Cristian Măcelaru's appointment to Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra makes headlines
Photo credit: Ben Knabe
Cristian Măcelaru, Decorated Maestro, to Lead Cincinnati Symphony
By Javier C. Hernández
New York Times
April 24, 2024
The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, which has a history of attracting top conductors, including Fritz Reiner and Leopold Stokowski, announced on Wednesday that its next music director would be Cristian Macelaru, a Romanian-born maestro who has helped champion music education.
Macelaru, 44, will begin a four-year term as music director in Cincinnati in the 2025-26 season and become music director designate in September, the ensemble said. Macelaru, who holds prestigious posts in Europe, leading both the Orchestre National de France and the WDR Sinfonieorchester in Cologne, Germany, will succeed the veteran conductor Louis Langrée, the ensemble’s leader since 2013.
Macelaru said he felt a sense of possibility with the orchestra and the community.
“This was the one orchestra I really wanted to be with in America,” he said in a telephone interview from China, where he was leading a tour with the WDR Sinfonieorchester.
Macelaru has often spoken of making classical music accessible to a broader audience, and said he hoped to help expand music education efforts in Cincinnati.
“I’m very disappointed when I see so many orchestras and colleagues who feel that the music should speak for itself,” he said. “We have to tell people why this music is so beautiful and how they can discover even more beauty in it. I have done this all my life. And now I feel like I have a platform that is even more evident and more visible to be able to spread this message.”
Jonathan Martin, the Cincinnati Symphony’s president and chief executive, said in an interview that the orchestra’s leaders were impressed not only by Macelaru’s conducting talents but also by his desire to help expand the orchestra’s presence in the community.
“He’s got this unique ability to unlock the power of music to reach audiences,” Martin said. “He understands that orchestras in American communities have the power to serve much better than we have in the past.”
The Cincinnati Symphony, like many orchestras, is working to recover from the setbacks of the pandemic. Attendance at concerts is still below prepandemic levels — about 66 percent this season compared with 78 percent in the 2018-19 season — though it has been gradually rising. Subscriptions have been in decline, following a national trend: There are 3,901 subscribers this season, compared with 5,380 in the 2018-19 season.
But the orchestra, founded in 1895, has a robust endowment, valued at about $358 million, relatively large for an ensemble of its size, and several other advantages: Fund-raising has been strong, the number of performances has increased and the budget has grown to about $38 million this season from about $31 million in the 2018-19 season.
Macelaru was born in Timisoara, Romania, the youngest of 10 children, and grew up playing the violin. His father worked in a factory but conducted a local church orchestra on the side. He made sure that all of his children practiced an instrument every day.
At 17, Macelaru came to the United States to enroll at the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan. In the early part of his career, he focused on violin — he was the concertmaster of the Miami Symphony Orchestra and played in the Houston Symphony Orchestra.
But he was drawn to conducting, and in 2011, he became an assistant conductor in Philadelphia. Soon, he was winning top posts: He began his tenure in Cologne in 2019 and at the Orchestre National de France the next year.
Macelaru, who became an American citizen in 2019, plans to split his time between Paris and Cincinnati. His tenure at the WDR Sinfonieorchester concludes next year.
He said he would work to refine the Cincinnati Symphony’s sound, saying he admired the versatility of the musicians.
“They wear so many hats when playing for an opera or ballet or pops or symphonic repertoire,” he said. “My next challenge with them will be creating the palette of the sound.”
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Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra names its 14th music director
By Janelle Gelfand
Cincinnati Business Courier
April 24, 2024
After an international search of nearly two years and a steady stream of guest conductors, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra has chosen its 14th music director.
On April 24, the 129-year-old orchestra, the oldest in Ohio, announced that Cristian Mӑcelaru will step into the role. Mӑcelaru, who currently heads orchestras in Paris and Cologne, Germany, is already one of the busiest musical leaders on the planet. This is his first music directorship of a major American orchestra.
Mӑcelaru, 44, will begin a five-year term in the 2024-25 season. As Music Director-Designate in the first year of his contract, he will return in February 2025 to conduct one program anchored by Dvořák’s “New World Symphony.” Mӑcelaru has conducted the Cincinnati Symphony on four previous occasions.
He succeeds Louis Langrée, who will conclude his 11-year tenure in May.
“To say I'm excited is a very easy understatement. It's a wonderful responsibility and opportunity that I accept along with this invitation,” Mӑcelaru said last week via FaceTime from Guangzhou, China, where he was on tour with the WDR Sinfonieorchester of Cologne.
He was attracted to the job partly because leading an orchestra that is a vibrant part of the community was important to him.
“Of course, the artistic product is at the forefront of what we do,” he said. “But the institution is really a catalyst for unity in the community. It's so challenging but wonderful and, at the same time, exciting to be able to be part of an institution like the Cincinnati Symphony that has historically transformed the city of Cincinnati, especially in more recent years. I think it's a wonderful opportunity for me to be able to be involved in this community, to experience the vibrant arts scene that everyone talks about when they talk about Cincinnati.”
Because a storm had diverted his tour group “to a part of China I’ve never imagined,” Mӑcelaru was preparing to make up for a canceled concert by combining two concerts in one sitting – all four of Brahms’ symphonies. He will conclude his tenure as chief conductor with WDR Sinfonieorchester (a German radio orchestra) after the 2024-25 season.
A Grammy Award-winning conductor, Mӑcelaru is also the music director of the Orchestre National de France, which will play a major role in the opening ceremony of the Paris Summer Olympic Games. And he is artistic director of the George Enescu Festival and Competition in Bucharest, Romania.
In the United States, the conductor is the Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Interlochen Center for the Arts’ World Youth Symphony Orchestra in Michigan, as well as Music Director and conductor of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in Santa Cruz, Calif.
He has recorded for all major labels. Besides that, he is an accomplished violinist who continues to perform chamber music.
Born in Romania and educated in the U.S., Mӑcelaru holds dual citizenships of Romania and the U.S.
Mӑcelaru, who currently resides with his wife and two children in Paris, is one of a field of vastly talented conductors now on the rise. As the music director search committee observed and met with a parade of guest conductors over the last two years, the qualities that stood out included his extraordinary musicianship, his personal warmth and his interest in Cincinnati and the community.
“We did create a list of attributes that we felt were important, artistic excellence being number one, but also a willingness to explore, and enthusiasm for our orchestra and our community,” said search committee co-chair Sheila Williams, an acclaimed author. “That means the folks on the stage, the folks in the seats and the folks beyond the doors of Music Hall. He has that enthusiasm. And because he’s had experience, that has given him perspective.”
Mӑcelaru will join a distinguished line of Cincinnati Symphony musical leaders dating back to 1895, such as Leopold Stokowski, Fritz Reiner and Max Rudolf. That legacy was important to search committee co-chair Peter Landgren, former dean and graduate of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and former UC Foundation president.
“Cristian checked all the boxes of what we were looking for in the full breadth of the next music director of the CSO,” said Landgren, who traveled to several continents to observe candidates. “This is not a CEO coming to a for-profit company in Cincinnati. The new music director of the CSO is bringing the next artistic leader to Cincinnati, and that’s important. His international presence will be a magnet for every soloist, every composer that he works with, and also other guest conductors that maybe have not had a CSO presence. That's one way that someone of his stature and through his international presence can elevate and continue to elevate the CSO.”
Over the years, Mӑcelaru has conducted the Cincinnati Symphony in a range of repertoire, starting in the orchestra pit for Cincinnati Opera’s production of Verdi’s “Il Trovatore” in 2015. He made his CSO subscription debut a year later in Gunther Schuller’s “Symphonic Triptych,” Edward Elgar’s “Enigma Variations” and Julia Wolfe’s “Rise and Fly.” He returned in 2018 to lead an American program of Leonard Bernstein, Charles Ives and George Gershwin.
In February, the conductor riveted listeners in Music Hall when he led Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 11, “The Year 1905.” The orchestra’s musicians were impressed. For Mӑcelaru, the feeling was mutual.
“I'm very intense and very determined in my interpretation, but my work style and the way to achieve that is a little bit more relaxed,” he said. “I felt like this matched perfectly with the way that the orchestra liked to work, as well. This combination of respect and intensity at the same time with the relaxed attitude towards achieving this were really things that were very attractive to me.”
On previous visits, he has discovered the walkability and beauty of Cincinnati’s neighborhoods, architecture and “some incredible foods.”
For now, he will be splitting his time between Paris and Cincinnati.
“I like the fact that Cincinnati seems like a very peaceful, calm community. It’s because my life is so full of stress on a daily basis,” he said.
“His musicianship is deep,” said principal timpanist Patrick Schleker, one of five CSO musicians on the search committee. “The American program – that’s honestly a strength of his. He doesn’t appear to pigeonhole himself. He’s done an Italian opera. I personally have seen him do Brahms, Bruch and Berlioz. He’s music director of the Cabrillo Festival, which works with living composers every year. Modern compositions are essential for our survival, to reach new audiences and continue the art form.
“I think we’re in for great things," Schleker said. "I just want the audience to come and experience this.”
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Cristian Măcelaru to become music director of Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in 2025-26
Associated Press
April 24, 2024
Cristian Măcelaru was hired Wednesday as Music Director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra starting in the 2025-26 season.
The 44-year-old will be Music Director Designate in the 2024-25 season and then will have a four-year term.
Măcelaru will succeed Louis Langrée, who leaves at the end of this season after serving as Music Director since 2013–14.
Măcelaru has been music director of the Orchestre National de France since the 2021-22 season and holds that job through 2026-27. He has been Chief Conductor of the WDR Sinfonieorchester in Cologne, Germany, since 2019-20 and is scheduled to step down after the 2024-25 season.
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Cristian Măcelaru named music director of Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
By Amanda Sewell
Interlochenpublicradio.org
April 24, 2024
Grammy Award-winning conductor Cristian Măcelaru has been appointed the new Music Director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the ensemble announced today (April 24).
Măcelaru succeeds Louis Langrée, who will depart at the conclusion of the 2023-24 season after ten years at the orchestra’s helm. Măcelaru will become Music Director designate in September and begin his four-year tenure in the 2025-26 concert season.
A 1998 graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy, Măcelaru returned to northern Michigan in 2019 as the inaugural Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the World Youth Symphony Orchestra at Interlochen Arts Camp.
“Cristi’s palpable joy for music-making and high standards for artistic excellence consistently bring out the best in the musicians under his baton: I cannot imagine a better leader for an ensemble so close to my heart,” said Interlochen Center for the Arts President Trey Devey, who served as the president of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra from 2009 to 2017. “I am thrilled for the Cincinnati community to experience Cristi’s extraordinary musical vision, which we have seen firsthand at Interlochen through his exceptional leadership of our orchestral programs. My sincerest congratulations to Cristi on this well-deserved honor.”
“With every major professional achievement, I find myself reflecting back on the places vital in preparing me to succeed,” Măcelaru said. “Interlochen opened my eyes to the possibility of actualizing my potential, and taught me to dream the impossible. This moment—when I become Music Director of a truly spectacular American institution whose tireless efforts for over a century in not just performing beautiful concerts, but also building a wonderful community—brings me back to the discoveries I made almost 30 years ago when, as a student at Interlochen, I first understood the meaning arts can, and should, have in our societies. The common language of the arts to build a better world together remains my personal philosophy—one that I adopted at Interlochen.”
The winner of the 2014 Solti Conducting Award, Măcelaru currently serves as the Artistic Director of the George Enescu Festival and Competition; Music Director of the Orchestre National de France; Chief Conductor of the WDR Sinfonieorchester; and Music Director and Conductor of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music. The Timișoara, Romania native has performed regularly at the podium of the finest American orchestras—including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic—and has led ensembles in performances at the BBC Proms the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Beethoven Festival in Bonn, and at the foot of the Tour Eiffel in celebration of France’s Bastille Day. Also a gifted violinist, Măcelaru was the youngest concertmaster in the history of the Miami Symphony and played in the first violin section of the Houston Symphony for two seasons.
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The wait is over: CSO announces who will replace Louis Langrée as Music Director
By David Lyman
Cincinnati Enquirer
April 24, 2024
The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra named Romanian-born conductor Cristian Macelaru as its new Music Director Wednesday afternoon.
It will be some time before we have a chance to hear him conduct with any regularity, though. Officially, the 44-year-old Grammy winner won’t become “Music Director” until the 2025-2026 season. For the upcoming season – 2024-2025 – he will be listed as the Music Director Designate.
In fact, his next scheduled performances here are 10 months away, in February 2025. The 2024-2025 season announced by the CSO last month lists him as the conductor for a pair of performances on Feb. 8 and 9.
Macelaru is far from unknown to regular CSO patrons. He has conducted here on several occasions, most recently in February, when he led a program that included works by Witold Lutosławski and Dmitri Shostakovich. Interestingly, though, he made his Cincinnati debut not with the CSO, but with the Cincinnati Opera, when he led the company’s 2015 production of “Il Trovatore.”
Like his predecessor at the CSO, Louis Langrée, Macelaru is a champion of new orchestral repertoire. Despite his relative youth, he has commissioned premieres from 52 composers, including Tan Dun, Gabriela Lena Frank, Jake Heggie, Nico Muhly and Gabriella Smith, among others.
As with most other 21st-century conductors, Macelaru holds positions with several orchestras simultaneously. Currently, he is Artistic Director of the George Enescu Festival and Competition (Romania), Music Director of the Orchestre National de France (Paris), Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Interlochen Center for the Arts’ World Youth Symphony Orchestra (Michigan), Music Director and Conductor of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music (Santa Cruz, Calif.) and Chief Conductor of the WDR Sinfonieorchester in Cologne, Germany.
“I am overjoyed and humbled by the opportunity to become Music Director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra,” he said in a prepared statement issued by the CSO.
Born in Timișoara, Romania, in 1980, he was the youngest in a family of 10 children. At 17, he came to the United States to study violin at the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan. Two years later, he became the youngest concertmaster in the history of the Miami Symphony Orchestra.
Besides his many engagements as a guest conductor, Macelaru has been extremely active in recording music, an area where the CSO’s profile has dipped precipitously in recent years. Macelaru’s recent releases include the complete symphonies of Saint-Saëns on Warner Classics with the Orchestre National de France on top of albums featuring works by Bartók and Dvořák on Linn Records with the WDR Sinfonieorchester. Earlier this month, the Deutsche Grammophon label released a recording of him conducting Enescu’s Symphonies 1-3 and the composer’s two Romanian Rhapsodies with the Orchestre National de France.
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