Julia Bullock’s 2025–26: Aucoin premiere with Chicago Symphony; León premiere on tour with Seth Parker Woods and Conor Hanick; orchestrated American songs in Berlin, Riga, and Auckland; Cincinnati May Festival directorship; and more

“Julia Bullock [is] an essential soprano for our times.” – Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times

(November 2025) — On the heels of her acclaimed performance in the title role of John Adams’s Antony and Cleopatra at the Metropolitan Opera this past spring – which earned her praise for “piercing intelligence and expressive nuance” (Opera Today) – Grammy-winning American classical singer Julia Bullock anchors her new season with performances of orchestrated songs by Margaret Bonds and George Gershwin around the world: with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and conductor Ingo Metzmacher (Nov 22), with the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra (Dec 29–Jan 3), and with the Auckland Philharmonia at the Auckland Arts Festival (March 7), the latter two engagements conducted by Bullock’s husband, Christian Reif. Also highlighting Bullock’s orchestral engagements is the world premiere of Matthew Aucoin’s new song cycle, Song of the Reappeared, with the commissioning Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Wiener Symphoniker Chief Conductor Petr Popelka (Dec 4–7). Switching into chamber music mode in the latter part of January, Bullock tours the U.S. from Los Angeles to New York as part of an all-star trio with cellist Seth Parker Woods and pianist Conor Hanick, with their program featuring the premiere of a new work by Pulitzer Prize winner Tania León, along with music of George Gershwin, André and Dory Previn, Ravel, Richard Rodgers, Nina Simone, George Walker, and others (Jan 15–28). With Hanick, Bullock then continues on to Houston’s DACAMERA chamber music series for a performance of Harawi, Olivier Messiaen’s a twelve-part, hour-long song cycle inspired by original Harawi music and Quechua poetry from a diverse range of Andean cultures (Jan 30). Other spring engagements include multiple programs at Australia’s Adelaide Festival (March 1–12) and a performance with the Gävle Symphony Orchestra, where Reif serves as Chief Conductor, of Poulenc’s one-act monodrama La voix humaine (May 8). Finally, in the second half of June, Bullock takes on a curatorial role as the Festival Director of Cincinnati’s May Festival (May 15–23).

Premieres

Bullock sings two premieres this season, the first commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from former CSO Georg Solti Conducting Apprentice and 2018 MacArthur Fellow Matthew Aucoin. Also a founding core member with Bullock of the American Modern Opera Company (AMOC*), Aucoin wrote the cycle for her on texts by Chilean poet Raúl Zurita that explore themes of memory, language and spirituality (Dec 4–7). The following month, Bullock tours the U.S. with another collaborator from AMOC*, “dazzlingly inventive” (Gramophone) pianist Conor Hanick, as well as 2022 Chamber Music America Michael Jaffee Visionary Award-winning cellist Seth Parker Woods. Their program, titled “From Ordinary Things,” features a world premiere by Pulitzer Prize winner Tania León, along with songs by George Gershwin, Robert Owens, André and Dory Previn, Ravel, Richard Rodgers, Salvatore Sciarrino, and Nina Simone; and George Walker’s Cello Concerto. Anchored by a performance at New York’s 92NY, a co-commissioner of the León premiere, the tour also stops at UCLA, the University of Chicago, Eastman School of Music, and Virginia Tech (Jan 15–28).

Cincinnati May Festival directorship

The New York Times hinted at the many facets of Bullock’s artistic personality when it called her “one of the singular artists of her generation – a singer of enveloping tone, startlingly mature presence and unusually sophisticated insight into culture, society and history.” Likewise, Musical America honored her as a 2021 Artist of the Year and “agent of change,” recognizing that in addition to her onstage accomplishments she is a prominent voice of social consciousness and activism. These qualities, added to her many strictly musical virtues, have led Bullock into a host of extended curatorial partnerships, to which next spring she adds the directorship of the 2026 Cincinnati May Festival, the oldest choral music festival in the Western Hemisphere.

The 2026 May Festival combines works from the festival’s history with works never performed by the May Festival Chorus before, as well as new visual elements and collaborations with local performing arts groups like the Cincinnati Ballet and the Classical Roots Community Choir. This year’s festival will also feature the most works by Black Americans and the largest overall diversity of composers in the event’s history. Program highlights include selections from The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, featuring Alfred Walker and Bullock in the title roles; selections from Carlos Simon’s Good News Mass featuring organ improvisations from Simon himself, as part of an “Eclectic Mass” assemblage stretching from the Renaissance to the present; a dialogue in song juxtaposing Alexander von Zemlinsky’s settings of Harlem Renaissance poets with songs by Margaret Bonds; Duke Ellington’s The River, which uses water as an allegory for life and spiritualty, paired with Vaughan Williams’s Sea Symphony; the rarely-performed chorus-ballets Les noces (“The Wedding”) by Igor Stravinsky and Catulli Carmina (“Songs of Catullus”) by Carl Orff, both with the Cincinnati Ballet; and much more. Conductors for the festival include Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Music Director Cristian Măcelaru, May Festival Chorus conductor Matthew Swanson, and guest conductor Anthony Parnther. Bullock comments:

“After almost a year of research and conversations, I am thrilled to share our key programming for this year’s May Festival. Historically, the festival has focused on gathering together local arts communities and performers, commissioning new work, and presenting unexpected repertoire side-by-side. I’ve followed that same ethos in planning this year’s music and events and am excited that these four core programs so clearly represent the May Festival in all its breadth and flair. Additional announcements will follow over the months ahead.”

Julia Bullock: 2025–26 engagements

Nov 22
Berlin, Germany
Philharmonie Berlin
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
Ingo Metzmacher, conductor
GERSHWIN: “Somebody from Somewhere” from Delicious (arr. Nelson Riddle)
BONDS: “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” (poetry by Langston Hughes; orch. Jannina Norpoth)
GERSHWIN: “Summertime” from Porgy & Bess
BONDS: “Poème d’Automne” (poetry by Langston Hughes; orch. Jannina Norpoth)
BONDS: “Winter Moon” (poetry by Langston Hughes; orch. Jannina Norpoth)
GERSHWIN: “Soon” from Strike Up the Band (arr. Nelson Riddle)

Dec 4–7
Chicago, IL
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Petr Popelka, conductor
AUCOIN: Song of the Reappeared (world premiere, CSO commission)

Dec 29, 30; Jan 2, 3
Riga, Latvia
Latvian National Symphony Orchestra
Christian Reif, conductor
GERSHWIN: “Somebody from Somewhere” from Delicious (arr. Nelson Riddle)
BONDS: “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” (poetry by Langston Hughes; orch. Jannina Norpoth)
GERSHWIN: “Summertime” from Porgy & Bess
BONDS: “Poème d’Automne” (poetry by Langston Hughes; orch. Jannina Norpoth)
BONDS: “Winter Moon” (poetry by Langston Hughes; orch. Jannina Norpoth)
GERSHWIN: “Soon” from Strike Up the Band (arr. Nelson Riddle)
Dec 29: Cēsis Concert Hall
Dec 30; Jan 2 & 3: Riga Congress Hall

Jan 15–28
Tour with Seth Parker Woods and Conor Hanick
Seth Parker Woods, cello
Conor Hanick, piano
SIMONE: “Images”
RAVEL: “Nahandove” from Chansons madécasses
Tania LEÓN: “Oh Yemanja” (Mother’s Prayer) from Scourge of Hyacinths
Tania LEÓN: New Work (world premiere; 92NY co-commission)
WALKER: Sonata for Cello and Piano
OWENS: Drei Lieder, Op. 19
Salvatore SCIARRINO: “Ultime Rose” from Vanitas
SIMONE (arr. Siskind): “Four Women”
ANDRÉ & DORY PREVIN (transc. Siskind): “It’s Good to Have You Near Again”
GERSHWIN (arr. Previn; transc. Siskind): “Love Walked In” from The Goldwyn Follies
A. PREVIN: “Shelter” from Four Songs for Soprano, Cello, and Piano
RODGERS (arr. Previn; transc. Siskind): “Nobody’s Heart” from By Jupiter
   Jan 15: Los Angeles, CA (UCLA)
   Jan 18: Chicago, IL (University of Chicago)
   Jan 23: New York, NY (92NY)
   Jan 25: Rochester, NY (Eastman)
   Jan 28: Blacksburg, VA (Virginia Tech)

Jan 30
Houston, TX
DACAMERA Series
Conor Hanick, piano
MESSIAEN: Harawi

March 1, 3, 4, 12
Adelaide, Australia
Adelaide Festival
Perle Noire: Meditations for Joséphine
El Niño: Nativity Reconsidered (Christian Reif, conductor)

March 7
Auckland, New Zealand
Auckland Philharmonia
Christian Reif, conductor
GERSHWIN: “Somebody from Somewhere” from Delicious (arr. Nelson Riddle)
BONDS: “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” (poetry by Langston Hughes; orch. Jannina Norpoth)
GERSHWIN: “Summertime” from Porgy & Bess
BONDS: “Poème d’Automne” (poetry by Langston Hughes; orch. Jannina Norpoth)
BONDS: “Winter Moon” (poetry by Langston Hughes; orch. Jannina Norpoth)
GERSHWIN: “Soon” from Strike Up the Band (arr. Nelson Riddle)

May 8
Gävle, Sweden
Gävle Symphony Orchestra
Christian Reif, conductor
POULENC: La voix humaine

May 15-23
Cincinnati, OH
Cincinnati May Festival
Festival Directorship

   May 15
“AN ECLECTIC OPENING NIGHT”
Cristian Măcelaru, conductor
Julia Bullock, soprano
Carlos Simon, Hammond Organ
Jason Alexander Holmes, baritone/Preacher
May Festival Chorus, Matthew Swanson, director
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
BRUCKNER: Psalm 150
ZEMLINSKY: Selections from Symphonische Gesänge
“Lied aus Dixieland” (“Song from Dixieland”)
”Totes braunes Mädel (“To a Brown Girl Dead,” text by Countee Cullen)
“Übler Bursche” (“Bad Boy”)
“Erkenntnis” (“Disillusion”)
“Afrikanischer Tanz” (“African Dance”)
BONDS:
“To a Brown Girl Dead”
“Negro Speak of Rivers”
“Poème d’Automne” and “Winter Moon” from Songs of the Season
“April Rain”
ECLECTIC MASS: Selections from:
SIMON: Good News Mass and Sanctus
PALESTRINA: Missa Assumpta est Maria
BACH: Cantata No. 191
BONDS: Credo
HANDEL (arr. Mounsey): “Soulful Hallelujah”

   May 16
“THE WATER’S JOURNEY”
Cristian Măcelaru, conductor
May Festival Chorus, Matthew Swanson, director
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
ELLINGTON: The River
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Symphony No. 1, A Sea Symphony

   May 21
“ON LOVE AND LUST”
Matthew Swanson, conductor
Victoria Okafor, soprano
Sara Couden, contralto
Nicholas Phan, tenor
Yannis François, bass-baritone
May Festival Chorus, Matthew Swanson, director
Members of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
Cincinnati Ballet’s Second Company – CB2 (Yoshihisa Arai, choreographer)
STRAVINSKY: Les noces (“The Wedding”)
ORFF: Catulli Carmina (“Songs of Catullus”)

   May 23
“FESTIVAL FINALE: Porgy and Bess”
Anthony Parnther, conductor
Julia Bullock, soprano
Alfred Walker, bass-baritone
May Festival Chorus, Matthew Swanson, director
May Festival Youth Chorus, Jason Alexander Holmes, director
Classical Roots Community Choir, Jason Alexander Holmes, resident conductor
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
G. GERSHWIN, DUBOSE & DOROTHY HEYWARD, IRA GERSHWIN: Selections from
The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess
STILL: Plain-Chant for America
Stephen PAULUS: From Prayers & Remembrances
V. In Beauty It Walks
VI. Eternity
BERNSTEIN: “Make our Garden Grow” from Candide
HANDEL: “Hallelujah Chorus” from Messiah