Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Unveils Inaugural Season With New Music Director Cristian Măcelaru

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO) has unveiled its 2025­­­–26 season, the first under the leadership of new Music Director Cristian Măcelaru. This season introduces an ambitious programming vision that balances timeless orchestral works with contemporary voices, reflecting a deep commitment to both the CSO's history and the vibrancy of present-day cultural narratives.

Drawing inspiration from both the past and future, the season includes an array of iconic works by George Gershwin, Igor Stravinsky and Margaret Bonds alongside new commissions by composers Daníel Bjarnason and Lisa Bielawa and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Rita Dove, spotlighting music and art of our time. This season features world-renowned guest artists, including Yo-Yo Ma, Daniil Trifonov and Hélène Grimaud, and conducting debuts by Kristiina Poska, Oksana Lyniv, Tabita Berglund and Samuel Lee. The season also celebrates the return of Music Director Laureate Louis Langrée, who will lead two programs that highlight his ongoing connection to the Orchestra.

CRISTIAN MĂCELARU'S INAUGURAL SEASON

This inaugural season under Cristian Măcelaru's direction blends a celebration of cultural heritage, contemporary stories and the unifying power of music to inspire reflection. The programs explore national identity and engage with social justice themes to create a platform for cultural exchange and collective reflection.

Măcelaru makes his official debut as Music Director of the CSO on October 3 and 4, 2025 with a program that features pianist Hélène Grimaud, performing George Gershwin's Concerto in F, and Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier Suite. The program also includes Anna Clyne's Abstractions, showcasing Măcelaru and the Orchestra's continuing commitment to performing music by contemporary composers.

On November 4, 2025, Grammy Award-winning cellist Yo-Yo Ma joins Măcelaru and the CSO for Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto. Ma's appearance is bookended by Orchestra performances of Johannes Brahms' Tragic Overture and George Enescu's First Romanian Rhapsody, the latter of which Măcelaru recorded on Deutsche Grammophon with the Orchestre National de France as part of a tribute to the Romanian composer as well as Măcelaru's own Romanian heritage. The album recently won the prestigious 2024 Diapason d'Or of the Year and Choc Classical of the Year.

On November 29 and 30, 2025, Măcelaru leads a program centered on the cultural experiences, traditions and folklore that unite humanity. Măcelaru will conduct the Orchestra in Antonín Dvořák's Symphony No. 7, reflecting the composer's own nationalistic themes and love for his Czech heritage; Aaron Copland's Variations on a Shaker Melody from Appalachian Spring; and PULSE, a new violin concerto by Lisa Bielawa performed by violinist Tessa Lark. Written for Lark, PULSE brings together the regional, traditional music-making that Lark grew up with in her home state of Kentucky with her identity as a virtuoso classical performer, exploring the technical and expressive underpinnings of two discrete musical worlds. The program also includes Carlos Simon's Tales: A Folklore Symphony, which explores African American folklore as well as Afrofuturism, a cultural aesthetic, philosophy and artistic movement that takes a look at the intersection of African diaspora culture with science, technology and liberated futures for Black life.

Măcelaru and the CSO present George Frideric Handel's Messiah on December 5 and 6, 2025. Soprano Lauren Snouffer, mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke, tenor Nicholas Phan, bass Jonathan Lemalu in his CSO debut and the May Festival Chorus, under the direction of Matthew Swanson, join the CSO for selections from this timeless oratorio.

Pianist Daniil Trifonov joins Măcelaru and the CSO for Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 2 on January 10 and 11, 2026. The program also includes the U.S. premiere of the complete Trilogy for Orchestra by composer Daníel Bjarnason. A CSO co-commission, the Orchestra gave the U.S premiere of Part I: “Echo/Narcissus” in November 2023.

On January 16 and 17, 2026, Măcelaru conducts a program in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. that aims to create a space for reflection and dialogue around civil rights, justice and the power of music to bring communities together. The program features CSO premieres of Margaret Bonds' Montgomery Variations, composed in the wake of the 1963 firebombing of Birmingham, Alabama's 16th Street Baptist Church; and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Wynton Marsalis' Blues Symphony, a sonic journey through America's revolutionary era, which was recorded by The Philadelphia Orchestra under the direction of Măcelaru and released in 2021. The program also includes a pairing of Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings with original poetry written by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and Akron, Ohio native Rita Dove, the first African American to serve as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. It will be performed by narrator and bass Morris Robinson.

On April 24 and 25, 2026, Măcelaru conducts the full production of Igor Stravinsky's The Firebird paired with the storytelling power of larger-than-life, multi-medium puppets created and designed by South Africa's Janni Younge, world-renowned for her powerful visual storytelling. Măcelaru reunites with Younge for this evocative production which draws from the symbolism and dramaturgy of Michel Fokine's original ballet and reinterprets them in a contemporary South African setting. Choreographed by Jay Pather, who was awarded the Order of Arts and Letters in 2017 (shortly after the production's premiere), towering puppets maneuvered by expert puppeteers and dancers will join Măcelaru and the CSO for this sonic and theatrical depiction of The Firebird that builds to a dramatic, fiery finish.

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