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Kent Blossom Chamber Orchestra:
A conversation with Vinay Parameswaran

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by Mike Telin

This weekend The Cleveland Orchestra turns its attention to young musicians. On Friday, July 20 at 7:30 pm at Severance Hall, the three finalists from the Cooper International Piano Competition will perform complete concertos with The Cleveland Orchestra under the direction of Jahja Ling. Tickets available online.

The following evening, July 21 at Blossom Music Center, Ling and The Orchestra will focus on the participants in the 50th annual Kent Blossom Music Festival. The concert will begin at 7:00 pm, when Vinay Parameswaran will lead the Kent Blossom Chamber Orchestra in Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 1 (Classical) and de Falla’s Suite No. 1 from The Three-Cornered Hat.

At 8:00 pm that student ensemble will join The Cleveland Orchestra and Jahja Ling in a side-by-side performance of Berlioz’s Overture to Benvenuto Cellini, and Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music featuring the Blossom Festival Chorus. The marathon event will continue around 9:00 pm when Ling and TCO return to the stage for Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 (“Titan”).   [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom with Jahja Ling (July 7)

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by Daniel Hathaway

With over a hundred Blossom Music Center performances to his credit, Jahja Ling was the obvious — and ideal — choice to replace the indisposed Franz Welser-Möst for The Cleveland Orchestra’s opening concert on Saturday, July 7. Perfect weather and a revelatory performance of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition celebrated the beginning of Blossom’s 50th Anniversary season in a memorable way. And there were fireworks, too. [Read more…]

Got summer plans, Cleveland Orchestra? Blossom + Summers@Severance + a few extra notables

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by Jarrett Hoffman

Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and Clevelanders haven’t heard their orchestra live since mid-May. In the interim, The Cleveland Orchestra has been on the road, finishing off their centennial-capping Prometheus Project with performances at Vienna’s Musikverein and Tokyo’s Suntory Hall. Oh, how we miss them.

We’ll get reacquainted with TCO soon, thanks to their schedule at this year’s 50th anniversary season of Blossom Music Festival, plus their fourth Summers@Severance series.

The Cleveland Orchestra marks the unofficial beginning of summer when they open their Blossom season on Saturday, July 7 at 8:00 pm. At the helm will be music director Franz Welser-Möst, leading the Orchestra in Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition in its orchestration by Ravel, Reznicek’s Overture to Donna Diana, and Beethoven’s Triple Concerto, featuring TCO’s own soloists –– pianist Joela Jones, violinist Stephen Rose, and cellist Mark Kosower. At this concert and two others, check out the Image Magnification system, which displays live video of the performers on LED screens in the Blossom Pavilion. Fingers crossed for the weather — a firework show is planned for afterwards.

[Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra announces 50th Anniversary Blossom Season

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by Daniel Hathaway

FWMBlossom070916Blossom Music Center will celebrate its 50th anniversary in the summer of 2018 with concerts by The Cleveland Orchestra, Blossom Festival Band, and Kent/Blossom Chamber Orchestra; special guests including cellist Yo Yo Ma, Broadway legend Audra McDonald, and Roger Daltrey of The Who; and screenings of Singing in the Rain, The Little Mermaid, and Star Wars: A New Hope with live scores performed by the Orchestra.

For selected events, Image Magnification (IMAG) on LED screens in the Pavilion will display live footage from concerts, giving audience members throughout the Pavilion the opportunity to clearly see the musicians onstage. IMAG is provided in partnership with ideastream.

Since its opening in 1968, Blossom has drawn over 400,000 visitors each summer, a total of over 20 million guests during its first half-century. [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom with Gustavo Gimeno & Johannes Moser (Aug. 12)

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by Robert Rollin

Gimeno-MoserLast Saturday evening, August 12, the Cleveland Orchestra presented a delightful mélange of music with Spanish, French, and Russian connections under Spanish guest conductor Gustavo Gimeno. Gimeno and the Orchestra collaborated with German-Canadian cellist Johannes Moser on Edouard Lalo’s Cello Concerto in d. [Read more…]

Randall Craig Fleischer leads “A Tribute to Ella Fitzgerald” at Blossom

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by Jarrett Hoffman

Fleischer-Randall

“It’s a lovely day in Queens, New York,” conductor Randall Craig Fleischer said, answering his phone while walking with his daughter to the Joffrey Dance Center in an industrial part of the city. “No, actually it’s raining and noisy.”

Despite the gloomy weather, Fleischer talked animatedly over the next fifteen minutes about growing up in Northeast Ohio; his work in the genres of jazz, symphonic rock, and world music fusion; and his Cleveland Orchestra debut this Sunday.

On August 27 at 7:00 pm at Blossom Music Center, he’ll lead “A Tribute to Ella Fitzgerald,” featuring vocalists Capathia Jenkins, Harolyn Blackwell, and Aisha de Haas. Also the TCO debut for de Haas, this celebration of Lady Ella’s 100th birthday includes Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered, Someone to Watch Over Me, The Lady Is a Tramp, and Summertime.

[Read more…]

Blossom: Cristian Măcelaru on conducting, posterity, and socially conscious music

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by Jarrett Hoffman

Macelaru

At seventeen, Cristian Măcelaru wanted to conduct. First he had to wait.

‘Keep studying violin, then we’ll talk’ was the message from conductor Larry Rachleff, who had inspired Măcelaru’s new interest at Interlochen Arts Camp.

The young violinist took the advice to heart. Now, two decades later, he’s Music Director of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music; has served as Conductor-in-Residence, Associate, and Assistant Conductor with the Philadelphia Orchestra; and has led subscription concerts with the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, and Los Angeles Philharmonic.

And on Saturday, August 26 at 8:00 pm, he’ll make his Cleveland Orchestra debut at Blossom Music Center with a program of Dvořák’s Violin Concerto and Holst’s The Planets. “I’m extremely humbled to conduct this orchestra that I’ve admired for my entire life,” he said in a recent conversation.

[Read more…]

TCO at Blossom: 30 minutes with conductor Fabien Gabel and pianist Juho Pohjonen

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by Jarrett Hoffman

Pohjonen-GabelThis weekend’s schedule at Blossom sports a fresh pair of Cleveland Orchestra debuts. On Saturday, August 19 at 8:00 pm at Blossom Music Center, Fabien Gabel, music director of the Quebec Symphony Orchestra, will lead TCO in Ravel’s Boléro, Debussy’s Ibéria, Florent Schmitt’s La Palais Hanté, and Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 1, featuring Juho Pohjonen. We spoke to the French conductor and the Finnish pianist in separate conversations — Gabel was spending time in New York City with his family, while Pohjonen was in Bridgehampton, NY, for his tenth festival of the summer.

As they get to know Northeast Ohio, the two stars of the program will also be getting to know each other. They’ve never performed together, though Gabel said he had the pleasure to hear Pohjonen play a recital in Paris. “He’s played chamber music with some friends of mine, so I know him through them,” said the conductor. “He’s a fantastic musician, so I’m really looking forward to making music with him.”

[Read more…]

The Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom Music Center (July 29)

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by Samantha Spaccasi

Fray-David2The lawn and pavilion of Blossom Music Center hosted an immense crowd on the evening of July 29 for The Cleveland Orchestra’s performance of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 24 with pianist David Fray, and Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2, skillfully conducted by Vasily Petrenko. [Read more…]

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