For two weekends in May, everything in Cincinnati revolves around classical music and the Cincinnati May Festival. The very musical life of this city grew up around the May Festival Chorus and the Festival, a phenomenon notable in international music life Cincinnati's historic Music Hall was built for the chorus and its Festival and the Cincinnati Symphony was founded to have a local orchestra to replace the orchestras brought from other cities for the earliest Festivals. The Cincinnati May Festival is the oldest continuing choral festival in the Western Hemisphere. It is also one of the only true festivals that remain in our country today, in that it can and does perform repertoire that is only rarely found in the usual concert season and never in such marvelous concentration and focus on a single musical tradition, in this case choral music.
Many festivals are largely repetitions of the standard repertoire from the subscription season.
Nothing about the Cincinnati May Festival is routine, musically, socially or personally. In the middle of America, the Cincinnati May Festival has flourished since 1873 without changing its commitment to one of the greatest and most thrilling musical forms, one that brings together vast numbers of musicians in celebration. The May Festival gratefully acknowledges the support of the Fine Arts Fund, the Ohio Arts Council and the City of Cincinnati.