1867 Saengerfest of 1867 held in new Saengerhalle--on site of future Music Hall
Clara Baur founds Conservatory of Music in one-room studio at Miss Nourse's School for Young Ladies in Walnut Hills
1872 George Brand and Louis Ballenberg organize Cincinnati Grand Orchestra
1873 Maria Longworth Nichols and George Ward Nichols organize first May Musical Festival in Exposition Hall (previously Saengerhalle), with Theodore Thomas conducting
1875 May Festival offers American premiere of Bach's Magnificat
1878 Third Biennial Musical Festival (May Festival) celebrates opening of new Music Hall, with Theodore Thomas as Music Director
George Ward Nichols and Reuben Springer found Cincinnati College of Music, next door to new Music Hall, with Theodore Thomas as Music Director
1880 College of Music offers Rossini's Cinderella in Dexter Hall (third floor predecessor of Corbett Tower), as first opera in Music Hall
1881 Her Majesty's Opera Company of Drury Lane kicks off series of Opera Festivals in Springer (Main) Auditorium, opening with Wagner's Lohengrin -- promoted by George Ward Nichols and the College of Music
1882 Opera Festival continues (until 1887)
May Festival Association gives first Thanksgiving concert in November
1884 May Festival Association presents first full Messiah, by Handel
Cincinnati Grand Orchestra is reorganized as the Philharmonic Orchestra, led by Michael Brand--soon absorbed by College of Music
1894 Cincinnati Symphony Association is founded by Ladies' Musical Club led by Helen Herron Taft (Mrs. William Howard) to establish new Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
Frank Van der Stucken is engaged as first Music Director of Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
1895 New Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra opens in Pike's Opera House with music by Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Weber, Schubert, Mendelssohn and Schumann
1897 Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra moves to Music Hall (from Pike's Opera House)
May Festival Association offers Children's May Festival, to benefit German Kindergarten
1904 Theodore Thomas conducts farewell performance at 16th May Festival
1906 Frank Van der Stucken is appointed Music Director of May Festival
1907 Labor disputes lead to temporary disbanding of Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
Concerts by touring orchestras from Chicago, Pittsburgh, Boston and New York fill gap caused by disbanding of Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
1909 Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is reassembled for new season, after two season hiatus due to labor disputes
Leopold Stokowski is appointed second Music Director of Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
1912 Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra moves to Emery Auditorium (until 1936)
Ernst Kunwald is appointed third Music Director of Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (at Emery Auditorium)
1914 Ernst Kunwald is appointed Music Director of May Festival (at Emery Auditorium)
1916 May Festival Association offers American premiere of Alpine Symphony, by Richard Strauss, in pre-Festival performance beating Leopold Stokowski in Philadelphia by 24 hours (at Emery Auditorium)
1917 Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra becomes third U.S. orchestra to make recordings, for Columbia Records (at Emery Auditorium)
Music Director Ernst Kunwald is interned and later deported as German national during World War I (at Emery Auditorium)
1918 Eugene Ysaye is appointed fourth Music Director of Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (at Emery Auditorium)
Eugene Ysaye is appointed Music Director of May Festival, leads world premiere of his Exile, opus 25 (at Emery Auditorium)
May Festival opens with Star Spangled Banner as patriotic gesture during World War (at Emery Auditorium)
1919 Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra inaugurates Children's Concerts (at Emery Auditorium)
1920 Cincinnati Summer Opera begins performances in converted bandshell at Cincinnati Zoo
1921 Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra becomes first orchestra to broadcast nationwide (at Emery Auditorium)
1922 Fritz Reiner is appointed fifth Music Director of Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (at Emery Auditorium)
1923 Frank Van der Stucken is re-appointed Music Director of May Festival (at Emery Auditorium)
May Festival celebrates its 50th anniversary with concerts led by Frank Van der Stucken, first Music Director of Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (at Emery Auditorium)
1925 May Festival offers Cincinnati premiere of Bach's St. Matthew Passion (at Emery Auditorium)
May Festival offers American premiere of Young America, a children's cantata by Lodewijk Mortelmans (at Emery Auditorium)
1927 Charles Phelps Taft and Anna Sinton Taft endow Cincinnati Institute of Fine Arts for benefit of Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (at Emery Auditorium)
1931 Eugene Goossens is appointed sixth Music Director of Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra--to remain in office longer than any other Music Director (at Emery Auditorium)
Eugene Goossens is appointed Music Director of May Festival (at Emery Auditorium)
1936 Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra moves back to Music Hall, from Emery Auditorium
1943 Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra commissions Fanfares in recognition of the war effort, starting with Fanfare for the Common Man, by Aaron Copland
1944 May Festival continues during World War II, but with shortened program
May Festival offers world premiere of The Passion, by Bernard Rogers
1947 Thor Johnson is appointed seventh Music Director of Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
1948 Fritz Busch is appointed Music Director of May Festival
May Festival celebrates 75th anniversary with Diamond Jubilee concerts led by Fritz Busch
1949 Cincinnati Institute of Fine Arts launches first annual United Fine Arts Fund drive, benefitting the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Summer Opera, Cincinnati Art Museum and Taft Museum
1950 May Festival inaugurates tradition of ending with "Hallelujah Chorus" from Handel's Messiah
1954 Josef Krips is appointed Music Director of May Festival
1955 College of Music and Conservatory of Music merge to form Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music
1958 Max Rudolf is appointed eighth Music Director of Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
1962 College-Conservatory of Music joins University of Cincinnati
1963 Max Rudolf is appointed Music Director of May Festival
May Festival offers world premiere of Death of the Bishop of Brindisi, by Gian Carlo Menotti
1964 Cincinnati Civic Ballet offers first major public production, in Wilson Auditorium on the campus of the University of Cincinnati
1965 Erich Kunzel is appointed Assistant Conductor of Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
May Festival offers world premiere of The Song of Terezin, by Franz Waxman
1966 David McLain is appointed Artistic Director of Cincinnati Ballet
1966 Cincinnati Civic Ballet gives first performance in Music Hall
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra goes on round-the-world tour sponsored by U.S. State Department, performing 42 concerts in 15 countries, under baton of Max Rudolf, Music Director
1967 Biennial May Festival becomes annual event
1968 Cincinnati Civic Ballet becomes "Cincinnati Ballet"
May Festival offers world premiere of Moralities, by Hans Werner Henze
1969 Carmen DeLeone is appointed Music Director of Cincinnati Ballet
May Festival offers world premiere of The Pied Piper of Hamelin, by Peter Menin
1970 Cincinnati Ballet "goes professional," as Cincinnati's first resident professional dance company
Thomas Schippers is appointed ninth Music Director of Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
May Festival offers world premiere of Mortales, by Wilfred Josephs
1971 Julius Rudel is appointed Music Director of May Festival
1972 Cincinnati Ballet makes appearance on Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra's regular subscription series
Cincinnati Summer Opera moves from Zoo to Music Hall, opening with production of Boito's Mefistofele
Construction is completed at the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music with the dedication of the Patricia Corbett Pavilion
1973 Leonard Bernstein becomes Honorary Music Director of May Festival
James De Blasis is appointed General Manager of Cincinnati Summer Opera
1974 Cincinnati Ballet inaugurates tradition of annual Nutcracker, by Tchaikovsky
James Levine is appointed Music Director of May Festival
1975 Cincinnati Summer Opera becomes "Cincinnati Opera"
1976 Cincinnati Opera celebrates United States' Bicentennial with production of Ballad of Baby Doe, by Douglas Moore
1977 Walter Susskind assumes role of Music Advisor to oversee Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra following death of Thomas Schippers
Cincinnati Pops Orchestra is established, with Erich Kunzel as Music Director
1979 James Conlon is appointed Music Director of May Festival
Cincinnati Opera innovates by sharing construction of scenery for Verdi's Attila with opera companies of Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia
1980 Michael Gielen is appointed tenth Music Director of Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
1983 Cincinnati Opera gives U.S. premiere of Resurrection, by Alfano
1984 Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra inaugurates Hulbert Taft, Jr. Center for the the Performing Arts, J. Ralph Corbett Pavilion, at Riverbend, as summer home for Orchestra and venue for presentations by touring musical groups
Cincinnati Opera introduces "surcaps" to translate libretto on panel above stage
Cincinnati Opera presents Cincinnati premiere of Eugene Onegin, by Tchaikovsky
1985 Cincinnati Opera revives Zaza, by Leoncavallo
1986 Cincinnati Opera revives Schwanda the Bagpiper, by Weinberger
Ivan Nagy is appointed Artistic Director of Cincinnati Ballet
Jesus Lopez-Cobos is appointed eleventh Music Director of Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
1987 May Festival establishes Youth Chorus as on-going component
1988 May Festival and Corbett Foundation salute Cincinnati Bicentennial with Saengerfest in Music Hall
1989 Cincinnati Symphony/Pops Orchestra tours Japan and Taiwan, under batons of Music Director Jesus Lopez-Cobos and Cincinnati Pops Music Director Erich Kunzel--first international tour since 1966
1990 Richard Collins is appointed Artistic Director of Cincinnati Ballet
1992 Nigel Burgoine is appointed Artistic Director of Cincinnati Ballet
1994 Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra celebrates its 100th anniversary
Peter Anastos is appointed Artistic Director of Cincinnati Ballet
1995 Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra tours Europe and the Canary Islands, under baton of Music Director Jesus Lopez-Cobos
1996 James de Blasis directs his 100th production for Cincinnati Opera as part of his farewell season
Nicholas Muni is appointed Artistic Director of Cincinnati Opera
The American Classical Music Hall of Fame is founded by Cincinnati businessman David Klingshirn and is based in Cincinnati.
1997 Victoria Morgan is appointed Artistic Director of Cincinnati Ballet
Cincinnati Pops Orchestra tours Japan and Taiwan, under baton of Music Director Erich Kunzel
Cincinnati Arts Association presents inaugural series of 14 performances at Music Hall as presenter and
educator as well as facility manager
1999 Jesús López-Cobos announces that the 2000-2001 season will be his last with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.
Paavo
Järvi is guest conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, in February and twice in the fall
Renovation is completed on a new state-of-the-art CCM Village for the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati
2000 Paavo
Järvi, called "one of the hottest young conductors" by critics worldwide, is named the 12th Music Director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, succeeding Jesus Lopez-Cobos. Järvi, a native of Estonia and an American citizen. A graduate of the Philadelphia's Curtis Institute of Music, he studied there with former CSO music director Max Rudolf. He also studied with Leonard Bernstein at the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute.
2001 September is an eventful month, for the arts in Cincinnati as well as the world. Paavo Järvi becomes the 12th Music Director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. His inaugural concert on September 14th at Music Hall is also a tribute to victims of the 9/11 terrorists attacks in New York and Washington. The September 15th performance airs as a three-hour live special on CET, public television in Cincinnati, and is recorded for national broadcast on PBS.
2004 Patricia K. "Patty" Beggs is named General Director and CEO of the Cincinnati Opera. Ms. Beggs joined the Opera in 1984 as Director of Marketing.
In September, Nicholas Muni announces his resignation from his position as the Opera's Artistic Director.
2005 James Levine returns to Music Hall to close the 2005 Cincinnati May Festival season. Levine has not conducted the May Festival since he left in 1978,
The Cincinnati Opera premieres Margaret Garner, an opera commissioned in honor of the opening of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. Margaret Garner was commissioned jointly by the Cincinnati Opera, the Michigan Opera Theatre and the Opera Company of Philadelphia.
In September, Evans Mirageas is appointed Artistic Director of the Cincinnati Opera.
In December, the Cincinnati Opera receives the prestigious Post Corbett Award for its production of Margaret Garner.
2006 Plans are unveiled in November for construction of a garage and public plaza directly south of Music Hall. This is believed to be the first step toward renovation of Music Hall to meet the current and future needs of patrons of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the orchestra itself.