"If you want to go from the sublime to the ridiculous, amongst the many memorable moments I've had in that hall ... was Erich (Kunzel's) 'Down on the Farm' concert. I think it's an amazing versatile space, Music Hall, and it's housed so many different things of both high art and low art. It would be very hard to imagine anyone allowing pigs onstage in Symphony Hall in Boston. I think when pigs fly. So it's fun to see that a hall can be used for such purposes and still contain great music and wonderful concerts."

Keith Lockhart, Boston Pops conductor

"It was the first time that I came to Music Hall after I had become artistic director. I walked in the door and it was so familiar, I was stunned. I realized that I had actually performed at Music Hall in a Midwest tour with Ballet West back in the mid-'70s. The backstage area was so familiar, I remembered even where my dressing room was. I remembered the sensation of being on that stage, because it was substantially bigger than other stages we had been on, and there was more expansiveness and fullness in moving on that stage."

Victoria Morgan, Cincinnati Ballet artistic director

"My first concert, October 1965. I was just a brand-new freshman there on the scene, and my soloist was Dave Brubeck. The place was sold out, and I made my debut there in front of Cincinnati audiences. It really was an electrifying experience for me."

Erich Kunzel, Cincinnati Pops conductor

"I was doing Beethoven's Fifth, and (a musician) who is helping people in the Drop-Inn Center asked me, would it be OK to bring a group of people to Music Hall for the dress rehearsal? They told me about how much the music invigorated them and gave them hope. I've had so many memorable experiences - not to mention my announcement and opening concert. But helping a human being by playing Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 was the most touching, and probably the most moving, experience that I've had."

Paavo Jarvi, CSO music director

"The audience response when the curtain came down on the premiere of Jenufa. There was electricity in the air and I distinctly felt the history of that building in that particular moment - it was an overpowering feeling."

Nicholas Muni, Cincinnati Opera artistic director

"At last year's performance of Adolphus Hailstork's Done Made My Vow, at the climactic termination of Martin Luther King's famous exclamation, 'Free at last! Free at last! Thank God almighty, we are free at last!' the whole audience erupted in applause. I will never forget that."

James Conlon, May Festival music director

"The final curtain of the opening night gala performance of Mefistofele, June 24, 1972. It was truly a triumphant night for opera lovers, the citizens of Cincinnati and all who had worked so diligently to rescue, renovate and preserve the magnificent Music Hall for generations to come. It was truly a glorious night."

Patricia Corbett, arts patron

"The Bach B Minor Mass I conducted two years ago at the May Festival was a highlight for me. I've wanted to do it here for a long time, and it was a special challenge for the chorus to do Bach. It was an electrifying performance onstage, and amongst us all."

Robert Porco, May Festival director of choruses

"Before I started officially, I heard Mahler's Symphony No. 8 at the May Festival (May 1986). Michael Tilson Thomas was conducting. I was sitting in the audience, and to listen to such a special piece in such a big hall was just fantastic. It made a big impression."

Jesus Lopez-Cobos, CSO music director emeritus

"The last time I worked with Maestro Kunzel, I was in my dressing room getting ready for the show and a staff member came up to me with an old program from a concert that Benny Goodman gave there. It was from the late '70s and among the band members were Hank Jones, Slam Stewart and my father, Bucky Pizzarelli. It reminded me not only of the hard work my father put in over the years to make my life easier, but of the absolutely fantastic musicians that he has worked with all over the world."

John Pizzarelli, singer/guitarist

"Like many Cincinnati high school seniors graduating in 1960, I will always remember the grandeur of Commencement at Music Hall. The ambiance made all of us feel we had attained the summit. ... Now, many years later, when I return to perform concerti with the great Cincinnati Symphony, the memories of that glorious moment of having arrived at the pinnacle of purpose rush through me again."

Richard Stoltzman, Grammy-winning clarinetist and Woodward High grad

"(Music Hall) is a very good hall and it's an experience to be in there. The first time I saw it, I thought, what luxury! What big luxury to have that, because I had played some concerts in America with other orchestras, and in very few cities they have adequate places. The way it was redone by J. Ralph Corbett was splendid. He was a real hero."

Michael Gielen, CSO music director 1980-86

"Wow. How to you condense 25 years of experience in that hall into a favorite moment? From the Pops side, there were so many fun projects .... Some after-session moments with Erich in the hall after everyone had left resulted in some treasured moments that truly won't get in print!

"The Sound of Music project was really special, and I will never forget Eileen Farrell singing 'Climb Every Mountain' - everyone, including Kunzel, just dissolved with this veteran's performance."

Bob Woods, Telarc president

"The first time I stood on the stage as a volunteer chorus member with Cincinnati Opera in Verdi's Aida, I was just a senior in high school. As I stood there singing in the Triumphal Chorus - complete with Cincinnati's own zoo animals - it occurred to me that I would make music my life. A few years have passed and I have sung in many great venues, including the Arena di Verona, the Hollywood Bowl and the great Concertgebouw (in Amsterdam), yet Music Hall will always be my home."

Catherine Keen, opera singer from Fort Mitchell

"One of my best memories was with (CSO music director) Thomas Schippers. We rehearsed at Music Hall for a little jazz trio: Schippers on piano, me on drums and Erich Kunzel on bass. Schippers, being the perfectionist he was, wanted to make sure we had everything right, down to our red bow ties. We played it in a window at Pogue's (department store.)"

Carmon DeLeone, Cincinnati Ballet music director