In the summer of 2004, an unknown African-American tenor starred in Cincinnati Opera’s production of The Daughter of the Regiment, best known for the killer aria “Ah! Mes Amis!” with its nine high C notes. Lawrence Brownlee made it sound effortless, spinning off octave jumps with crystalline purity and laser-like accuracy. When he finished, there was a split second of silence verging on disbelief — followed by pandemonium.  

We said farewell to Paavo Jarvi and now venerable maestro James Conlon takes the helm for 2011’s May Festival, the annual choral extravaganza featuring the CSO, the May Festival Chorus and a host of world-class soloists. The festival opens with Verdi’s Requiem, a classic work as dramatic as any of Verdi’s operas.  

In 2003, Susan Haugh founded Dreams of Hope, “A Creative and Performing Arts Group For Queer Youth and Allies.” Haugh’s commitment is grounded in her experience as a music and dance teacher in Pittsburgh’s public schools. Haugh has been out lesbian since her teens.  

High school is a minefield for anyone who deviates, as any LGBT student will tell you. Despite the surge in anti-bullying workshops, a distressingly high number of incidents target LGBT youth in school and online, with equally distressing results: drug and alcohol abuse, school drop outs and suicide. Susan Haugh was one of a handful of early responders. In 2003, she founded Dreams of Hope, “A Creative and Performing Arts Group For Queer Youth and Allies.”   

We’re down to Paavo Jarvi's last two weekends with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and following this Saturday night's performance, the CSO presents its eighth annual Gay Pride event, dubbed "Out on the Town." The LGBT community, along with friends and supporters, are invited to the after-party in Music Hall's Grand Foyer. Singer/songwriter Cybele provides the entertainment and the refreshments are complimentary.  

Pianist Stewart Goodyear made his debut with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in 2004 with an electrifying performance of Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. He’s been back twice, but this weekend Goodyear returns not only as a soloist, but as a featured composer. The CSO will perform his fanfare Count Up.  

American Negro Spirituals are one of American history’s great ironies. “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” “Go Down, Moses” and “The Battle of Jericho” are among the world’s most beloved melodies, created in the harsh, degrading reality of slavery. We love these songs, but do we really know them?  

It's a law of choral singing that solo voices never stand out, but for once soloists take center stage as MUSE, Cincinnati's Women's Choir, presents a cabaret fund-raiser at Below Zero Lounge (1122 Walnut St., Over-the-Rhine). MUSE is internationally acclaimed for its unique sound and you can hear some of the talents who contribute to that extraordinary blend.  

America's musical heritage starts with Negro Spirituals, says Dr. Everett McCorvey, founder and director of the internationally acclaimed American Spiritual Ensemble. "I call Spirituals the mother music, an art form truly founded in this country," he says. American Negro Spirituals are one of American history's great ironies. "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" and "Go Down, Moses" are among the world's most beloved melodies, created in the harsh, degrading reality of slavery.  

In 1983, the young maverick director Peter Sellars convinced composer John Adams to write on opera based on Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to China. "I realized that it was a perfect idea," Adams says. "It was right to find our own mythology in our own contemporary history." What could be more outsized, more operatic, than Air Force One touching down in Beijing for the first time?