The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO) announced today that Cristian Măcelaru will begin a five-year term as the orchestra’s music director, beginning in the autumn of 2024. Maestro Măcelaru will serve as Music Director Designate in 2024-25.
Măcelaru is currently the music director of the Orchestre National de France; artistic director of the George Enescu Festival and Competition in Bucharest, Romania; and chief conductor of the WDR Sinfonieorchester in Cologne, Germany, where he will serve through the 2024-25 season and continue as artistic partner for the 2025-26 season.
In the United States, Mӑcelaru serves as the artistic director and principal conductor of the Interlochen Center for the Arts’ World Youth Symphony Orchestra and music director and conductor of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in Santa Cruz, California.
Born in Romania and educated in the United States, he received training at Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, followed by the University of Miami and Rice University, before becoming a naturalized American citizen in 2019.
Măcelaru is a dedicated educator and an advocate for new works. He has commissioned premieres from 52 composers throughout the world.
Mӑcelaru first conducted the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra for Cincinnati Opera’s production of Giuseppe Verdi’s Il Trovatore in 2015. He later made his Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra debut on the Jan. 22 and 23, 2016 subscription program. He returned for a pair of concerts in 2018 and most recently in February.
“I am overjoyed and humbled by the opportunity to become Music Director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra,” Mӑcelaru said Wednesday in a press release. “The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra has consistently upheld a well-proven standard of artistic excellence and innovation, in combination with a unique focus on the community it serves. The invitation to lead the superb musicians who form this Orchestra, building an even stronger legacy together, is only enhanced by the warmth and closeness of the community that I’ve experienced in Cincinnati. It is with deep respect to my predecessors and commitment to the Orchestra’s future that I look forward to sharing the wonderful music we make with the greater Cincinnati community and the world.”
