MAC Open Door Concerts celebrate the cultural diversity, history and heritage of the season’s outstanding artists and composers. Identifying MAC Open Door concerts is easy. Just look for "MAC Concert" under Related Events on each concert page, or the MAC Open Door icon next to selected concerts in printed brochures and materials.

The Multicultural Awareness Council (MAC) is a group of diverse community volunteers whose mission is to foster and increase awareness of CSO programs in the greater Cincinnati area through cultural and diverse music programs, educational and community partnerships, scholarships for talented minority student musicians and building diverse audiences.

The CSO values and is committed to increasing diversity and inclusion in its orchestra and audience, its staff and board directors, its business partners and vendors, and to fostering diversity and inclusion in the community it serves.

Scroll down for a complete listing of MAC Open Door concerts
for the 2010-11 CSO & Pops seasons at Music Hall.

Paavo Järvi opens his 10th anniversary season with the long-awaited return of the beloved Ohio-born soprano Kathleen Battle. She’ll convey the heart-on-sleeve emotion of music by Strauss in a program that also includes “Zarathustra,” of 2001: A Space Odyssey fame.

You’re destined to have a great evening with Beethoven’s delightful Concerto No. 1, performed by Mihaela Ursuleasa, who toured with the CSO in 2000. She sets the stage for Schubert's "Unfinished" Symphony, some of the most beautiful music ever composed. Rising star James Gaffigan leads a world premiere by the Haitian-born artist “DBR,” whose collaborators include Lady Gaga.

THE HEART OF HUNGARY
FRI OCT 15, 2010 | 8 PM
SAT OCT 16, 2010 | 8 PM

Returning conductor Carlos Kalmar leads a Hungarian-influenced program featuring Yuja Wang (Gramophone Magazine’s 2009 Young Artist of the Year) in her CSO debut. She performs Bartók’s virtuosic Concerto No. 2, by turns fiery, fierce and lyrical. Brahms’ hot-blooded “gypsy” finale brings the concert to a spectacular close.

Mary Wilson is best known as a founding member of the Supremes, who brought us iconic hits including “Stop! In the Name of Love,” “I Hear a Symphony,” and “You Can’t Hurry Love.” She joins the Pops for a stroll through Motown hits and more, including a nod to Dreamgirls, the hit Broadway musical depicting the rise of the world’s most famous female trio.

One of today’s most celebrated superstars, André Watts lends his sizeable skill and artistic elegance to Beethoven’s concerto of many contrasts—serene and melodious at first, then boisterous and virtuosic. We close with the intimate and soul-penetrating Requiem of Gabriel Fauré.

What do you get when you combine Celtic Woman, the Irish Tenors and Riverdance? It could only be the amazingly talented eight-member Leahy Family. These instrumentalists, singers and dancers are a rare combination of dazzling artistry and originality, winning them countless fans through their live performances and PBS specials. Celebrate the luckiest month of the year with Leahy’s authentic sound and volcanic energy.

Jian Wang, featured in the Oscar–winning film From Mao to Mozart, lends his copious technical gifts to Schumann’s ravishing Cello Concerto. Mostly Mozart music director Louis Langrée leads the CSO in Brahms’ first symphony—a work that inspired Schumann to declare him the heir apparent to Beethoven.

*includes complimentary dinner buffet at 6:15 in the Music Hall Ballroom

After the premiere of his Fanfare, the multi-faceted Stewart Goodyear bridges the centuries with performances of Bach and Messiaen. Incorporating the eerie, wavering tones of the ondes Martenot (an early synthesizer), Messiaen’s boisterous masterpiece derives from Sanskrit words meaning “love song.”