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. [Read more…]