Conductor Marin Alsop has been appointed Festival Director of the 2027 edition of the Cincinnati May Festival, the festival announced this week. The 2027 festival is scheduled to take place from May 17 to 30 and will centre on works by women composers, alongside major choral repertoire by Ludwig van Beethoven and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.
According to the announcement, the festival will include the U.S. premiere of a new work by Anna Clyne, Julia Wolfe’s Fire in My Mouth, Roxanna Panufnik’s Across the Line of Dreams, and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade. The programme will also feature Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 as part of Alsop’s “Global Ode to Joy” project, developed in partnership with Carnegie Hall, which commissioned former U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith to create a contemporary text inspired by Schiller’s “Ode to Joy.”
Alsop will collaborate with May Festival Director of Choruses Matthew Swanson in shaping the artistic programme. The festival said the concerts and related activities will explore “the power of women’s voices” and highlight women’s contributions throughout history.
The conductor is no stranger to the Cincinnati festival. She previously led performances of The Ordering of Moses during the festival’s 150th anniversary celebrations and has also conducted works by Samuel Barber and Leonard Bernstein with the May Festival Chorus.
Currently, Alsop serves as Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Principal Guest Conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra and the Philadelphia Orchestra, and Chief Conductor of the Ravinia Festival. She previously made history as the first woman to become music director of a major American orchestra during her tenure with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.
Alsop has also been widely recognised for her advocacy work in music education and gender equity. In 2002, she founded the Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship, a mentorship programme supporting women conductors.
“It’s a tremendous honor to serve as Festival Director of the 2027 Cincinnati May Festival,” Alsop said in the announcement. “This festival has such a rich and meaningful history, and I’m excited to collaborate with Matthew Swanson and the extraordinary May Festival Chorus.”
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