In this unique staged adaptation of Franz Schubert’s masterpiece song cycle, Winterreise tells the story of a person who has lost their connection to their community. In the isolation brought on by their trauma, the protagonist unravels. Cast away from his home, without a safety net, he plunges into the chasm of mental illness.

Artists

Jonathan Bryan, baritone

Lyndsi Maus, piano

For more details on the program, artists, and Cincinnati Song Initiative’s Fellowship of the Song Festival, click here.

A journey across borders and identities, Come to Ukraine, Look for America weaves music in Ukrainian, Russian, English, Hebrew, and German into a shared story of resilience, discovery, and renewal. Moving between languages and experiences, this program illuminates unexpected connections between cultures, showing how memory and hope resonate across continents.

Artists

Simon Barrad, baritone

Kseniia Polstiankina Barrad, piano

For more details on the program, artists, and Cincinnati Song Initiative’s Fellowship of the Song Festival, click here.

“A rising star in the piano realm … a natural-born musical storyteller …”
—New York Classical Review

“Mr. Mamora’s playing itself is larger than life … a technique so solid that it seemed at times that he couldn’t play a wrong note if he tried … an encyclopedic array of dynamics and articulations.”
—New York Concert Review

2023 debut recital at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall First Prize Winner at International Piano Competitions: Hilton Head, Concours Maria Canals Barcelona, Olga Kern … among others

One of 30 elite pianists invited to compete in the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, May 2025

Performs and conducts master classes internationally

Received his Master of Music from The Juilliard School; a candidate for the Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance and Literature at the Eastman School of Music

JAMIE BARTON, Mezzo-Soprano
KATHLEEN KELLY, Piano

“Barton has solidified her status as one of the most distinctive voices in the opera world …”
—Washington Classical Review

“Sonically glorious and emotionally powerful, a crème de la crème … Barton commanded a sumptuous mezzo …”
—Dallas Morning News

“Barton projected with commanding presence … The result was nothing short of sensational.”
—EarRelevant

Enjoys a major international opera career, performing signature roles, while critically acclaimed by virtually every major outlet covering classical music Winner of the International Opera Awards Readers’ Award, Beverly Sills Artist Award, Richard Tucker Award, and BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition, among others

Won the 2026 Grammy® Best Opera Recording for Heggie: Intelligence

True to Matinée Musicale Cincinnati’s tradition of presenting promising young talent, Zitoun is a must-see rising star!

Regular top-prize recipient at competitions, including Gold Medal at the 2023 Stulberg International String Competition.

A member of award-winning Pelios String Quartet and Hermes Piano Trio In 2025, was a member of the Heifetz On Tour program and a featured artist at the Rancho la Puerta Chamber Music Festival.

A regular participant in international festivals, including the Moulin d’Andé Cello Festival in France, studying with Jerome Pernoo.

Has studied internationally and currently a student at Colburn Conservatory of Music with the acclaimed cellist Clive Greensmith; formerly a merit scholar at the Music Institute of Chicago’s Academy, a training center for advanced pre-college students, studying with Heifetz faculty member Hans Jørgen Jensen.

“grippingly precise and gleaming” —SF Classical Voice 

“a shining example of the whole package of defining qualities of talent … the kind of taste and judgement that make a musician always worth hearing.” —New York Classical Review

First prize winner of the 2023 Susan Wadsworth Young Concert Artists International Auditions and an inaugural YCA Jacobs Fellow.

Appears internationally at major halls, leading festivals and series, as well as a soloist.

Performs on the c.1725 “Milstein” Guarneri Del Gesù violin, generously on loan from the Ryuji Ueno Foundation and Rare Violins of New York’s “In Consortium,” a collaborative of artists and benefactors.

Juilliard graduate (studied under Itzhak Perlman), currently studying with Mihaela Martin at the Kronberg Academy Professional Studies Program in Germany.

THE McGILL/McHALE TRIO
ANTHONY McGILL, Clarinet
DEMARRE McGILL, Flute
MICHAEL McHALE, Piano 

“The McGill brothers boast stunningly clear and resonant woodwind timbres, exquisite balance and blend, sensitive phrasing, and expert technique; and McHale matches them with superb touch, voicing, pedal work, and musical instinct, including a good sense of when to go for broke.”

—Patrick Hanudel, American Record Guide

Anthony McGill: Principal clarinet of the New York Philharmonic and international soloist with orchestras, chamber groups and solo recitals; received an Avery Fisher Career Grant, the Sphinx Medal of Excellence, and the John Jay Justice Award; serves on the faculties of Curtis (his alma mater), Juilliard, Peabody, Manhattan School of Music, and Bard College.

Demarre McGill: Served as principal flute of the Seattle, Dallas, and San Diego symphony orchestras, as well as acting principal of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; winner of the Avery Fisher Career Grant; graduate of Curtis and Juilliard.

 Michael McHale: One of Ireland’s leading concert pianists, performing with major international ensembles; has collaborated with Sir James Galway, Michael Collins, Barry Douglas, Dame Felicity Lott, and Camerata Pacifica, among others; studied at the University of Cambridge and Royal Academy of Music.

Quick Summary
• We welcome back the only active six-time Gramophone Award-winning string quartet, including Recording of the Year.
• In recent years, the PHQ has appeared on our series more than any other string Quartet.
• Like the Kronos Quartet, the BBC Music Magazine, the industry’s largest, rates the Pavel Haas “one of the ten greatest string quartet ensembles of all time.” Only five of the ten remain active.
• “If you haven’t heard the Pavel Haas Quartet, buckle your seat belts.” – NPR
• With the appearance of the Ebene Quartet closing CMC’s current season in April, subscribers will have heard all five of the active BBC “Top Ten” since the COVID shutdown, three within 12 months.
• Repertoire: TBA
• Bottom line: Hear why Gramophone asks “Is this the world’s most exciting string quartet.”

Deeper Dive

Based in Prague, the Pavel Haas Quartet was formed in 2002 and won its first Gramophone Award in 2007. They then won five more in the next ten years, including Recording of the Year, the most for any active quartet. The quartet is named for Czech composer Pavel Haas (1889-1945), who died in Auschwitz at age 45. The PHQ has championed his work, and The Strad describes their Dvorak interpretations as “nothing short of compelling.”

In keeping with its stature, the quartet appears at major venues including Wigmore Hall, London; Philharmonie and Konzerthaus, Berlin; Musikverein, Vienna; Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg; Concertgebouw and Muziekgebouw, Amsterdam; Tonhalle, Zürich; Théâtre de la Ville, Paris; Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Rome;  NCPA, Beijing; LG Arts Centre, Seoul and Carnegie Hall, New York. While Gramophone asks, “The greatest string quartet ever?” the Times (London) removes the question mark.

CMC Subscriptions: Chamber Music’s Greatest Value

• Our “Early Bird” subscriptions for these six concerts are on sale today on our web site and through the Memorial Hall box office. Only you who are receiving this email know about it, giving you first choice of open seats.
• All available seats will be opened to the general public for subscription purchases on Tuesday, February 24.

• Currents subscribers’ seats will be held until June 1, then released to the general public. The six concert price ― $120 in the Orchestra or Balcony ― is one of the nation’s great chamber music bargains. It’s up to 50% off the single ticket price helping to make our concerts more affordable to everyone.

Please remember this affordability pricing in your giving. Only if you do can we maintain pricing at this level.

We hope you are as excited about next season as we are. This may well be our strongest season ever, so we expect subscriptions to sell fast. Single tickets for remaining seats will go on sale June 1.

Quick Summary
• With Germany’s Leonkoro, CMC subscribers will have heard the winners of both the leading North American and British string quartet competitions in less than six months. (The Isidore String Quartet is the other.)
• The Leonkoro won London’s International String Quartet Competition in 2022, the same year that the Isidore won Banff.
• The Guardian wrote earlier this month that “the Leonkoros are surely stars in the making.”
• Also this month, The New York Times says of their Berg Lyric Suite recording to be released on March 20: “The Leonkoro’s account is as compelling as any.”
• Bottom Line: In its Leonkoro cover story, The Strad describes them as “at the forefront of a new wave of brilliant young string quartets.”

Deeper Dive

In 2006, a Gramophone article was headlined, “the most exciting era ever for string quartets.” In February 2010, it said, “it is clear that some of the new generation of string quartets, who were only then beginning to emerge, have pulled ahead of their rivals.” With the rise of the Leonkoro and the Isidore, among others, any day Gramophone may repeat itself.

In 2023, just a year after Leonkoro won the Wigmore Hall International Hall String Quartet competition, it was already describing them as “at the forefront of a new wave of brilliant young string quartets.” In 2021, Leonkoro had already won second place at Italy’s Premio Borciani string quartet competition, Europe’s foremost. (No first prize was awarded that year.)

Since then, the Leonkoro, led by violinist Jonathan Schwarz and his cellist brother, Lukas, has performed at major concert halls, including Vienna’s Konzerthaus, home to the Vienna Philharmonic, Carnegie Hall, and the Library of Congress. Their first recording was released in fall 2023. Their second was released in Europe in January and will be available for purchase in the U.S. in April. By the time they appear here in April 2026, who can say?

CMC Subscriptions: Chamber Music’s Greatest Value

• Our “Early Bird” subscriptions for these six concerts are on sale today on our web site and through the Memorial Hall box office. Only you who are receiving this email know about it, giving you first choice of open seats.
• All available seats will be opened to the general public for subscription purchases on Tuesday, February 24.
• Currents subscribers’ seats will be held until June 1, then released to the general public. The six concert price ― $120 in the Orchestra or Balcony ― is one of the nation’s great chamber music bargains. It’s up to 50% off the single ticket price helping to make our concerts more affordable to everyone.

Please remember this affordability pricing in your giving. Only if you do can we maintain pricing at this level.

We hope you are as excited about next season as we are. This may well be our strongest season ever, so we expect subscriptions to sell fast. Single tickets for remaining seats will go on sale June 1.

Summary

·  The leading contemporary string quartet and one of the BBC’s “ten greatest string quartets of all time.” (Only five are still active.)

·  Now celebrating its 53rd season, more than 1,200 new works have been commissioned for it.

·  For its 50th anniversary Kronos celebrated with a commissioning project, 50 for the Future, and made the sheet music to all 50 pieces available free online.

·  The New York Times review of its 2025 Carnegie Hall performance called the Kronos “a venerable quartet returned with a typically eclectic program and a newfound emotional intensity … the quartet’s ranks refreshed by three brilliant new players.”

·  In October 2023, Kronos drew the largest Cincinnati chamber music audience in a decade.

·  Repertoire TBA

·  Bottom Line: Kronos is hard to describe, compelling for you to experience.

Deeper Dive

Kronos was founded in 1973 by Seattle violinist David Harrington, who continues to lead it. At age 14, he realized that all of the composers whose music he was being taught were of the same faith and lived in the same city at about the same time. “There must be more,” he thought. Since its founding, Kronos has been about the “more.” In addition to “Fifty for the Future” noted above, it has almost certainly drawn more new audience members to chamber music than any other contemporary ensemble.

Based in San Francisco for most of its history, in addition to Harrington, today’s members include former Cincinnati resident, cellist, and composer, Paul Wiancko, and former CCM viola professor, Ayane Kosaza. The 1,200 commissions have been written by composers from all over the world in many genres. The group travels with its own sound and lighting technician. Kronos is not your father’s or mother’s string quartet.

CMC Subscriptions: Chamber Music’s Greatest Value

• Our “Early Bird” subscriptions for these six concerts are on sale today on our web site and through the Memorial Hall box office. Only you who are receiving this email know about it, giving you first choice of open seats.
• All available seats will be opened to the general public for subscription purchases on Tuesday, February 24.
• Currents subscribers’ seats will be held until June 1, then released to the general public. The six concert price ― $120 in the Orchestra or Balcony ― is one of the nation’s great chamber music bargains. It’s up to 50% off the single ticket price helping to make our concerts more affordable to everyone.

Please remember this affordability pricing in your giving. Only if you do can we maintain pricing at this level.

We hope you are as excited about next season as we are. This may well be our strongest season ever, so we expect subscriptions to sell fast. Single tickets for remaining seats will go on sale June 1.