Summermusik is back this August with a slate of premieres, local talent and international debuts aimed at keeping Cincinnati’s summer arts calendar fresh and wide-ranging.
The 12th Summermusik Festival, presented with its resident ensemble, the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, will feature three world premieres, numerous award-winning local artists and two internationally acclaimed guest artists making their festival debuts. The festival again centers on three core experiences: weeknight Chamber Crawls, Sunday “A Little Afternoon Musik” matinees and Saturday mainstage performances.
The monthlong festival runs Aug. 4-29 at venues across Greater Cincinnati.
“I am thrilled to welcome audience members – returners and newcomers! – to the 2026 Summermusik Festival,” said Music Director Eckart Preu, now in his 10th season at the helm of the annual concert series. “This year’s festival is set to be one of our most dynamic yet with programs that aim to inspire, educate, and entertain.”
Some of the highlights
Among the highlights is the opening mainstage concert, which will feature cellist Zuill Bailey making his Summermusik debut. Bailey will perform the world premiere of “Visions of Humanity and Unity,” a five-movement concerto created by five different composers: Mark O’Connor, Avner Dorman, Enrico Chapela, Zhou Tian and Chanda Dancy.
Preu described the piece as one that “celebrates the way different American perspectives can coexist together to create one harmonious whole.”
The opening program will also include additional world premieres by composer Kanniks Kannikeswaran and Kreitler Commission Competition winner Simon Rivet.
Another featured debut comes from cuatro player Fabiola Méndez, who will headline a weekend program dedicated entirely to composers from his native Puerto Rican.
Returning artists will also play a key role. Violinist Roger Klug will lead a Chamber Crawl program focused on the legacy of American rock musicians, while Cincinnati-based soprano Victoria Okafor will join the orchestra for a semi-staged performance of Kurt Weill’s “The Seven Deadly Sins.”
Bringing classics, new works to venues across Greater Cincy
Festival organizers say the 2026 lineup continues to balance well-known works with new music.
The program includes works by Aaron Copland, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven and Dmitri Shostakovich, alongside music by 17 living composers, including Max Richter, Angélica Negrón, Roberto Sierra and Rivet.
The festival will close with a program pairing Mozart’s Symphony No. 35, “Haffner,” with music by Frank Zappa.
“We are excited to keep building on our reputation for being an ensemble that champions works by living composers,” said Executive Director Evan Gidley.
Performances will take place across Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, including returning venues such as the School for Creative and Performing Arts in Over-the-Rhine and The Redmoor in Cincinnati Mount Lookout neighborhood, along with new locations like the Delhi Event Center, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Kenwood, HighGrain Brentwood Brewpub and The Woodward Theater, as well as Northern Kentucky sites such as Newport Syndicate and St. Agnes Catholic Church in Fort Wright.
The full schedule is available online. Subscriptions are currently on sale, with single tickets available beginning April 6.
“We are lucky to have an audience that embraces classics like Appalachian Spring as enthusiastically as they do a world premiere by one of our Kreitler Commission Competition winners,” Gidley said.
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