Cincinnati May Festival Names Andrew Miller as 2024-25 May Festival Choral Conducting Fellow

CINCINNATI MAY FESTIVAL NAMES ANDREW MILLER AS
2024-25 MAY FESTIVAL CHORAL CONDUCTING FELLOW

Created in 2013 through the generosity of Ginger Warner, a long-time trustee of the University of Cincinnati and Director Emeritus of the May Festival Board of Directors, the May Festival Choral Conducting Fellowship aims to provide rising conductors with the opportunity to participate in the leadership of a high caliber choral music organization.

In collaboration with CCM’s graduate choral conducting program, a Fellow is selected from CCM’s Doctorate of Musical Arts (DMA) class to serve one season as the assistant conductor of the May Festival Chorus. Miller will directly assist Director of Choruses Matthew Swanson and Associate Director of Choruses Jason Alexander Holmes with leading the May Festival Chorus as well as all operations of a major symphonic choral organization, including artistic planning, budgeting and finance, philanthropy, marketing and community engagement.

“I am delighted to continue my work with the May Festival Chorus as the next Choral Conducting Fellow,” said Miller. “I have seen firsthand the impact that this world-renowned organization can have in our community. The May Festival Chorus is synonymous with dynamic, heartfelt excellence in performance, and I look forward to supporting that mission in my new role.”

“We are thrilled that Andrew Miller has accepted the May Festival Conducting Fellowship for the 2024-25 season. In addition to his skills as a conductor, singer, and educator, Andrew has deep ties to our region and our community. I look forward to all that he will bring to our organization in the year ahead,” said May Festival Director of Choruses and Interim Executive Director Matthew Swanson.

Andrew Miller is the twelfth May Festival Choral Conducting Fellow in the history of the program. Previous fellows now lead various youth, academic, community, church and professional choral programs, throughout Greater Cincinnati and around the world.

ANDREW MILLER

Andrew Miller is a Cincinnati-based conductor, tenor and instrumental instructor. A three-year member of the May Festival Chorus, he is excited to serve as the May Festival Conducting Fellow for the 2024-25 season.

In addition to his work as a choral singer with the May Festival Chorus and Vocal Arts Ensemble, Miller maintains an active performing schedule as a conductor and clinician. He most recently directed the choir and class guitar programs at Covington Catholic High School in Northern Kentucky, a tenure highlighted by collaborations with several area universities and a performing tour to Carnegie Hall in New York City. He also serves as Director of Music at St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church in Cincinnati.

Prior to Miller’s work in Cincinnati he served as the director of the University of Louisville Singing Cardsmen, completing his Master of Music degree in choral conducting under the direction of Dr. Kent Hatteberg. During Miller’s studies in Louisville, he served as an assistant for all university choruses, presenting an eclectic Requiem Mass as his conducting recital, including a world premiere by Louisville composer Blake Wilson.

Miller completed his undergraduate degree in music education at the University of Kentucky in 2015 under the direction of Dr. Jefferson Johnson and Dr. Lori Hetzel and will begin his doctoral studies in choral conducting at CCM in the Fall of 2024. 

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, 2023, and 2024) 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 annually.

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