by Robert Rollin
On Sunday night, conductor Michael Krajewski and The Cleveland Orchestra, assisted by the Blossom Festival Chorus, presented “The Magic of the Movies,” a lively film music potpourri. The evening’s guest artist was Carpathia Jenkins, a talented Broadway singer and actress. [Read more…]
by Neil McCalmont
On Saturday night, July 23, The Cleveland Orchestra welcomed the return of their former Resident Conductor Jahja Ling to Blossom Music Center, where he previously served as Festival Director. Ling conducted the orchestra in a Scandinavian-themed concert, “Northern Lights and Moods,” that also featured the technical and poetic prowess of pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet. [Read more…]
by Neil McCalmont
On Sunday evening, July 17, The Cleveland Orchestra celebrated the centenary of the National Parks Service with an Americana-themed concert titled “An American in Paris” at Blossom Music Center — their own venue located in Cuyahoga Valley National Park. The night’s program consisted of works by Ravel, Copland, and Gershwin conducted by Bramwell Tovey, with guest pianist Javier Perianes.
by Daniel Hathaway
English music doesn’t appear very often on American symphony orchestra programs — except when English conductors make guest appearances. Michael Francis brought along Edward Elgar’s Introduction and Allegro and Ralph Vaughan Williams’s A London Symphony for his Blossom Music Festival visit. On Saturday evening, July 16, he paired engaging Britannic music both urban and bucolic with Mozart’s 21st concerto featuring Australian pianist David Fung. [Read more…]
by J. D. Goddard
On Sunday, July 3, I attended the second of two pre-Fourth of July concerts at Blossom, performed by the Cleveland Orchestra under the direction of Johannes Debus. The open air pavilion was a picture perfect setting and the weather was ideal.
The evening opened with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, inspired by Tales of the Arabian Nights. The composer called it “A kaleidoscope of fairy-tale images,” [Read more…]
by Neil McCalmont, Mike Telin, & Daniel Hathaway
On August 25, one hundred years ago, President Woodrow Wilson signed into law the Organic Act of 1916 that established the National Park Service, building on the conservationist legacy pioneered in 1872 with the creation of the first National Park at Yellowstone.
Since 1933, the Service has also managed National Memorials, Military Parks, Cemeteries, and Historical Areas. A latecomer to the national parks family in 2000, Cuyahoga Valley National Park is the only national park in the state of Ohio, a large chunk of land that includes sites not owned by the federal government — including the Blossom Music Center. [Read more…]
by Neil McCalmont
Summer time is a funner time, and what could be more fun than putting together a picnic and heading off to Blossom Music Festival for wonderful weather and music performed by The Cleveland Orchestra under the direction of Franz Welser-Möst?
On the evening of Saturday, July 9, thousands of listeners gathered in the pavilion, and on the lawn in the Blossom Bowl, spreading their blankets, reclining in their lawn chairs, and soaking up the warm summer night with their loved ones. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
On the Ides of February, when the mercury is hovering low, and your vehicle is encrusted in road salt, there’s no more pleasant pastime than thinking ahead to the lazy, hazy days of summer. The Cleveland Orchestra is thinking ahead too: details of their Blossom Festival concerts, their third season of Summers@Severance performances, their collaboration with the Cleveland International Piano Competition, and their August European Festival Tour have recently been released. Here’s what’s going to happen.
by Timothy Robson
The final classical music concert by The Cleveland Orchestra for the 2015 Blossom Music Festival season on August 30 was a winner. Veteran Dutch conductor Edo de Waart made his first appearance leading the orchestra since 1991, and violin virtuoso Gil Shaham was a welcome visitor in Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, op. 26. Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 in D major occupied the second half of the program. These two landmarks of musical romanticism made for a satisfying — and not too long — late summer Sunday evening. [Read more…]
by Jane Berkner
At the relatively young age of 54, Wynton Marsalis has been a prominent star in the jazz world for many decades now. Many facets of his celebrated talent were showcased on Saturday, August 29, when he brought the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra to Blossom both to perform alone, and later to join forces with The Cleveland Orchestra in a performance of his Swing Symphony. [Read more…]