When conductor Louis Langrée departed last May, he left the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO) at the top of its game — a supple, flexible ensemble whose performances of contemporary works were often as thrilling as those of symphonic warhorses.
The CSO’s 2024-25 season reflects the orchestra’s stature as it anticipates the arrival of Music Director Designate Cristian Măcelaru, who arrives in February.
The fall season has plenty of star power, bolstered by a commitment to musical excellence, experimenting with formats and offering more contemporary music.
The lineup features acclaimed conductors Marin Alsop, Jaap van Zweden and Sir Donald Runnicles. Banjo virtuoso Béla Fleck and violin phenom Randall Goosby are among 20 soloists. Smaller scale offerings are the always intriguing CSO Proof series, along with chamber and solo recital concerts.
Finnish conductor Dalia Stasevska returns on Sept. 27, conducting Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 and Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with pianist Bruce Liu. Stasevska holds major posts in England and Europe and last season, she led a powerful performance of Sibelius’s Symphony No. 5.
American music is center stage the following weekend with one of its leading exponents, Fleck, making his CSO debut, performing his arrangement of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, led by Thomas Wilkins.
Fleck is no stranger to western classical music or to the concert stage. His 2001 release Perpetual Motion won a Grammy for best classical crossover and Fleck has performed his Juno Concerto with major orchestras.
CSO President Jonathan Martin and Anthony Paggett, vice president for artistic planning, both use the word “magical” when describing Fleck and the program.
“He’s a consummate artist,” says Martin. “There’s a handful of people who can make that instrument sound magical.”
“There’s something magical about playing Copland’s ‘Hoedown’ followed by Béla playing Rhapsody in Blue on the banjo,” Paggett adds.
Alsop arrives in November to lead the CSO in Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7 (Leningrad) and Bernstein’s “Chichester Psalms” with the May Festival Chorus.
Bernstein was Alsop’s mentor, one of his last students, and she has championed his music throughout her career.
The May Festival Chorus returns for CSO’s holiday offering, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, led by British conductor Richard Egarr, former music director of the Academy of Ancient Music. Soloists are soprano Joélle Harvey, mezzo Jennifer Johnson Cano, tenor Paul Groves and bass John Relyea.
CSO’s first-chair musicians are featured soloists beginning in January when cellist Ilya Finkelshteyn plays Saint-Saëns’ Cello Concerto No. 1, led by Christian Reif. The following week, principal horn Elizabeth Freimuth performs Strauss’s Horn Concerto No. 1, led by Jun Märkl.
Măcelaru takes the podium on Feb. 8, 2025, with two audience favorites: Dvořák’s New World Symphony and violinist Goosby playing Price’s Violin Concerto No. 2.
“Randall will eat it alive!” exclaims Martin.
The season concludes in May with Pops Principal Guest Conductor, Damon Gupton, making his CSO debut leading a witty mashup of Honegger, Stravinsky, Dvořák and Ellington.
“The musicians love him!” says Martin. “His availability is so limited because of his acting career, so we’re delighted to have him end the season and that program is super tasty!”
CSO Proof offers two intriguing programs, beginning on Oct. 16 with Aureliano Cattaneo’s 2020 work La Nuit Sombre, which ties in perfectly with the season’s supernatural weirdness and phantasmagoria. Written for two women’s voices and a spatial ensemble led by CSO’s creative partner Matthias Pintscher, the text is based on a novel by Polish Count Jan Potocki.
“It’s intertwined Arabian Nights stories set in Spain,” Paggett explains. “Potocki’s obsessed with secret societies, masks and the supernatural.”
The musical material is an improbable encounter with Mozart.
“The music is meant to interweave with Mozart’s Serenade No. 10, the Gran Partita, and isn’t altered in any way but interspersed with movements of new musical material and introduced with new musical material,” Paggett says.
“It’s a completely different soundscape,” he continues. “When you hear it all the way through, there’s an interesting aural connection. We’re leaning into that mysterious vibe and we’re encouraging the audience to wear costumes and masks.”
The spring Proof concert on March 27 is Tango Lab, designed to be part concert and part learning experience.
World-renowned artists present solo recitals throughout the season, beginning with violinist Joshua Bell and his wife, soprano Lisa Martinez on Oct. 6. The program includes works by Mendelssohn, Bernstein, Puccini and more.
“Josh is an audience favorite and Lisa is a wonderful soprano who’s toured with Andrea Bocelli,” says Martin. “People will come for Josh Bell but will leave saying ‘Holy moly!’ when they hear her.”
The great three-time Grammy-winning violinist Hilary Hahn gives a solo recital of Bach’s works in January, marking a welcome return after an eight-year absence.
Pianist Conrad Tao’s solo recital in March features his arrangement of “Over the Rainbow,” along with works by Debussy, Schumann and Tao himself.
Four chamber concerts throughout the season extend far beyond the string quartet, with programs curated by CSO musicians and others at each performance. The first concert is Sept. 24 and includes Claude Bolling’s classic Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano.
Although this is a transition season, planning began more than a year and a half ago. Guest conductors, soloists, Langrée himself and CSO musicians were involved in creating formats and choosing music.
No matter how careful the planning, the logistics were daunting.
“If you’re going to be without a music director for ten weeks, you want to make sure to craft programs that the ensemble can sink its teeth into with great conductors like Marin Alsop and Jaap van Zweden,” says Martin.
A major program shift followed the death of conductor Sir Andrew Davis in April. Davis was scheduled to conduct his edition of Handel’s Messiah in December. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio was an ideal substitute with the same vocal and choral forces.
Martin calls the season “weighty.”
“It’s thick in a good way and that was very much by design,” he says. “There’s really something for everybody.”
For more information about Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s 2024-25 season, visit cincinnatisymphony.org.
This story is featured in CityBeat’s Sept. 4 print edition.
This article appears in Sep 4-17, 2024.
