Local Resources

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is a dynamic ensemble of some of the world’s finest musicians. The fifth oldest symphony orchestra in the U.S. and the oldest orchestra in Ohio, the CSO has played a leading role in the cultural life of Greater Cincinnati and the Midwest since its founding in 1895.

Louis Langrée began his tenure as the CSO’s 13th Music Director in the 2013–2014 season with a celebrated programThe New York Times said “deftly combined nods to the orchestra’s history, the city’s musical life and new music.” Over the Orchestra’s 119-year history, it has also been led by Leopold Stokowski, Eugène Ysaÿe, Fritz Reiner, Eugene Goossens, Max Rudolf, Thomas Schippers, Jesús López-Cobos, and Paavo Järvi, among others.

The CSO has built a reputation as one of the world’s foremost orchestras, determined for greatness and heralded as a place of experimentation. This was on full display during the inaugural LumenoCity, a spectacular concert of live music combined with stunning images projected on the façade of Music Hall. This event in August of 2013 garnered international attention and drew 35,000 people over two nights.

A champion of new music, the Orchestra has given American premieres of works by such composers as Debussy, Ravel and Bartók and has commissioned works that have since become mainstays of the classical repertoire, including Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man. The CSO was the first orchestra to be broadcast to a national radio audience (1921) and the third to record (1917). The orchestra continues to commission new works and to program an impressive array of music. Most recently, the CSO performed the world premieres of Nico Muhly’s Pleasure Ground and David Lang’smountain as part of the groundbreaking collaboration with the MusicNOW Festival, Cincinnati’s premier new music festival.