James Conlon
James Conlon, Music Director of the
Cincinnati May Festival, is in Cincinnati now through May 22 directing his 31st season of the world renowned choral festival, the oldest in the Western Hemisphere.
During his distinguished tenure, Mr. Conlon has provided the artistic leadership for more May Festivals than any other Music Director in the Festival's 137-year history. In addition to his directorship of May Festival, he manages several roles as Conductor at LA Opera, as Music Director at Ravinia Festival, and as an internationally celebrated guest conductor at opera houses throughout the world. He has cultivated a vast symphonic, operatic and choral repertoire, and developed enduring relationships with the world's most prestigious symphony orchestras and opera houses.
Cincinnatians feel fortunate indeed to have someone of his international reputation committing so much of his life to a single institution, and continues to be grateful for this exceptional relationship, which has given Cincinnati some of its greatest musical moments. In 2002, James Conlon received France's highest distinction from the President of the French Republic, Jacques Chirac -the Légion d'Honneur. He also was made a Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters of France in 2004. His other numerous awards include induction on May 14 into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame, adding to other recent citations: the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Istituto Italiano di Cultura of Los Angeles; two 2009 Grammy Awards; the Music Institute of Chicago's Dushkin Award, the Medal of the American Liszt Society; Italy's Premio Galileo 2000 Award. He was an early recipient of the Opera News Award. He has been honored with the Crystal Globe Award from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) for his efforts in championing the works of composers silenced by the Third Reich, and the Zemlinsky Prize for his efforts in bringing the composer's music to international attention. He holds honorary doctorates from The Juilliard School and Brandeis University.
In addition to his directorship of May Festival, James Conlon manages several roles as Conductor at LA Opera, as Music Director at Ravinia Festival in Chicago, and as an internationally celebrated guest conductor at opera houses throughout the world. One of today's most respected conductors, James Conlon has cultivated a vast symphonic, operatic and choral repertoire, and developed enduring relationships with the world's most prestigious symphony orchestras and opera houses.
Posted By: James Conlon
Posted: 5/20/2010
I have enjoyed presenting world premiers of works by noted composers, public television and recording projects, guest appearances by great vocalists from the classical music world, and performances at Carnegie Hall. We are experimenting with multimedia presentations through collaborations with the Cincinnati Art Museum-- projecting works of art in Music Hall which enhance and articulate the such as the May Fesitval's rarely-performed presentation of Hector Berlioz' L'Enfance du Christ, Romeo et Juliette, and in the 2010 season, Bach's St. Matthew Passion.
Events such as these are of considerable interest, confronting the reality of the American public's progressive shift to being more visually oriented. They are becoming increasingly popular. Although some perceive these as an intrusion, many welcome the visual component as an enhancement to the concert going experience. Some have lost or never acquired the habit of listening to classical music in a stationary position with a shared audience. Uniting audio and visual art can be a "spiritual" experience. It is true that I prefer to hear music without distraction, but we have to be realistic. The danger for the present and future is that all this great music will not be played for a larger audience. The fault is not in the music (Bach's St. Matthew Passion need not prove itself on anyone else's terms) but in ourselves.
Also personally meaningful are our Sunday evening concerts at the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption in Covington. I instituted these in 1980 and they have become a May Festival tradition. I like to bear in mind that sacred music sung in church settings provided the context for what we now call "classical" music. The Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption, one of this country's most beautiful sacred spaces, is a perfect setting for listening to these works of Gabrieli, Hassler, Byrd, Palestrina, Bruckner and Britten the way they were first meant to be heard. Thirty years of sold-out performances attest to their importance.
Posted By: James Conlon
Posted: 5/19/2010
As I enter my fourth decade of artistic leadership, I continue to be inspired by Cincinnati's devotion to the great choral repertory and to the amateur (said in the best etymological sense of the word) choir, which has an important place in our inherited culture.
At one time, non-professional music making captured the imagination and leisure time of the American public. Doctors, lawyers, housewives, young people, businessmen and laborers gathered around parlor pianos with their families and friends to enjoy singing music. Community choruses and singing societies were profuse. It was a community experience.
The last fifty years have witnessed the sharp decline of private and non-professional classical music making. Despite this trend, Cincinnati May Festival has retained the great tradition of the community choir collaborating with a modern professional orchestra, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, along with acclaimed guest soloists, presented in an important annual event. My admiration for Cincinnati's ongoing nurturing of this tradition and refusal to let it die - is a strong reason to return to the Festival year after year.
Posted By: James Conlon
Posted: 5/18/2010
It has been said that May Festival is "as close to the core of Cincinnati's true identity as any experience it offers."
Its roots are in the great German saengerfests of the 1860s, when choral groups, church choirs and singing societies held singing convocations in the city. Cincinnati's aspirations for May Festival began when a young Cincinnati socialite, Maria Longworth Nichols, persuaded America's foremost conductor of the time, Theodore Thomas, to leave his prestigious post in New York to co-found a festival (modeled on those in Birmingham, England, and the Lower Rhenish Festivals in Germany) designed to "transform the musical tastes of America, while reshaping Cincinnati's image to the nation."
In May 1873, the first official May Festival opened at the great Cincinnati "Saengerhalle" featuring Thomas's 108-piece orchestra, the leading soloists of New York, and a chorus of nearly 800 voices drawn from Cincinnati's 12 singing societies and 23 other groups from as far away as Pennsylvania and Iowa, performing, for the first time in North America, Handel's "Dettingen Te Deum" for an audience of almost 7,000 people. Thus, a tradition of the finest of amateur community chorus singing was born in Cincinnati which has never ceased. Not only does Cincinnati pride itself on its distinguished music institutions (for which it is known worldwide), but upon its May Festival Chorus, an all volunteer non-professional choir of 140 people from all walks of life and a broad range of ages and backgrounds, who are residents of the Greater Cincinnati and tri-state region.