Our ensemble’s smaller size allows you to get closer to the music and the musicians. This helps to melt the invisible divide between audience and musicians, connecting you to the art in a new way!
The ensemble’s smaller size allows you to get closer to the music and the musicians, helping to erase the invisible divide between audience and musicians, connecting you to the art in a new way!
Bringing together artists to collaborate across genres and art forms leads to inspiration and innovation. Our size makes us the perfect partner, one who can be flexible and nimble.
Chamber orchestras have a unique range of repertoire, spanning from the classical music giants of yesterday to world premiere commissions. Summermusik presents a musical experience you won’t have anywhere else!
Whether enjoying the beautiful acoustic in your neighborhood church or relaxing with a beverage in a hip nightspot, bringing music out of the concert hall creates an electric atmosphere, one where you can almost reach out and touch the music-making.
Summermusik stays curious, going beyond program notes, striving to share something more about the music, composer, or historical context.
Summermusik is where audiences and artists come to share an experience. Whether it’s our free Prelude Talks with the music director or post-concert artist receptions, we always look for ways to create transformative experiences for our audiences.
Summermusik with resident ensemble Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra creates intimate, transformative experiences that connect the musically curious. Founded in 1974, Summermusik is widely recognized as one of the leading performing arts organizations in the Greater Cincinnati region.
Summermusik provides a vibrant musical experience in an intimate and informal setting for both the seasoned and novice concert patron. The Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra is comprised of 32 professional musicians, the ideal ensemble size for presenting orchestral works from the Baroque and Classical eras as well as commissioned works by contemporary composers. Often, the ensemble shrinks down to as small as 3 musicians, which allows for flexibility and creativity in programming.
The organization’s multi-disciplinary performances range from operatic and choral productions to collaborations with arts organizations in dance, musical theater, puppetry, literature, and visual art. Collaborators have included Walk with Amal, VAE: Cincinnati’s Vocal Arts Ensemble, Cincinnati Ballet, Madcap Puppets, School for Creative & Performing Arts, Cincinnati Art Museum, Taft Museum of Art, Cincinnati Contemporary Jazz Orchestra, Revolution Dance Theatre, and Elementz, among many others.
In August 2015, the critically acclaimed summer music festival Summermusik was launched. Summermusik festival concerts take place during the month of August and are presented in unique venues around Greater Cincinnati. The festival hosts three distinct series – Mainstage, A Little Afternoon Musik, and Chamber Crawls – each one a layer in the unique voice of Summermusik, performing music from Bach to rock. Summermusik 2025 will be the 11th season of the annual festival that the Cincinnati Enquirer praised as “the most imaginative, most entertaining three weeks on the classical music calendar.”
In October 2016, Eckart Preu was named Music Director, following in the footsteps of Paul Nadler, Gerhard Samuel, Keith Lockhart, and Mischa Santora. In 2022, he was awarded the prestigious 2022 Vytautas Marijosius Memorial Award in Orchestral Programming from the American Prize.
Summermusik’s annual We Are One festival series began in October 2022 and seeks to amplify under consulted voices by acknowledging historical and contemporary inequities and celebrating unique cultures through music, art, and dialogue.
Since 2012, Chamber Orchestra musicians have provided individualized and group instruction for students at Music for Youth in Cincinnati (MYCincinnati), a program in Price Hill immersing young children in classical music two hours per day, five days a week. MYCincinnati is based on the highly successful Venezuelan program El Sistema, which is designed to positively impact at-risk neighborhoods. In 2012, the ensemble joined Summermusik on-stage for its final concert of the season, providing a side-by-side learning opportunity for musicians of both ensembles. The CCO and MYCincinnati have performed side-by-side in chamber and orchestral settings several times in the years since.
Summermusik has performed at numerous venues over the years: the current and former SCPA, Palace Theatre, Playhouse in the Park, NKU’s Greaves Auditorium, Anderson Center, CCM and Memorial Hall, not to mention numerous churches and synagogues.
In addition to its downtown Cincinnati presence, Summermusik is increasingly in demand by communities and concert halls around the region. From 2008-2013, the Chamber Orchestra served as Orchestra-In-Residence at the Anderson Center. In the 2011-2012 season, the orchestra made its celebrated debut performance in Wilmington’s historic Murphy Theatre with a concert combining music by Duke Ellington and Michael Daugherty in a performance with violinist Alexandre Da Costa.
The organization’s Pinnacle Award recognizes people whose generous contributions and influence have had a major impact on the Cincinnati arts scene. Recipients: Norma Petersen (2007), Melody Sawyer Richardson (2008), Ruth & Robert Conway Sr. (2009), Keith Lockhart (2010), John Harrison (2011), Sally & Michael D. Connelly (2012), David Herriman (2013), Rosemary & Mark Schlachter (2014), G. James and Ruthann Sammarco (2015), Barbara Bushman (2017), and Brett Stover (2018).
In 2013, Summermusik created an annual Rising Star Award, which recognizes the next generation of arts supporters in Cincinnati. Recipients: Ainsley Kellar (2013), Melanie Chavez (2014) and Jodi Woffington (2015).
Winner of the 2009 Scripps-Corbett Award for Artistic Excellence, Summermusik enjoys the support of ArtsWave, the Ohio Arts Council, and a wide pool of uniquely generous supporters, subscribers, fans, and friends. Additionally, the orchestra’s Board of Trustees and its President serve as tireless advocates for this dynamic and flexible organization.
Through the program CCO2GO, Summermusik reaches out to the community through chamber music ensemble programs for schools, retirement communities, fundraisers, festivals, and private events. The orchestra performs more than 40 total outreach performances in a variety of formats annually.
Our Music Directors
Summermusik looks back on an impressive lineup of former music directors, including founder Paul Nadler (1974-1984), Gerhard Samuel (1984-1991), Boston Pops music director Keith Lockhart (1992-2000), and most recently, Mischa Santora (2000-2014).
Founded as a volunteer organization in 1974 by Paul Nadler, the artistic goal of Summermusik is to perform music that is not generally heard when attending concerts presented by a large symphony orchestra, and thereby offer a unique musical experience to the listener. In 1976, the orchestra went professional with a subscription season and paid musicians. Nadler remained with the orchestra until 1984.
In 1984, Gerhard Samuel, then head of orchestral studies at CCM, became music director. During Samuel’s time, the chamber orchestra commissioned a work by Jennifer Stasack in honor of WGUC-FM’s (90.9) 30th anniversary.
In 1992, Keith Lockhart was selected as music director of the orchestra. He was then assistant conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Pops and led the CSO’s Youth Orchestra. Lockhart became conductor of the Boston Pops in 1995 and is still in that position today.
In 1995, Kay George Roberts became the first female conductor of the CCO.
In February 1997, the CCO made its New York City debut in Town Hall under Keith’s direction. Lockhart remained with the CCO until 1999.
In 1999, the CCO’s 25th anniversary season, founder Paul Nadler returned and led a premiere by NKU composer-in-residence Philip Koplow. The work featured founding concertmaster Jorja Fleezanis and then-concertmaster James Braid.
In July 2000, Mischa Santora assumed position as CCO music director. A graduate of Curtis Institute of Music, Santora led a performance that opened the 30th anniversary season in 2004 with violinist Lara St. John. In addition to leading the CCO, Maestro Santora guest conducted many of the leading orchestras in North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Santora’s final season with the CCO was the 40th Anniversary season in 2013-14.
In winter 2014, Kelly Kuo was appointed to the position of interim music director while the organization underwent a search for a permanent music director.
In 2016, Eckart Preu was appointed to the position of Music Director after a two-year search.
Legal Name: The Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, Inc.
Tax ID#: 31-0865998
Status: The CCO is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization.
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