ARTS/CULTURE
A very American May Festival heralds pandemic recovery By Ray Cooklis The Cincinnati May Festival has always been a special time for our community, helping us each spring to reconnect and celebrate our cultural and musical roots as “A City That Sings.” But this year’s festival, set for May 21-30 in Music Hall, will be especially meaningful, marking a return after a pandemic-scarred year and all it has taken from us – including the sound of voices raised together. Singing was found to be a particularly easy way to spread the coronavirus. The first widely reported mass infection in the United States, in fact, was after a choir practice in Washington state in early March 2020. We are certainly not out of the woods yet, but the fact that a festival is even feasible this year serves as a very hopeful sign. “It is an emotional time as we take our first steps coming together again,” said May Festival Principal Conductor Juanjo Mena when the three-program, five-performance lineup was announced in late March. “My heart has never been more full of hope and optimism,” said Mena. “I can think of no better way to connect and express the complex emotions we all feel … through voices raised together in song.” By the festival’s historical standards, this year’s program is unconventional, reflecting – very creatively and effectively – the demands of the moment. Distancing. Masks. Ventilation. Smaller audiences. Shorter programs. No intermission. And yes – less chorus. Choral singers appear in just a few pieces on two of the three programs, and then only as 24-member ensembles. Instead, most of the music is for vocal soloists with orchestra. But what music! This festival features a rich lineup of works that we might never see in a more conventional May Festival. Benjamin Britten’s “Les Illuminations” for soprano (or tenor) with strings. John Adams’ “The Wound-Dresser” for baritone and 8
MAY 2021
Movers & Makers
chamber orchestra. Gustav Mahler’s “Songs of a Wayfarer.” Gustav Holst’s “Rig Veda” choral hymns. Lieder by Franz Schubert. And on and on. Indeed, nearly every work in the lineup is getting its first May Festival performance.
Complex emotions Overall, it is a chance to reflect upon those “complex emotions” that Mena talked about. “It’s a different look for the May Festival,” said Nate Bachhuber, vice president of artistic planning for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and May Festival. “We wanted to honor the power of vocal music and use it to tell the kind of stories that are relevant now – to be a balm for this period. Juanjo has been remaining hopeful and has been challenging us to find a way forward. It’s not possible to overestimate the incredible support we’ve seen across the community to bring back and support the May Festival.” This year’s festival highlights “direct, powerful texts that are really important,” Bachhuber said. For example, the May 28 program – Aaron Copland’s “Eight Poems of Emily Dickinson,” Maria Schneider’s “Winter Morning Walks” and Adams’ “The Wound-Dresser” – is meant to reflect some of the emotions brought on by the pandemic, “moving works that are a testament to the human spirit.” Likewise, Kentucky-born African-American composer Julia Perry’s “Stabat Mater” on the May 21-22 program is a fitting reflection on grief and healing.
Very American Note that all those composers, and the writers/poets on whose work most of the music is based, are Americans. That was a conscious choice for this festival, along with an all-American lineup of soloists. “We are lucky to have world-class American soloists,” Bachhuber said, such as renowned soprano Joélle Harvey, a graduate of the University
of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Part of that is sheer practicality. With international travel still difficult or downright impossible, the festival focused on American singers. “That allowed us to take advantage of these artists’ availability,” Bachhuber said. “And for some of them, this is their first time back on stage since the pandemic. This is a moving moment for these artists, being able to perform again.”
Davone Tines
A limited chorus Still, it would not be the May Festival without the chorus, whose participation this year “is in a sense symbolic, but very meaningful,” Bachhuber said. “It was important for Juanjo and all of us to find ways to involve the chorus,” he said. “After all, the festival was created to highlight the chorus. It’s a large part of what makes the festival such a unique cultural offering in North America.” Such choral appearances are brief, with 24 singers distanced on stage and, yes, wearing masks while performing. “These are masks that were created for this purpose, more conical, with space around the mouth, designed with singers in mind,” Bachhuber said. One group of 24 tenors and basses will perform Holst hymns May 21-22, as will a group of 24 sopranos and altos
Strong emotions, powerful texts mark return of annual celebration of Cincinnati’s musical roots
Joelle Harvey May 29-30. Another group of 24 sopranos and altos will sing Reena Esmail’s “I Rise: Women in Song” on that latter program. (The third program, the May 28 all-American concert, is for soloists and orchestra only.) “This was a way we could fulfill the desire of the chorus to get back together in a way that is achievable and safe,” he said.
Safety first Bachhuber and his colleagues in CSO administration have become proficient in figuring out the COVID-19 safety angles, as the CSO and Pops returned to live but modified performances in Music Hall a few months ago. With help from the University of Cincinnati and TriHealth, they did aerosol studies. They analyzed air movement and exchange patterns in Music Hall.
