Cincinnati May Festival
Encyclopedia
The Cincinnati May Festival is a two-week annual choral festival, held during the last two weekends in May in Cincinnati
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...

, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

, USA. The festival's roots go back to the 1840s, when Saengerfest
Saengerfest
Saengerfest, also Sängerbund-Fest, Sängerfeste, or Sängerfest, meaning singer festival, is a competition of Sängerbunds, or singer groups, with prizes for the best group or groups. Participants number in the hundreds and thousands, and the fest is usually accompanied by a parade and other...

s
were held in that city, bringing singers from all over the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and abroad to perform large scale classical works of the day. A hall was built specifically for the annual event. The growth of the choral tradition in the midwest is largely due to this festival, a representation of the effects of the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 immigration
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...

 to the United States during this period.

By the 1870s, the Saengerfest was the most important festival in the Midwest
Midwestern United States
The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....

. The most popular orchestral conductor of that era was Theodore Thomas
Theodore Thomas
Theodore Thomas may refer to:*Theodore Thomas , American violinist and conductor*Theodore Thomas , American politician, Chicago alderman*Theodore Thomas , American film director and producer...

, who would later found the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1891, the Symphony makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival...

. He served as the first full music director of the May Music festival. The old Saengerfest hall was demolished and a new hall built in 1878, just in time for the 1878 May Festival. The Music Hall (Cincinnati)
Music Hall (Cincinnati)
Music Hall, completed in 1878, is Cincinnati's premier classical music performance hall. It serves as the home for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Opera, May Festival Chorus, and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra. In January, 1975, it was recognized as a National Historic Landmark by the...

 still stands today and is one of the oldest and largest concert halls in the US.

Thomas returned to Cincinnati for the festival between 1873 and 1904. Between 1905 and 1946, music directors of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
As the fifth oldest orchestra in the United States, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra has a legacy of fine music making as reflected in its performances in historic Music Hall, recordings, and international tours...

 (founded in 1895) also were engaged as music director of the biannual choral festival (Frank Van der Stucken
Frank Van der Stucken
Frank Valentine Van der Stucken was an American composer and conductor, and founder of the Cincinnati Symphony in 1895.-Biography:...

, Ernst Kunwald
Ernst Kunwald
Ernst Kunwald was an Austrian conductor.Ernst Kunwald was born and died in Vienna. He studied law at the University of Vienna, earning his Dr. Juris in 1891. He also studied piano with Teodor Leszetycki and composition with Hermann Graedener...

, Eugène Ysaÿe
Eugène Ysaÿe
Eugène Ysaÿe was a Belgian violinist, composer and conductor born in Liège. He was regarded as "The King of the Violin", or, as Nathan Milstein put it, the "tzar"...

, Fritz Reiner
Fritz Reiner
Frederick Martin “Fritz” Reiner was a prominent conductor of opera and symphonic music in the twentieth century.-Biography:...

, and Eugene Goosens held the reins during those years). Fritz Busch
Fritz Busch
Fritz Busch was a German conductor.Busch was born in Siegen, Province of Westphalia. He held posts conducting opera at Aachen, Stuttgart and Dresden. In 1933 he was dismissed from his post at Dresden because of his opposition to the new Nazi government of Germany...

 and Josef Krips
Josef Krips
Josef Alois Krips was an Austrian conductor and violinist.-Biography:Krips was born in Vienna and went on to become a pupil of Eusebius Mandyczewski and Felix Weingartner. From 1921 to 1924, he served as Weingartner's assistant at the Vienna Volksoper and as répétiteur and chorus master...

 led festivals between 1948 and 1960.

With the appointment of Max Rudolf as director of the festival in 1963, the festival became an annual event in 1967, as it is today. In the 1970s, the centennial of both the festival (1973) and Music Hall (1978) was celebrated with the tenures of Julius Rudel
Julius Rudel
Julius Rudel is an American opera and orchestra conductor who emigrated to the United States from Austria at the age of 17 and studied conducting at the Mannes College of Music in New York City. He then forged a 35-year career with the New York City Opera, from 1944 to 1979, and was the Music...

 (director from 1971 to 1973) and James Levine
James Levine
James Lawrence Levine is an American conductor and pianist. He is currently the music director of the Metropolitan Opera and former music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Levine's first performance conducting the Metropolitan Opera was on June 5, 1971, and as of May 2011 he has...

 (1974 to 1978). James Conlon
James Conlon
James Conlon is an American conductor and the current Music Director of the Los Angeles Opera.-Early years:Conlon grew up in a family of five children on Cherry Street in Douglaston, Queens, New York. His mother, Angeline L. Conlon, was a freelance writer. His father was an assistant to the New...

 became director in 1979.

The festival is responsible for helping to keep the rich choral tradition of the West alive both in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 and North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

. Some of the great choral works of the late 19th and 20th centuries received their American premieres at the festival. Some of the great singers of those centuries performed there as well.

In addition to the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
As the fifth oldest orchestra in the United States, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra has a legacy of fine music making as reflected in its performances in historic Music Hall, recordings, and international tours...

, the main performing group of the May Festival is the May Festival Chorus. The all-volunteer MFC has been under the direction of Robert Porco
Robert Porco
Robert Porco is a noted American director of large choral groups performing orchestral works. He has directed the Cincinnati May Festival Chorus with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra since 1989 along with the Cleveland Orchestra's Blossom Festival Chorus....

 since 1989. The MFC performs regularly with the Cincinnati Symphony and Pops Orchestras, singing at Music Hall (Cincinnati)
Music Hall (Cincinnati)
Music Hall, completed in 1878, is Cincinnati's premier classical music performance hall. It serves as the home for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Opera, May Festival Chorus, and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra. In January, 1975, it was recognized as a National Historic Landmark by the...

 as well as Riverbend Music Center
Riverbend Music Center
Riverbend Music Center is an outdoor amphitheater, with a capacity of 20,500, located in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, along the banks of the Ohio River. Riverbend was built for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, to allow them to play in an outdoor venue during the summer months. Famed architect...

. The MFC has garnered critical acclaim for their high level of performance.

In addition, in 1986 the May Festival Youth Chorus was formed. Made up of youth from area high-schools, the MFYC is conducted by James Bagwell and gives its members (who must audition competitively) the opportunity to perform challenging music well above the average high school level. The MFYC also has the opportunity to perform with the adult May Festival throughout the year, most notably during May Festival.
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