Experience the talents of tomorrow’s opera stars. Interlochen Arts Camp’s finest vocal arts students perform art songs, arias, musical theatre selections, and more in this solo and small ensemble recital. Featuring students from Maxwell Trombley’s voice studio.

Experience the talents of tomorrow’s opera stars. Interlochen Arts Camp’s finest vocal arts students perform art songs, arias, musical theatre selections, and more in this solo and small ensemble recital. Featuring students from Maxwell Trombley’s voice studio.

The 14th Annual

Summer Choral Festival Concert 

featuring the Quintessence Summer Choral Festival Chorus and Orchestra performing the US premiere of

Requiem 

by Taylor Scott Davis

Conducted by Matthew Greer

and the 

2026 Festival Scholars Chorus

performing works of

Jocelyn Hagen, Emily Drum, Marques L.A. Garrett, Jake Runestad, Shawn Kirchner, Eric Whitacre, Matthew Harris, Stephen Hatfield, and Hugo Distler.

Maxwell will present an Interest Session at the Quintessence Summer Choral Festival.

This session, titled “The Warm-Up Breakdown: Vocal Health for the Ensemble Singer” answers the question: What's really happening when we warm up? This session takes apart the process step by step, starting with the fundamentals of vocal anatomy and function. From there, we'll explore how that knowledge translates into building healthy, well-supported sound. Practical strategies for vocal health and a variety of warm-up exercises round out the session, designed for ensemble singers across all experience levels, from dedicated amateurs to working professionals.

Experience the talents of tomorrow’s opera stars. Interlochen Arts Camp’s finest vocal arts students perform art songs, arias, musical theatre selections, and more in this solo and small ensemble recital. Featuring students from Maxwell Trombley’s voice studio.

Experience the talents of tomorrow’s opera stars. Interlochen Arts Camp’s finest vocal arts students perform art songs, arias, musical theatre selections, and more in this solo and small ensemble recital. Featuring students from Maxwell Trombley’s voice studio.

Beth Willer, Director of Choral Studies at the Peabody Institute, leads music by two ground-breaking British icons. Dame Ethel Smyth’s exuberant, almost operatic Mass in D was a work ahead of its time — as was Smyth herself. Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb, orchestrated by Imogen Holst, is a kaleidoscopic expression of faith with a twist. The fearless individuality of both works offer a showcase for bold and joyful choral singing with full orchestra.

Each year, Spire Chamber Ensemble invites emerging choral conductors and vocal scholars to participate in the annual Choral Conducting Institute, where young musicians travel from around the world to focus on building skills as choral artists. This immersive program culminates in a final performance that is free and open to the public.

The 2026 Institute, led by faculty Ben A. Spalding (Spire Chamber Ensemble and Baroque Orchestra) and renowned Spire singers, offers conductors the rare opportunity to conduct members of the Spire Chamber Ensemble, one of America’s renowned professional choral ensembles comprised of some of the finest musicians in the United States. Conductors will receive 90 minutes (three separate sessions of 30 minutes) of podium time with members of the ensemble and direct feedback from the clinicians and singers. Designed for school, church, community, and graduate conductors, this institute will hone in on the crucial skills of specific gestural communication, efficient rehearsal techniques, and deeper musical understanding each score presents. The world-class singers of Spire will provide real-time responsiveness full of subtleties of expression that are invaluable to anyone aiming to grow on the podium, all while being surrounded by a supportive and like-minded community. Conductors and auditors will additionally engage one another in daily roundtable discussion and interest sessions. Vocal Scholars participate in workshops covering career development, professional choral singing skills, networking, and more.

Conducted by Amanda Quist, Music Director of Spoleto Festival USA Chorus

In her inaugural season as Music Director of the Spoleto Festival USA Chorus, Dr. Amanda Quist leads Storytelling—a program that honors legacy while looking toward the future. Through works by American composers and others who explore identity, memory, and belonging, the concerts celebrate the power of the human voice to connect, reflect, and inspire. Set within the soaring Gothic interior of St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church, one of Charleston’s most acoustically and architecturally stunning spaces, the Festival Chorus invites audiences to experience music as a shared act of community and renewal.

Conducted by Amanda Quist, Music Director of Spoleto Festival USA Chorus

In her inaugural season as Music Director of the Spoleto Festival USA Chorus, Dr. Amanda Quist leads Storytelling—a program that honors legacy while looking toward the future. Through works by American composers and others who explore identity, memory, and belonging, the concerts celebrate the power of the human voice to connect, reflect, and inspire. Set within the soaring Gothic interior of St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church, one of Charleston’s most acoustically and architecturally stunning spaces, the Festival Chorus invites audiences to experience music as a shared act of community and renewal.

Mozart’s Mass in C Minor is a dazzling masterpiece that resonates powerfully with America’s 250th anniversary. Premiered in 1783—the same year the British monarchy formally recognized the independence of the Thirteen Colonies—this work shares a historical moment with the birth of the United States. 

Written as a personal expression rather than to fulfill a commission, the Mass was inspired by Mozart’s return to Vienna from Salzburg, where he sought professional freedom, and perhaps as a gift for his accomplished soprano wife, Constanze. Praised by Gramophone as “far more vocally oriented than the Requiem,” it showcases a breathtaking interplay of voice and instruments—a display of epic proportion. 

Amanda Quist conducts her first performance as Music Director of the Festival Chorus, continuing the ensemble’s cherished traditions through her unique musical lens and deep commitment to choral excellence. 

In this landmark performance, the Spoleto Festival Orchestra and Chorus bring Mozart’s visionary work to life. As Spoleto Festival USA celebrates America’s 250th anniversary, Mass in C Minor offers audiences a chance to reflect on freedom, creativity, and the enduring power of human expression, bridging Mozart’s artistry with the spirit of 1783.

Program

The Gershwins®’ Selections from Porgy and Bess® by George Gershwin, DuBose and Dorothy Heyward and Ira Gershwin  

William Grant Still Plain-Chant for America 

Stephen Paulus Prayers & Remembrances 

V. In Beauty It Walks 

VI. Eternity

Leonard Bernstein “Make our Garden Grow” from Candide 

George Frideric Handel “Hallelujah Chorus” from Messiah 

Artists

Anthony Parnther  conductor

Julia Bullock soprano 

Alfred Walker bass-baritone 

May Festival Chorus

Matthew Swanson director 

May Festival Youth Chorus

Jason Alexander Holmes director 

Classical Roots Community Choir 

Program

Igor Stravinsky Les noces (“The Wedding”) 

Carl Orff Catulli Carmina (“Songs of Catullus”) 

Artists

Matthew Swanson conductor  

Victoria Okafor soprano  

Sara Couden contralto  

Nicholas Phan tenor 

Yannis François bass-baritone

May Festival Chorus

Matthew Swanson director

Members of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra

Cincinnati Ballet 2  
Yoshihisa Arai choreographer 

Program

Duke Ellington The River 

Ralph Vaughan Williams Symphony No. 1, A Sea Symphony 

Artists

Cristian Măcelaru conductor

May Festival Chorus

Matthew Swanson director

Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra

Program

Anton Bruckner Psalm 150  

Alexander von Zemlinsky Selections from Symphonische Gesänge

Margaret Bonds Selected Songs & Songs from Songs of the Season  

To a Brown Girl Dead

Negro Speak of Rivers  
Poème d’Automne from Songs of the Season 
Winter Moon from Songs of the Season  
April Rain  

ECLECTIC MASS: 

Selections from: 

Carlos Simon Good News Mass and Sanctus 

Giovanni Pierluigi de Palestrina Missa Assumpta est Maria 

Johann Sebastian Bach Cantata No. 191 

Margaret Bonds Credo 

George Frideric Handel arr. Mounsey “Soulful Hallelujah” 

Artists

Cristian Măcelaru conductor

Julia Bullock soprano  

Jason Alexander Holmes preacher 

Carlos Simon hammond organ 

May Festival Chorus

Matthew Swanson director

Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra

Conducted by David Castillo Gocher and Krista Cornish Scott, The Little Match Girl Passion reimagines Hans Christian Andersen’s tale through the lens of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. With spare textures and emotional intensity, Lang offers a searing meditation on suffering, compassion, and hope.

Conducted by David Castillo Gocher and Krista Cornish Scott, The Little Match Girl Passion reimagines Hans Christian Andersen’s tale through the lens of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. With spare textures and emotional intensity, Lang offers a searing meditation on suffering, compassion, and hope.

Join us on Sunday, April 26, 2026, as we present the final concert of our 60th Anniversary Season!

April 26, 2026
3:00 pm

Felix Mendelssohn
Lobgesang Symphony

Our Lady of the Visitation
3172 South Rd
Mack, OH 45248

L. Brett Scott, Music Director
Rachel Feldman, Apprentice Conductor

This concert is free of charge and open to the public. No ticket is required. Donations are gratefully accepted.

CCM Chorale
Brett Scott, music director and conductor
Featuring guest conductor Andreas Hermann, Artistic Director of the Munich Philharmonic Choir and Professor of Conducting at the Munich Academy of Music
Co. Hermann leads Chorale in a selection of German masterworks old and new, as the culmination of his residency at CCM.

Event Details

The Bach Ensemble Orchestra and Chorale,
Carlton Monroe, conductor

Bach Cantata BWV 34, O ewiges Feuer

Bach Easter Oratorio, BWV 249

⸻

Johann Sebastian Bach – Easter Oratorio, BWV 249

Bach’s Easter Oratorio is a jubilant and dramatic portrayal of the Resurrection. Originally premiered in 1725 and revised over the years, this work offers a celebratory tone with vivid instrumental writing, festive choruses, and expressive arias. It begins with two exuberant sinfonias and unfolds through the voices of four soloists, each representing biblical figures in a reflection on the empty tomb and the triumph of Easter morning.

Nefes: An Evening of Breath

Co-presented by Ensemble O₂ and the Wyoming Fine Arts Center
Ensemble O₂ is fiscally sponsored by the International Foundation for Contemporary Music.

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

Nefes — Turkish for “breath” — explores the power of breath to sustain, steady, and transform. Centered around the Mass for Double Choir by Frank Martin, this choir concert weaves together sacred and contemporary works inspired by breath as both physical act and spiritual force.

Held in the beautifully resonant Masonic Theatre, this event promises to be a special evening of beautiful music.

ARTISTIC LEADERSHIP

Ömer Aziz Kayhan, Conductor and Founder

ADMISSION

Tickets are free with a pay-what-you-can donation ($10 suggested). Registration strongly encouraged - click below to claim your seat.

CCM Chorale
Brett Scott, music director and conductor
A concert of works by contemporary Dutch composers, including the world premiere performance of the choral cycle Transmutation by composer Diederik van der Laag.

The VOCES8 US Scholars will perform in concert with the members of VOCES8 during their US tour, and with the Houston Chamber Choir, featuring guest conductor Jason Max Ferdinand.

For more information, visit: https://voces8.com/concerts

The VOCES8 US Scholars will perform in concert with the members of VOCES8 during their US tour.

For more information, visit: https://voces8.com/concerts

Participating in Cincinnati’s Early Music Festival, Collegium Cincinnati will perform four of J. S. Bach’s landmark motets mixed in with solos from our phenomenal instrumentalists. Do not miss this rare opportunity to hear some of the greatest choral pieces ever written in one concert.

Maxwell will conduct the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music Chamber Singers on Friday, January 30th in the Werner Recital Hall. The program includes music by William Byrd and Ily Matthew Maniano.