael Feinstein for a tour through the life and songs of Judy Garland, in honor of her 100th birthday. Enjoy big screen film clips, never-before-seen photos, rare audio recordings, good humor and, of course, great music. We’ll explore Judy’s early career through her trip over the rainbow, her time on TV and the unforgettable concert years—with songs you know and love like "Get Happy," "Over the Rainbow," and more.

Gather the family and buckle your seatbelts for a road trip across America! With selections representing the musical mosaic of our country, you can experience the American Southwest through Copland's "Hoe-Down" from Rodeo, our very own Midwest through Henry Mancini's Ohio Riverboat, the American South through The Charleston and more!

Ideal for children, ages or ability of 2-9! Tickets are $10 for kids and $15 for adults—come early for crafts, activities and more.

Dalia Stasevska, conductor

Esther Yoo, violin

The talents of CSO musicians are on full display in Bartók's Concerto, the epitome of an orchestra showpiece. Similarly, it’s “easy to see what all the fuss is about” (The Guardian) when guest soloist Esther Yoo performs Sibelius’ Violin Concerto. Principal Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra Dalia Stasevska leads the program, beginning with inventive music that composer Missy Mazzoli says is “in the shape of a solar system."

Elim Chan, conductor

Conrad Tao, piano

Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto, an engine of lush melodies, churning energies and Russian romanticism, is performed by pianist Conrad Tao. Elgar's Enigma Variations are sketches of his dear friends, each containing, as Elgar noted, "a distinct idea founded on some particular personality." Elim Chan, “an impressive young conductor who makes an occasion of orchestral writing” (The New York Times), takes us through each heartfelt journey.

Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor

Michelle Cann, piano

Treble Voices of the May Festival Chorus, Robert Porco, director

Holst’s The Planets has a gravity all its own—from the merciless rhythms of Mars to the magnificence of Jupiter. Caroline Shaw’s The Observatory acts like a musical telescope—in her words, exploring "some very large spaces…chaos and clarity.” Michelle Cann, former CSO MAC Music Innovator and featured soloist on the 20th anniversary of Classical Roots, is known for delivering “knockout” performances (Philadelphia Inquirer), and shines in music by Gershwin.

CSO Co-Commission by Caroline Shaw is made possible by Irwin and Melinda Simon.

It’s not the holidays until it’s Holiday Pops! Experience the splendor of Music Hall decked out like a winter wonderland, and feel the warmth as JMR and the Pops perform beloved holiday classics. The Annie Moses Band, who wowed Pops audiences at Riverbend last summer, adds to the joy that makes Holiday Pops the perfect tradition.

30 years after the defeat of the Empire, a new threat has arisen. The Resistance and unlikely heroes are the galaxy’s only hope at thwarting a new reign of evil. Star Wars: The Force Awakens, with the full forces of the Cincinnati Pops performing John Williams’ Oscar-nominated score live to the complete, acclaimed film.

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.

Thomas Søndergård, conductor

Augustin Hadelich, violin

It’s no surprise to Cincinnati audiences that “the essence of Hadelich’s playing is beauty” (The Washington Post). Experience the inimitable violinist’s return in Britten's Violin Concerto along with esteemed Danish conductor Thomas Søndergård’s CSO debut. Themes of Sibelius’ Second Symphony coalesce into sparkling waves of sound for the work's breathtaking finale.

The performance of Ethel Smyth's On the Cliffs of Cornwall is made possible by a generous gift from James and Linda Miller.       

The appearance of Augustin Hadelich is made possible by an endowed gift to the Fund for Great Artists by Mr. and Mrs. Joseph S. Stern, Jr.

Louis Langrée, conductor

Pekka Kuusisto, violin

Camilla Tilling, soprano (Solveig)
May Festival Chorus, Robert Porco, director
Concert Theatre Works, Bill Barclay, director

A Norwegian fairy tale comes to life in Music Hall with a concert-theatre production of Grieg’s enchanting score to Ibsen’s play, created and directed by Bill Barclay, former Director of Music at Shakespeare's Globe. Louis Langrée leads the Orchestra and cast, including soprano Camilla Tilling and the May Festival Chorus. Bjarnason’s Violin Concerto opens the program with whimsical whistling by soloist Pekka Kuusisto, for whom the concerto was written.

Beautiful and melancholic, Penderecki’s Quartet for Clarinet and String Trio opens a program featuring some of the most impassioned music ever written for chamber ensembles. From Harbison’s Quintet for Winds to Penderecki’s Duo Concertante and Brahms’ String Quartet in B-flat Major, revel in the chatter between winds and strings and the tender melodic lines only Brahms can conjure.

Louis Langrée, conductor

Randall Goosby, violin

Julia Perry’s Homunculus C.F. starts off whisper-quiet, tinkering in a laboratory of percussion. The program’s crescendo builds with Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto and acclaimed American soloist Randall Goosby—an artist with “exquisite tone and sheer virtuosity” (The New York Times). The concert reaches its zenith in Prokofiev’s Third Symphony as the muscle of the Orchestra is unleashed to its brassy and boisterous max.

The appearance of Randall Goosby is made possible by the Vicky and Rick Reynolds Fund for Diverse Artists.

Gabriel Kahane, composer and voice
Nathalie Joachim & Alex Sopp, flute and voice
Holcombe Waller, guitar and synth

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.

These CSO Proof performances are supported by The Haile Foundation, Irwin & Melinda Simon, and the American Orchestras’ Futures Fund, a program of the League of American Orchestras made possible by funding from the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation.

Romantic themes that stand the test of time? Check. Epic moments so powerful they give you goosebumps? Oh, absolutely. Join us for a spectacular orchestral mixtape featuring some of Tchaikovsky’s greatest hits, including The Sleeping Beauty, selections from Swan Lake, and of course, the 1812 Overture.

Louis Langrée, conductor

Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano

Louis Langrée leads works inspired by a fusion of cultures. Qigang Chen and GRAMMY-nominated Chinese-American composer Zhou Tian discover new sounds through the combination of Eastern and Western styles. Ravel, who cherished Liszt’s music, pulls from his Basque heritage for Rapsodie espagnole. French Pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, celebrated for playing with “both clarity and freedom” (The New York Times), returns for Liszt’s jubilant Second Concerto.

Louis Langrée, conductor

Elizabeth Freimuth, horn

Richard Strauss conducted Death and Transfiguration at Music Hall in 1904. More than a century later, Louis Langrée and the CSO once again bring Strauss’ vivid musical image of the infinite to Music Hall. The program features Elizabeth Freimuth, the CSO’s Principal Horn, and an expansive world premiere by ascendant American composer Samuel Adams.

In 2018, Marvel Studios’ Black Panther quickly became a global sensation and cultural phenomenon, showing a new dimension of what superhero films could be. Rolling Stone raved, “The film lights up the screen with a full-throttle blast of action and fun. That’s to be expected. But what sneaks up and floors you is the film’s racial conscience and profound, astonishing beauty.” Now you can relive the excitement of T’Challa becoming king and battling Killmonger all while the Cincinnati Pops performs Ludwig Göransson’s Oscar-winning score live to picture.

Kevin John Edusei, conductor

Simone Lamsma, violin

Mermaid tales inspired thrilling musical adventures from Mendelssohn and Zemlinsky. Mendelssohn’s work is brief but fiery, while Zemlinsky’s Die Seejungfrau takes us through the dramas of Hans Christian Andersen’s original Little Mermaid. Kevin John Edusei leads the CSO, and Simone Lamsma, whose playing is “absolutely stunning” (Chicago Tribune), returns to perform Korngold’s gorgeously cinematic Violin Concerto.

Anna Rakitina, conductor

Sterling Elliott, cello

Russian conductor Anna Rakitina leads works by two composers who have lived with hearing loss—Beethoven, whose hearing struggle began a decade before the premiere of his Fifth Symphony, and British composer Richard Ayres, whose No. 52 explores, in the composer’s words, “one specific subject: Ludwig van Beethoven’s hearing loss and its effect on him.” Soloist Sterling Elliott, in his CSO debut, brings “impeccable technique and musicality” to Dvořák’s Cello Concerto.

When the orchestra is ready to begin their concert and suddenly discover the Maestro is nowhere to be found they begin to panic. Thankfully the world's greatest detective is available and agrees to take the case.

All the musicians are suspects and thus Sherlock Holmes must investigate each of the instrument families to deduce who is behind this mystery.

Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Missing Maestro features classical and modern orchestral favorites while teaching the audience about the different instrument families of the orchestra. Will Sherlock be able to solve the mystery of who kidnapped the Maestro?

Rosie Herrera Dance Theatre
Rosie Herrera, choreographer
Clyde Scott, video and production designer
Luke Kritzeck, lighting and production designer

Choreographer Rosie Herrera wants you to imagine that, after a night of gleefully overindulging in absinthe cocktails, filmmaker Federico Fellini stumbles down an alley in old Havana. A door cracks open and music washes over him like a sticky sunrise in September. He steps inside into a primordial soup of neon and sound and tropical heat. A wild undercurrent pulses through the room, whispering that anything (and everything) might happen.

These CSO Proof performances are supported by The Haile Foundation, Irwin & Melinda Simon, and the American Orchestras’ Futures Fund, a program of the League of American Orchestras made possible by funding from the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation.

Louis Langrée, conductor

Stephen Hough, piano

If there is any symphony that operates like a “double agent,” it is Shostakovich's Fifth. Having found himself targeted by Stalin, Shostakovich composed himself out of a dangerous situation−with immensely gripping results. Stephen Hough returns for Rachmaninoff and Louis Langrée conducts the first part of a new multi-year work by Icelandic composer Daníel Bjarnason.

CSO Co-Commission by Daníel Bjarnason is made possible by Ann and Harry Santen.

John Morris Russell, conductor

Classical Roots Community Choir

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

Ramón Tebar, conductor

Steven Banks, saxophone

Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition is an epic musical stroll through an eclectic gallery of paintings, from a drawing of unhatched dancing chickens to an image of towering city gates. Originally for piano, Ravel’s version for orchestra adds a bursting palette of instrumental color. Saxophonist Steven Banks, who “has the potential to be one of the transformational musicians of the 21st century,” plays a new concerto by GRAMMY-winning pianist and composer Billy Childs.

Schumann and Schubert, titans and virtuosos of chamber music, are at the pinnacle of their writing in this program. Schumann called his string quartet a “beautiful and even abstrusely woven conversation among four people” while Schubert’s Octet explores a deeply rich and melodic tale that ends in a rhythmic dance of joviality.

Matthias Pintscher, conductor

If Mahler’s symphonies are like worlds, the Seventh is like the universe in a single night. Patterned in gigantic symmetry, the opening and closing movements are packed with enormous sounds, each like symphonies in themselves. The interior music is lighter by contrast, pivoting at the center with a ghostly dance. CSO Creative Partner Matthias Pintscher returns to conduct the huge orchestral forces needed for Mahler’s dusk-to-dawn universe, from clanging cowbells to titanic brass.

Sponsored by Peter Landgren and Judith Schonbach Landgren.

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.

JMR and the Pops wrap up the 22/23 season with a Broadway musical reimagined for the concert hall! The brainchild of renowned writing team Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens, Ragtime, which follows three pursuits of the American Dream, became an instant classic. Nominated for 13 Tony Awards and two GRAMMY Awards in 1998, the show beat out The Lion King for the Tony for Best Original Score. Now you can experience the celebrated smash hit in a whole new way—in concert with the Cincinnati Pops!

Louis Langrée, conductor

Víkingur Ólafsson, piano

Louis Langrée and the CSO explore works that have sounds all their own. Berlioz's music from an unfinished opera adds voices in extreme ranges. Through darkest doubt and brightest love, the music expresses Saint-Saëns' entire being and his skill as an organist with moments that pull out all the stops. Pianist Víkingur Ólafsson, “an arresting artist who…creates unique aural landscapes” (LA Times), debuts with Ravel's Concerto in G Major for Piano and Orchestra.

Inspired by the Book of Revelations, Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time was written while the composer was in a prisoner-of-war camp during the early days of World War II. Composed based on the instruments available to him at the time, each movement of the piece relates to the apocalyptic literature and the quartet’s fury unfolds alongside hauntingly beautiful patches of ethereal wonder. Opening the program is Bozza's complex and virtuosic duet for bassoons and Brahms' Horn Trio, his only dedicated chamber work for the horn.

Louis Langrée, conductor

Courtney Bryan, piano and composer

Louis Langrée and the CSO end the 22/23 season with jazz-infused musical visions. New Orleans native Courtney Bryan, “a pianist and composer of panoramic interests” (The New York Times), premieres her new concerto. Milhaud's opening music evokes African folk mythology while Duke Ellington, who was both a prolific composer and famed jazz pianist, summons musical images of night creatures. Gershwin closes the program by dropping you into the sights and sounds of Parisian streets.

The CSO is grateful to Kari and Jonathan Ullman for their support of the Courtney Bryan Co-Commission.