Julia Bullock. Photo courtesy of Cincinnati May Festival.
In Thursday’s (10/16) Cincinnati Business Courier, Janelle Gelfand writes, “In Julia Bullock’s one-year role as festival director, the Cincinnati May Festival’s 2026 season will be eclectic and include many firsts. The music of Black composers alongside historic festival repertoire will be celebrated over the span of the festival’s four main concerts, May 15-23, 2026, in Music Hall. There will be collaborations with Cincinnati Ballet’s Second Company and the Classical Roots Community Choir, both for the first time…. Cristian Măcelaru, the new music director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, will make his festival debut as conductor … Conductors for the second weekend will be the May Festival’s Director of Choruses Matthew Swanson and guest conductor Anthony Parnther, who is music director of California’s San Bernardino Symphony … The inventive season co-curated by Bullock and Swanson will include selections from the ‘Good News Mass’ by American composer Carlos Simon … The festival will present … Stravinsky’s ‘Les noces’ and Carl Orff’s ‘Catulli Carmina’ … Bullock, who is a Grammy-winning soprano … will also perform as soloist with the May Festival Chorus and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in multiple works … On May 23, Bullock will perform the role of Bess in selections from the Gershwins’ ‘Porgy and Bess,’ with baritone Alfred Walker [as] Porgy.”
