By Janelle Gelfand
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Anniversaries, operatic superstars, blockbuster programming and a world premiere will define the 2004 Cincinnati May Festival.

Soprano Deborah Voigt and bass-baritone James Morris, two of the outstanding singers of our time, will help the May Festival celebrate the 25th anniversary of James Conlon as music director in May.

"The best thing about coming to Cincinnati each May is just that great feeling of being able to make music over and over again, of such great works which are so rich and profound," says Conlon by phone from Moscow, where he is guest conducting this week. "And it's so great to do them with people with whom you feel so congenial and so close, in such a great hall and in such a great atmosphere."

Conlon, who has presided over more May Festivals than any music director in the festival's 131-year history is revisiting some personal favorites, such as Handel's Messiah, which opens the season May 21, not performed here since 1987, and Mozart's Requiem (May 28), "a piece that I especially love," he says.

Evening of Wagner

The festival includes a star-studded Wagner evening (May 22). The season finale will be Maher's Symphony No. 8, Symphony of a Thousand (May 29), with five choirs, eight soloists and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

A world premiere will honor another significant anniversary: Robert Porco's 15th anniversary as May Festival director of choruses. Porco will conduct the new work by Stephen Paulus, commissioned by chorus members and alumni, in a special concert May 23 in Covington's Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption.

For the gala season, Conlon has assembled a distinguished lineup of great voices, such as Voigt, who made her festival debut in 1992, before she achieved world fame. "I tried to collect them the way you would with a family," he says.

Voigt, the world's reigning Sieglinde, should add wattage to the festival when she sings Sieglinde in Act I of Wagner's Die Walkure on May 22. Named Musical America's "Vocalist of the Year 2003," she is singing four roles at the Metropolitan Opera this season. (Fans won't want to miss her recital in Dayton's Schuster Center April 20 and 22. Tickets: (937) 228-3630 or (888) 228-3630.)

The same evening, Morris, who impressed last season in Verdi's Requiem and Mendelssohn's Elijah, returns to sing portions of his favorite role: Hans Sachs in Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg.

The impressive American soprano Heidi Grant Murphy, a favorite at the Metropolitan Opera, will make her festival debut in Mozart's Requiem and the soprano solo, "Exsultate, jubilate."

Many soloists returning

Returning soloists are sopranos Cynthia Haymon, Bridgett Hooks and Jennifer Ringo; mezzos Stacey Rishoi and Florence Quivar; tenors John Aler, Vinson Cole and Gary Lakes; baritone Donnie Ray Albert and bass-baritone John Cheek.

Soloists making their debuts are soprano Christine Brewer, mezzo Jill Grove, tenor Clifton Forbis and Finnish bass Jyrki Korhonen.

The 150-voice May Festival Chorus and the symphony orchestra anchor the oldest continuous choral festival in the Western Hemisphere. Joining them are the May Festival Youth Chorus, James Bagwell, director; the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music Chamber Choir and Chorale, Earl Rivers, director; Cincinnati Boychoir, Randall Wolfe, director; and the Cincinnati Children's Choir, Robyn Reeves Lana, director.

Renewals will be mailed to subscribers this week. Full subscriptions: $36-$232; two-concert series: $21-$116; Festival Pass $88 or $134; Cathedral Basilica tickets: $22. Single tickets go on sale in April. 381-3300; www.mayfestival.com

E-mail jgelfand@enquirer.com

• May Festival Season