Songs of the Season
2026 Cincinnati May Festival
Friday, May 15, 5 p.m.
Dîner En Fleur
Washington Park
Friday, May 15, 7:30 p.m.
“An Eclectic Opening Night”
Saturday, May 16, 5:30 p.m.
Festival Family Lounge
Wilks Studio
Saturday, May 16, 7:30 p.m.
“The Water’s Journey”
Sunday, May 17, 3 p.m.
“A Dream Deferred: Langston Hughes In Song”
Memorial Hall
Tuesday, May 19, 7:30 p.m.
Vocal Arts Ensemble:
Rossini’s “Petite Messe Solennelle”
Christ Church Cathedral
Thursday, May 21, 7:30 p.m.
On Love And Lust
Music Hall
Friday, May 22, 12:30 a.m.
Minis At Cincinnati Art Museum Babies Sing
Cincinnati Art Museum
Saturday, May 23, 10 a.m.
Minis At Cincinnati Art Museum Sensory Saturdays
incinnati Art Museum
Saturday, May 23, 7:30 p.m.
“Porgy And Bess: Festival Finale”
Music Hall
Julia Bullock, a Grammy-winning vocalist, brings her considerable talents to this year’s Cincinnati May Festival, both has a festival director and as a singer.
The 2026 May Festival revisits works from the history of the Festival in combination with new works never performed by the May Festival Chorus before, as well as new visual elements and collaborations with local performing arts groups, including the Cincinnati Ballet and the Classical Roots Community Choir.
As the oldest choral music festival in the Western Hemisphere, the 2026 May Festival features the most works by Black Americans, as well as pieces from the most diverse composers over the span of the four main concerts. The May Festival Chorus will perform pieces ranging from Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess” to selections from Carlos Simon’s “Good News Mass”. They will sing alongside Bullock and be joined on stage by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s Music Director, Cristian Măcelaru, conductor Matthew Swanson and guest conductor Anthony Parnther.
For opening night, The May Festival hosts Dîner en Fleur in Washington Park, a public picnic for community members to come together and share a meal before attending the concert at Music Hall.
Inspired by the traditions of the Festival’s more than 150-year history, guests are encouraged to bring their own picnic baskets and food, as well as come dressed in spring attire to enjoy a night of choral music while dining with neighbors. Dîner en Fleur will feature live entertainment, picnic tables for seating and free activities for guests. In addition to live entertainment, there will also be the opportunity for attendees to create their own free flower crown in partnership with the Cincinnati Art Museum.
The party is followed by “An Eclectic Opening Night,” concert, a powerful celebration of music from across centuries and genres, reflecting the Festival’s storied past while boldly stepping into its future.
As co-curated by this year’s May Festival, along with May Festival’s Director of Choruses, Matthew Swanson, Bullock brings a distinguished international career marked by acclaimed performances, innovative curatorial projects and recognized leadership in social advocacy within the arts to the one-year role. Her solo album Walking in the Dark won the 2024 Grammy Award for “Best Classical Solo Vocal.” She has also performed on three Grammy nominated recordings and showcased her talent in lead roles of John Adam’s “El Niño” and “Antony and Cleopatra” at the Metropolitan Opera.
In addition to her performances and being artist-in-residence at preeminent art institutions around the world, Bullock is also responsible for launching three signature projects that have flourished nationally and beyond. This includes a multimedia ethnographic anthology called “History’s Persistent Voice,” which focuses on the influence of pre-emancipation voices across generations, emphasizing that era’s poetic musical traditions while centering the multifaceted identities of the Black American experience, realized through art.
“After almost a year of research and conversations, I am thrilled to share our key programming for this year’s May Festival,” said Bullock. “Historically, the festival has focused on gathering together local arts communities and performers, commissioning new work, and presenting unexpected repertoire side-by-side. I’ve followed that same ethos in planning this year’s music and events and am excited that these four core programs so clearly represent the May Festival in all its breadth and flair. Additional announcements will follow over the months ahead.”
Opening night’s performance will by conducted by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s Music Director, Cristian Măcelaru. The concert begins with Anton Bruckner’s “Psalm 150,” a dynamic and compelling showcase for chorus and orchestra, which will be performed by Bullock. A dialogue in song follows as the works of Alexander von Zemlinsky and Margaret Bonds — based on texts written by Langston Hughes — are intertwined. This concert concludes with an “Eclectic Mass;” a compilation of movements from various composers that, together, complete the Mass ordinary. The “Eclectic Mass” contains selections from Carlos Simon’s “Good News Mass” and Sanctus, Giovanni Pierluigi de Palestrina’s “Missa Assumpta est Maria,” Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Cantata No. 191,” Margaret Bonds’ “Credo” and ends with a gospel-inspired arrangement of a May Festival staple, the “Hallelujah Chorus” from George Frideric Handel’s “Messiah”, entitled, “Soulful Hallelujah.” The “Eclectic Mass” is heightened as Carlos Simon, for the first time with the Cincinnati May Festival, improvises on the Hammond Organ and Associate Director of Choruses, Jason Alexander Holmes, plays the role of the preacher.
The Festival continues with music inspired by the power and mystique of water. Under the baton of Măcelaru, the CSO performs Duke Ellington’s, “The River,” a first for the Cincinnati May Festival. In his 1973 autobiography, Ellington composed “The River” to recount the journey of water as an allegory for life and spiritualty. The May Festival Chorus takes the stage alongside the CSO for the second half of the program in Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Symphony No. 1, “A Sea Symphony,” which also focuses on the power of the sea as a metaphor for life and the journey into death’s unknown.
For its second week, the Cincinnati Ballet’s Second Company will join the May Festival Chorus on stage for for the first time in the May Festival’s history. Cincinnati Ballet’s Yoshihisa Arai will create new choreography for two renowned and rarely performed ballets: Igor Stravinsky’s “Les noces” (“The Wedding”) and Carl Orff’s “Catulli Carmina” (“Songs of Catullus”). Also new to the May Festival program, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s percussion section and four pianists take center stage in performing “Les noces” alongside guest artists soprano Victoria Okafor, contralto Sara Couden, tenor Nicholas Phan and bass-baritone Yannis François.
In a celebratory conclusion, the May Festival Chorus joins forces with members of the Classical Roots Community Choir, the May Festival Youth Chorus, Bullock and baritone Alfred Walker for the “Festival Finale: Porgy and Bess'.” This final performance features Alfred Walker as Porgy and Bullock as Bess in her own personal selections from “Porgy and Bess.” This performance also features the first collaboration between the May Festival and the Classical Roots Community Choir. To wrap up the Festival, the program features “Plain-Chant for America” by William Grant Still, the first African-American composer to have a work performed by a major American orchestra. In addition, the program includes Stephen Paulus’ “Prayers & Remembrances” and Leonard Bernstein’s “Make our Garden Grow” from “Candide.” In a nod to honoring tradition, the 2026 May Festival will end with Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus” from “Messiah.”
No stranger to Cincinnati, Bullock performed with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra last season in “El Niño: Nativity Reconsidered,” a chamber orchestral recreation of John Adams’ “El Niño” arranged by Bullock and her husband and conductor, Christian Reif. The recreation amplifies the voices of women and Latin American poets. Bullock says her time in Cincinnati encouraged her to accept the opportunity as the May Festival’s third Festival Director.
“What has been so special as a curator for this upcoming season is the collaborative spirit and expertise of both the May Festival team and the Cincinnati Symphony. Never have I felt so enthusiastic and excited while devising programs in partnership with arts organizations,” Bullock said. “What a lucky city to be filled with people who are so devoted to putting on a festival of this scale year after year! I honestly just feel lucky, as a singer, to take part in your arts and cultural experience.”