The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, which has a historical past of attracting high conductors, together with Fritz Reiner and Leopold Stokowski, introduced on Wednesday that its subsequent music director can be Cristian Macelaru, a Romanian-born maestro who has helped champion music training.
Macelaru, 44, will start a four-year time period as music director in Cincinnati within the 2025-26 season and turn into music director designate in September, the ensemble mentioned. Macelaru, who holds prestigious posts in Europe, main each the Orchestre National de France and the WDR Sinfonieorchester in Cologne, Germany, will succeed the veteran conductor Louis Langrée, the ensemble’s chief since 2013.
Macelaru mentioned he felt a way of chance with the orchestra and the neighborhood.
“This was the one orchestra I really wanted to be with in America,” he mentioned in a phone interview from China, the place he was main a tour with the WDR Sinfonieorchester.
Macelaru has usually spoken of constructing classical music accessible to a broader viewers, and mentioned he hoped to assist broaden music training 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 mentioned. “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 government, mentioned in an interview that the orchestra’s leaders have been impressed not solely by Macelaru’s conducting skills but additionally by his need to assist broaden the orchestra’s presence in the neighborhood.
“He’s got this unique ability to unlock the power of music to reach audiences,” Martin mentioned. “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 get well from the setbacks of the pandemic. Attendance at live shows continues to be under prepandemic ranges — about 66 p.c this season in contrast with 78 p.c within the 2018-19 season — although it has been progressively rising. Subscriptions have been in decline, following a nationwide pattern: There are 3,901 subscribers this season, in contrast with 5,380 within the 2018-19 season.
But the orchestra, based in 1895, has a sturdy endowment, valued at about $358 million, comparatively giant for an ensemble of its dimension, and a number of other different benefits: Fund-raising has been robust, the variety of performances has elevated and the funds has grown to about $38 million this season from about $31 million within the 2018-19 season.
Macelaru was born in Timisoara, Romania, the youngest of 10 kids, and grew up enjoying the violin. His father labored in a manufacturing facility however performed a neighborhood church orchestra on the aspect. He made positive that every one of his kids practiced an instrument every single day.
At 17, Macelaru got here to the United States to enroll on the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan. In the early a part of his profession, he centered on violin — he was the concertmaster of the Miami Symphony Orchestra and performed within the Houston Symphony Orchestra.
But he was drawn to conducting, and in 2011, he grew to become an assistant conductor in Philadelphia. Soon, he was successful high posts: He started his tenure in Cologne in 2019 and on the Orchestre National de France the following yr.
Macelaru, who grew to become an American citizen in 2019, plans to separate his time between Paris and Cincinnati. His tenure on the WDR Sinfonieorchester concludes subsequent yr.
He mentioned he would work to refine the Cincinnati Symphony’s sound, saying he admired the flexibility of the musicians.
“They wear so many hats when playing for an opera or ballet or pops or symphonic repertoire,” he mentioned. “My next challenge with them will be creating the palette of the sound.”
