The Cleveland Orchestra will present seventeen concerts in its 2013 summer season at the Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Valley National Park, which begins on July 3 and continue through September 1. The Blossom Festival Band under Loras John Schissel will open the festival with Independence Day programs for the fortieth season on July 3 & 4.
Franz Welser-Möst will conduct the Orchestra’s opening concerts on July 5 and 6. His third concert at Blossom on July 13 will commemorate the 200th anniversary of Richard Wagner’s birth with opera selections featuring soprano Christine Brewer and bass Alan Held.
Guest conductors for the classical concerts will include Nicholas McGegan, Stéphane Denève, Bramwell Tovey, Jahja Ling, David Afkham and Kirill Karabits. Pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, soprano Christine Brewer, bass Alan Held, and violinist Gil Shaham will return as soloists. Artists making their Blossom debuts will include soprano Luba Orgonášová, pianist Cédric Tiberghein, violinist Ray Chen, and pianist Martin Helmchen. Orchestra principals taking solo roles will include flutist Joshua Smith, cellist Mark Kosower and clarinetist Franklin Cohen. Assistant conductor James Feddeck willl conduct the Kent/Blossom Chamber Orchestra in a prelude concert.
The Joffrey Ballet will return to Blossom on August 17 and 18 to mark the 100th anniversary of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring in a production recreating Nijinsky’s original choreography and Roerich’s original costumes. Tito Muñoz will conduct.
Popular music concerts will be conducted by Michael Krajewski (music of Simon and Garfunkle), Jack Everly (Broadway’s Leading Men), Robert Porco (highlights from Porgy and Bess) and Bramwell Tovey (music of Cole Porter & Jerome Kern). The festival will end with selections from all thirteen Pixar Films with projections.
All Blossom events will again be free for young people 17 and under. Ticket information can be found on The Cleveland Orchestra website. The full schedule appears below.
Wednesday, July 3, 2013, at 8:00 p.m.
Thursday, July 4, 2013, at 8:00 p.m.
Blossom Festival Band
Loras John Schissel, conductor
A Salute to America
Friday, July 5, 2013, at 8:00 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor
Luba Orgonášová, soprano – Cleveland Orchestra debut
Blossom Music Festival Opening Night
Strauss: Four Last Songs
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 8
Saturday, July 6, 2013, at 8:00 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor
Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano
Heroic Beethoven
Beethoven: Grosse Fuge
Liszt: Totentanz [for piano and orchestra]
Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 (“Eroica”)
Saturday, July 13, 2013, at 8:00 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor
Christine Brewer, soprano
Alan Held, bass – Blossom Music Festival debut
Wagner’s Valkyrie
Celebrating the 200th Anniversary of Wagner’s Birth
Wagner: Prelude and “Liebestod” (Tristan and Isolde)
Wagner: “Wotan’s Farewell” and “Magic Fire Music” (Die Walküre)
Wagner: Excerpts from Die Götterdämmerung
Sunday, July 14, 2013, at 7:00 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Michael Krajewski, conductor – Blossom Music Festival debut
AJ Swearingen, vocalist – Cleveland Orchestra debut
Jonathan Beedle, vocalist – Cleveland Orchestra debut
Sounds of Simon & Garfunkel
Saturday, July 20, 2013, at 8:00 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Nicholas McGegan, conductor
Joshua Smith, flute
Much Ado About Mozart
Mozart: Symphony No. 33
Mozart: Flute Concerto No. 1
Cimarosa: Overture to Il matrimonio segreto
Haydn: Symphony No. 103 (“Drum Roll”)
Sunday, July 21, 2013, at 7:00 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Robert Porco, conductor
Franklin Cohen, clarinet
Laquita Mitchell, soprano – Cleveland Orchestra debut
Rodrick Dixon, tenor
Eric Greene, baritone – Cleveland Orchestra debut
Blossom Festival Chorus
Porgy and Bess
Williams: Liberty Fanfare
Williams: Suite from Lincoln
Navarro: II Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra
Gershwin/arr. Bennett: Highlights from Porgy and Bess
Saturday, July 27, 2013, at 7:00 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Stéphane Denève, conductor
Cédric Tiberghien, piano – Cleveland Orchestra debut
Kent/Blossom Chamber Orchestra*
James Feddeck, conductor*
The French Connection
Berlioz: Overture to Les Francs-juges
Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No. 2
Debussy: La Mer
Ravel: La Valse
* Kent/Blossom Chamber Orchestra performs selections at 7:00 p.m. The Cleveland Orchestra’s concert (program listed above) begins at 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, July 28, 2013, at 7:00 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Jack Everly, conductor
Broadway’s Leading Men
Saturday, August 3, 2013, at 8:00 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Kirill Karabits, conductor – Cleveland Orchestra debut
Gil Shaham, violin
Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto
Glinka: Overture to Ruslan and Ludmila
Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto
Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5
Sunday, August 4, 2013, at 7:00 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Bramwell Tovey, conductor
Mark Kosower, cello
Women of the Blossom Festival Chorus
The Planets
Walton: The Spitfire: Prelude and Fugue
Barber: Cello Concerto
Holst: The Planets
Sunday, August 11, 2013, at 7:00 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Jahja Ling, conductor
Ray Chen, violin – Cleveland Orchestra debut
The Four Seasons
Rossini: Overture to The Thieving Magpie
Vivaldi: The Four Seasons
Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 3 (“Scottish”)
Saturday, August 17, 2013, at 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, August 18, 2013, at 8:00 p.m.
The Joffrey Ballet
Ashley C. Wheater, artistic director
The Cleveland Orchestra
Tito Muñoz, conductor
Joela Jones, piano
The Joffrey Ballet: The Rite of Spring
Gould/Robbins: Interplay
Adams/Welch: Son of Chamber Symphony
Stravinsky/Nijinsky: The Rite of Spring [100th Anniversary]
Saturday, August 24, 2013, at 8:00 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
David Afkham, conductor
Martin Helmchen, piano – Cleveland Orchestra debut
Beethoven and Schubert
Beethoven: Overture to Coriolan
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 1
Schubert: Symphony in C major (“The Great”)
Sunday, August 25, 2013, at 7:00 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Bramwell Tovey, conductor
Celebrating Popular Song: Cole Porter and Friends
Saturday, August 31, 2013, at 8:30 p.m.
Sunday, September 1, 2013, at 8:30 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Richard Kaufman, conductor
Pixar in Concert
