Cristian Măcelaru has been appointed music director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, effective with the 2025-26 season. He will serve as music director designate for 2024-25. Photo by Thomas Brill.
In Wednesday’s (4/24) Cincinnati Enquirer, David Lyman writes, “The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra named Romanian-born conductor Cristian Măcelaru as its new music director Wednesday afternoon…. Officially, the 44-year-old Grammy winner won’t become music director until the 2025-2026 season. For the upcoming season—2024-2025—he will be listed as the Music Director Designate…. Măcelaru is far from unknown to regular CSO patrons. He has conducted here on several occasions, most recently in February, when he led a program that included works by Witold Lutosławski and Dmitri Shostakovich…. Like his predecessor at the CSO, Louis Langrée, Măcelaru is a champion of new orchestral repertoire. Despite his relative youth, he has commissioned premieres from 52 composers, including Tan Dun, Gabriela Lena Frank, Jake Heggie, Nico Muhly, and Gabriella Smith … As with most other 21st-century conductors, Măcelaru holds positions with several orchestras simultaneously. Currently, he is Artistic Director of the George Enescu Festival and Competition (Romania), Music Director of the Orchestre National de France (Paris), Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Interlochen Center for the Arts’ World Youth Symphony Orchestra (Michigan), Music Director and Conductor of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music (Santa Cruz, Calif.), and Chief Conductor of the WDR Sinfonieorchester in Cologne, Germany.”
