by David Kulma
Classical music concerts in Cleveland usually thin out in July as festivals outside the city get under way, most notably The Cleveland Orchestra’s Blossom season. So it is a welcome turn of events to see a new international summer festival supported by University Circle institutions arrive for two weeks in mid-July. I attended the first weekend of Music in the Circle concerts that brought musicians from around the world to the Cleveland Institute of Music’s Mixon Hall on Friday, July 11 and to the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Gartner Auditorium on Sunday, July 14. [Read more…]
In celebration of the summer solstice on June 21, Cleveland inaugurated its first Make Music Day. Over 700 cities worldwide participate in this open-to-all festival, launched in 1982 by the French Ministry of Culture. Local venues offered performances throughout the city, including the Cleveland Clinic, the Bop Stop, Edgewater Park, Stone Mad Park, Toast, the Happy Dog, and many others. 
“People have come to know: every third Tuesday of the month, free classical music. And hotdogs! You can always find it,” Ariel Clayton Karas, Director of Classical Revolution Cleveland, said in a recent conversation. Classical Revolution Cleveland (CRC), self-defined as a “loosely bound group of classically-trained musicians who love sharing music with Cleveland in unusual and non-traditional formats,” has deservedly earned the recognition and enthusiasm of the Cleveland community.