Cincinnati May Festival Announces Jason Alexander Holmes As New Associate Director Of Choruses And Director Of The Youth Chorus

CINCINNATI MAY FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES JASON ALEXANDER HOLMES AS NEW ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF CHORUSES AND DIRECTOR OF THE YOUTH CHORUS

CINCINNATI, OH (March 19, 2024)—The Cincinnati May Festival has announced Jason Alexander Holmes as its new Associate Director of Choruses and Director of the Youth Chorus. Holmes will begin his new position in the 2024-25 season, succeeding Matthew Swanson who will become the May Festival’s next Director of Choruses. In his new position, Holmes will lead and direct the May Festival Youth Chorus, an auditioned, mixed-voice chorus comprised of the region’s most talented singers in grades 8-12. Holmes will also assist in the preparations for the May Festival and lead the May Festival’s ongoing community engagement efforts.

“We are thrilled that Jason Alexander Holmes will be joining the May Festival staff,” said Swanson. “Jason is a skilled musician, an experienced educator, and an asset to Cincinnati’s choral community. He has worked very closely with the May Festival team over the years in a number of multi-chorus collaborations, including Mahler’s Symphony of a Thousand and the 25 for 25 Commissioning Project as part of the May Festival’s 150^th anniversary season, as well as Youth Voices United, a choral festival for local middle and high school students. I look forward to all that Jason will do to positively impact the lives of our youth chorus members through singing.”

Holmes has served as the Artistic Director of the Cincinnati Boychoir since 2019. In addition, Holmes directs Cincinnati’s MLK Chorale and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s Classical Roots Community Chorus. As a pianist and music director, he has worked on productions at The Carnegie in Covington, Cincinnati Children’s Theatre, and Cincinnati Opera. As a vocalist, he has performed with Cincinnati Fusion Ensemble and several local church choirs.

Before coming to Cincinnati, Holmes served as the Director of Educational Programming at the Boston Children’s Chorus. Prior to his time in Boston, Holmes taught music at elementary and secondary public schools in Rochester, New York, where he also worked with theatre companies and Finger Lakes Opera.  He also led the University of Rochester Gospel Choir and Eastman Young Children’s Chorus. Holmes holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music and Ithaca College.

“Having worked closely with the May Festival in our many collaborations, it is an honor to join the May Festival team,” said Holmes. “I am grateful for the opportunity because I believe my personal mission of using choral music to create and share moments of truth and beauty meshes quite well with the May Festival's mission to engage, energize, and connect our community with the highest quality choral music.”

Choirs under Holmes’ direction have been consistently praised for their energetic, unified tone and engaging performance. He is known for innovative programming which celebrates context while encouraging singers and audiences alike to stretch their awareness by living in many different musical worlds. Pedagogically, Holmes is committed to implementing culturally responsive practices in music education. He has given workshops and conference sessions on the topic and professional development seminars, schools, and conferences.

MAY FESTIVAL YOUTH CHORUS

The May Festival Youth Chorus connects, inspires, and educates young people through the study and performance of choral music, ranging from Medieval era to world-premiere contemporary commissions. Since its founding in 1987, the Youth Chorus has appeared annually at the May Festival, performing choral-orchestral works with the May Festival Chorus, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and internationally renowned conductors and soloists. Additionally, the Youth Chorus performs a stand-alone concert series in collaboration with cultural institutions and organizations throughout Greater Cincinnati. The Youth Chorus has been featured on recordings with the Cincinnati Pops and in 2007 appeared on NPR’s From the Top, the preeminent showcase for America’s best young musicians. Alumni of the chorus have continued on as professional singers in Cincinnati and beyond.

MAY FESTIVAL CHORUS

The May Festival Chorus has earned national and international acclaim for its musicality and command of repertoire. Consisting of 130 avocational singers who collectively devote more than 45,000 hours in rehearsals and performances annually, the Chorus is the core artistic element of the Cincinnati May Festival and the official chorus of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO) and Cincinnati Pops. The premier choral ensemble in Cincinnati, the May Festival Chorus has garnered national and international attention through numerous PBS broadcasts and award-winning recordings, many in collaboration with the CSO and Pops. Most recently, a live recording of Robert Nathaniel Dett’s The Ordering of Moses featuring Music Director Laureate James Conlon conducting the Chorus and CSO at Carnegie Hall was released to critical acclaim in 2016 on Bridge Records, and in 2017, the Chorus re-released its popular a capella holiday recording Christmas with the May Festival Chorus on the Fanfare Cincinnati label. The Chorus is also featured on several Pops recordings, which have sold over 10 million copies worldwide.

MAY FESTIVAL

“One of the Best Classical Music Festivals in the U.S. and Canada” (BBC Music Magazine, 2021, 2022 and 2023) and recognized as a leader in increasing diversity, equity, inclusion and access in the choral world (Chorus America, 2022), the Cincinnati May Festival is distinguished by its unique community-based structure and standard of extraordinary artistic excellence. Founded in 1873, the annual May Festival is the oldest choral festival in the Western Hemisphere. Many important choral works have received their world and American premieres at the May Festival in the past 150 years, including Johann Sebastian Bach’s Magnificat, Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 3, Benjamin Britten’s Gloriana, Gian Carlo Menotti’s The Death of the Bishop of Brindisi, and Robert Nathaniel Dett’s The Ordering of Moses. Anchored by the May Festival Chorus and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the May Festival hosts an international array of guest artists in dynamic productions each year.