Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, John Morris Russell, Marcus Roberts, Modern Jazz Generation
Biographie Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, John Morris Russell, Marcus Roberts, Modern Jazz Generation
John Morris Russell
embrace of America’s unique voice and musical stories has transformed how orchestral performances connect and engage with audiences. As conductor of the world-renowned Cincinnati Pops Orchestra since 2011, the wide range and diversity of his work as a musical leader, collaborator and educator continues to reinvigorate the musical scene throughout Cincinnati and across the continent. As Music Director of the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra in South Carolina, JMR conducts the classical series as well as the prestigious Hilton Head International Piano Competition.
A Grammy-nominated artist, JMR has worked with leading performers from across a variety of musical genres, including Aretha Franklin, Emanuel Ax, Amy Grant and Vince Gill, Garrick Ohlsson, Rhiannon Giddens, Hilary Hahn, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Cynthia Erivo, Sutton Foster, George Takei, Steve Martin, Brian Wilson, Leslie Odom, Jr., Lea Salonga and Mandy Gonzalez.
A popular guest conductor, JMR has worked with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Boston Pops and the National Symphony of Washington, D.C. He frequently conducts Canadian orchestras, including Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver, and has led the orchestras of Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Dallas and Minnesota, as well as the Utah Symphony, Oregon Symphony, Colorado Symphony and New Jersey Symphony. JMR makes his St. Louis Symphony Orchestra debut in 2025. His work in opera and musical theatre includes Cincinnati Opera, where he conducted its first production of Hans Krása’s Brundibár and the world premiere of Blind Injustice, which was released on CD in 2021. He has also worked with Wolf Trap Opera and New York City Ballet and led semi-staged productions of The Music Man and Ragtime with the Cincinnati Pops.
Since 2014, JMR has regularly led the National Orchestral Institute (NOI) and Festival in College Park, Maryland, one of the nation’s premier training orchestras. In 2024, JMR and the NOI collaborated with Wolf Trap Opera on a production of Kurt Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins in a program to be repeated with the Hilton Head Symphony in 2025. Dedicated to sharing the American musical experience with the newest generation, he helped develop and conducted the LinkUP! educational concert series at Carnegie Hall 1997–2009, a continuation of the program launched by Walter Damrosch in 1891 and continued under Leonard Bernstein, and he has piloted educational programs with the symphony orchestras of Cincinnati, Windsor and Hilton Head.
For over two decades, JMR has led the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s wildly successful Classical Roots initiative honoring and celebrating Black musical excellence, which has garnered record-breaking in-person and online audiences. Guest artists have included Marvin Winans, Alton White, George Shirley, Common and Hi-Tek.
JMR has contributed seven albums to the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra discography, including 2023’s holiday album JOY!. In 2015, he created the “American Originals Project,” which has won both critical and popular acclaim and features two landmark recordings: American Originals (the music of Stephen Foster) and the Grammy-nominated American Originals 1918 (a tribute to the dawn of the jazz age). The 2020 “American Originals” concert King Records and the Cincinnati Sound with Late Show pianist Paul Shaffer honored legendary recording artists associated with the Queen City. In the 2024–25 season JMR takes on the next installment of the project, offering a concert and recording celebrating the legacy of the Harlem Renaissance, and presents a national PBS broadcast of Rick Steves Europe: A Symphonic Journey. JMR’s American Soundscapes video series with the Pops and Cincinnati’s CET public television station, has surpassed one million views on YouTube since its launch in 2016.
JMR served as Music Director of the Windsor Symphony Orchestra (WSO) 2001–2012, where he conducted more than 40 world premieres and recorded the Juno Award-nominated album of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf. During his time with the WSO, he was a two-time recipient of Ontario’s Lieutenant Governor’s Award for the Arts. In 2011, the University of Windsor awarded him an honorary doctorate, and the following year he was named the WSO’s first conductor laureate. JMR recently concluded his nine-year tenure as Principal Pops Conductor of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, following in the footsteps of Doc Severinsen and Marvin Hamlisch.
John Morris Russell earned degrees from the University of Southern California and Williams College, and he has studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado and the Pierre Monteux School for Conductors in Hancock, Maine.
Marcus Roberts
originally from Jacksonville, FL, is often hailed as “the genius of the modern piano." He is known throughout the world for his many contributions to jazz music as well as his commitment to integrating the jazz and classical idioms to create something wholly new. Roberts’ melodic and soulful group improvisational style uses musical cues and exotic rhythms as the foundation for his modern approach to the jazz trio. This trio with renowned drummer, Jason Marsalis, who has held the drum chair for the past 30 years, is known the world over for its unique jazz style and philosophy. The trio was joined by a great young bassist, Marty Jaffe, in 2022. Jaffe’s style fits this trio perfectly due to his deep sense of groove, and rich and lyrical sound.
Roberts was self-taught until age 12 when he had his first piano lesson at the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind. He later studied classical piano at Florida State University with the great Leonidas Lipovetsky. Over the years, Roberts has won numerous awards and competitions, including the Helen Keller Award for Personal Achievement. Most recently, in 2024, he received the prestigious Dorothy and David Dushkin Award by the Music Institute of Chicago as well as a special emerging technology award from the Doris Duke Foundation.
Roberts’ recordings include solo piano, duets, trio, large ensembles and symphony orchestra. His first recording with orchestra (Portraits in Blue, Sony Classical, 1996) featured his innovative arrangement of Rhapsody in Blue”and was nominated for a Grammy. In 2003, he recorded Rhapsody in Blue and his groundbreaking arrangement of Gershwin’s Concerto in F for Piano and Orchestra (A Gershwin Night, EuroArts 2003) with the Berlin Philharmonic under the baton of the brilliant conductor, Seiji Ozawa. He has completed multiple additional recordings since that time.
In addition to his genius as a performer, Roberts is also an accomplished composer. He has received numerous commissioning awards including two piano concertos, works for chamber orchestra and jazz ensembles of various sizes. In 2022, Roberts and his trio were featured on a recording by violinist Daniel Hope entitled America. In addition, Roberts has written numerous original arrangements for jazz and orchestra. His orchestral arrangements include works by George Gershwin, Duke Ellington and others. His most recent arrangement entitled Yamekraw by James P. Johnson is being premiered this weekend by the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra. For that work, Roberts included his trio as well as his newest ensemble called the “Modern Jazz Generation” which was founded in 2013. This multigenerational band is the realization of his long-standing dedication to training and mentoring younger musicians. Several MJG members will join the Pops this weekend for the premier of Roberts’ new arrangement of Yamekraw. The woodwinds include Boyce Griffith on alto saxophone, Joe Goldberg on tenor saxophone and clarinet, and Tissa Khosla on baritone. Joining the orchestra in the brass section will be Etienne Charles, Tim Blackmon, and Jianni Lazaga on trumpet along with Rashaan Salaam on trombone.
Finally, Marcus Roberts is a Professor of Music at the Florida State University College of Music and a Distinguished Professor of Music at Bard College. He holds honorary doctoral degrees from The Juilliard School, Brigham Young University, and Bard College.
Mykal Kilgore
is an award-winning actor and a Grammy and NAACP Image Award-nominated singer/songwriter. His debut album A Man Born Black showcased his sound described as a gumbo of American roots music and modern feels that highlight his ability to go from Broadway Showtune Storytelling to Soul and Jazz scatting to Gospel. He is currently portraying The Lion in The Wiz First National Tour. Theatre credits include Motown the Musical and Hair on Broadway, Book of Mormon (1st National Tour,) as well as Jimmy Early in Dreamgirls at Goodspeed Musicals, The Witch in Into The Woods at Barrington Stage Company, The Who’s Tommy at The Kennedy Center, Songs For A New World at Encores! Off-Center. He has appeared in TV/Film with roles in NBC’s Jesus Christ Superstar and The Wiz Live and Collateral Beauty. He has graced stage’s from the O2 in the UK to the Met Gala. Mykal’s viral videos have racked up 10M plus views. His performance is dedicated to Nathan, Sonya, Fred and Alyce.
Tatiana LadyMay Mayfield
is a jazz/soul vocalist, musician, composer and educator from Fort Worth, Texas. LadyMay has performed in various venues and festivals throughout the U.S. and abroad, which have earned her rave reviews from listeners and musicians in addition to numerous awards. In 2023, LadyMay was named as an awardee for the “Next Jazz Legacy” grant program created by NEA Jazz Master, Terri Lyne Carrington in partnership with the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice and New Music USA with funding from the Mellon Foundation. Through this program, she has been mentored by pianist/vocalist/composer Patrice Rushen and jazz/soul harpist/composer Brandee Younger. Other highlights of her career include performing on NPR’s Tiny Desk series with Brandee Younger, performing with the Cincinnati Pops and other orchestras around the country, having a number one song on the UK Soul Chart, performing and teaching in Zhuhai, China, and being the first woman and African American person to receive a M.M. in Jazz Composition from the University of Texas in Arlington. LadyMay has recorded three albums, From All Directions (2009), A Portrait Of LadyMay (2012), The Next Chapter (2018) and her fourth album is in production. In 2024, her original song “Freedum”, a collaboration with Grammy award winning producer JeMarcus Bridges and rapper YelloPain was featured in the Peacock original movie Bosco. Tatiana has also provided vocals in various styles for several artists’ albums, television shows, and films. As an educator, she is the Assistant Professor of Contemporary Popular Music in the Lamont School of Music at the University of Denver.
