About

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is a dynamic ensemble of some of the world’s finest musicians. The fifth oldest symphony orchestra in the United States and the oldest orchestra in Ohio, the CSO has played a leading role in the cultural life of Greater Cincinnati and the Midwest since its founding in 1895.

The CSO entered a new era in September 2001, when the dynamic young conductor Paavo Järvi succeeded Jesús López-Cobos (now Music Director Emeritus) and stepped to the podium as the orchestra’s 12th Music Director. In his fifth season as Music Director in 2005-2006, Maestro Järvi conducts 14 subscription weeks in Cincinnati. He is expanding the 111-year-old orchestra’s repertoire with works never before performed by the CSO, and will lead two additional CSO recording projects with the Grammy Award-winning Telarc label.

Over the years, the CSO has built a reputation as one of the world’s foremost orchestras and a champion of the new music of its day. The CSO has been home to the American premieres of works by such composers as Debussy, Ravel and Bartók, and has commissioned works that have since become mainstays of the classical repertoire, including Aaron Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man. The CSO was the first orchestra to be broadcast to a national radio audience (1921) and the third orchestra to record (1917). Today, the orchestra continues to commission new works and to program an impressive array of music.