Cincinnati Song Initiative Announces the 2025 Fellowship of the Song
CINCINNATI, OH - Cincinnati Song Initiative (CSI) announces the 2025 Fellowship of the Song, its annual festival celebrating the study, performance, and innovation of song. The second iteration, from May 12-17, features a wide array of performances and classes open to the public. Titled Finding Home, the 2025 festival explores the many ways humans find, create, struggle for, and contribute to a sense of community and belonging.
CSI is proud to once again partner with University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music as its festival host, and the Fellowship will venture off campus to Northside’s Liberty Exhibition Hall for one of its evening recitals.
Guest artists will explore the concept of home from the perspective of the wandering artist, our ongoing struggle with the global climate crisis, centering the immigrant experience, and through the many colors of human love. With repertoire spanning hundreds of years, the 2025 festival features world, North American, and Ohio premieres of cycles by Justine F. Chen, Christopher Churcher, Melissa Dunphy, Ericsson Hatfield, Lisa Neher, and Kamala Sankaram.
At its core, the Fellowship provides five exceptional singers and five exceptional pianists with an artistically rigorous and deeply enriching environment featuring a world-renowned faculty and a uniquely holistic vision to support the cultivation of creative twenty-first century artists. The program offers plentiful performance opportunities for Fellows, including daily song workshops and two public concerts throughout the week.
In addition, Fellows enjoy private coachings with internationally acclaimed artists Margo Garrett, pianist and William McGraw, baritone to hone their skills in a close one-on-one setting.
Another unique component of The Fellowship of the Song is a varied slate of enriching classes that will provide Fellows a breadth of knowledge to help promote their versatility in an ever-evolving classical music landscape. These courses, each led by distinguished experts in their respective field, will complement the world-class artistic training provided during the weeklong program.
Furthering CSI’s commitment to accessibility and inclusion, The Fellowship of the Song comes at zero cost for selected Fellows. In addition to the program being tuition-free, Fellows are housed in private apartments, receive up to $500 in travel reimbursement, and are afforded a daily stipend. Free online applications for Fellows open September 1, 2024, and Fellowship Pass registration opens to the public on February 1, 2025.
For all details on The Fellowship of the Song, including a complete list of concerts, classes, faculty, FAQs, and more, visit the program’s overview page on CSI’s website.
About Cincinnati Song Initiative
Since its founding in 2016, Cincinnati Song Initiative has connected thousands of people through the unique and intimate power of classical song, and is a recipient of Ovation TV’s Stand for the Arts award based on how well an organization empowers the community, builds strategic partnerships, drives engagement through volunteerism, and delivers creative programming.
Smaller in scale than opera, choral music, or other theatrical genres, the performance of song most commonly features one singer and one pianist in a visceral musical experience. Cincinnati Song Initiative creates these experiences with a pioneering spirit to engage communities in thoughtful and innovative ways. Deriving its texts from a variety of sources such as poetry, prose, speeches, or plays, song portrays the immediate and deep personal experiences we encounter throughout everyday life.
Each concert features singers and pianists of national renown, providing an unparalleled level of artistry within an intimate and accessible atmosphere. Audiences enjoy close interaction with the artists, hearing them discuss the relevance of the music in relation to today’s cultural and societal context, and enjoy engaging with them - and each other - during post-performance receptions. Concerts take place at different venues throughout the Queen City in order to connect with its many vibrant communities and explore all it has to offer.
Cincinnati Song Initiative remains devoted to the innovation of twenty-first century song by commissioning and premiering new works. CSI aims to connect with today's audiences and lead the way in original digital content among arts organizations, continually adding to its rich suite of resources with educational webinars, live interviews with artists and composers, and innovative performance projects imagined for the virtual realm.
For more information regarding upcoming events, artists, and digital content, please visit www.cincinnatisonginitiative.org.
