Perfect Blossom Picnic Archives - Cleveland Classical

The Cleveland Orchestra announces Perfect Blossom Picnic contest

July 31, 2017 by Samantha Spaccasi

by Samantha Spaccasi

The Cleveland Orchestra has announced the Perfect Blossom Picnic contest to take place on Saturday, August 5 at Blossom Music Center before the ensemble’s performance of the “Tchaikovsky’s Favorites” program. [Read more…]

Cheers, gasps, and laughter fill Blossom as “Cirque Goes Broadway” (Aug. 31)

by Stephanie Manning

This article was originally published on Cleveland.com.

CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio — “Cirque Goes Broadway” takes its song titles literally.

Acrobats soar high above the stage during “Defying Gravity.” A vocalist belts “I must not fall” while a contortionist carefully balances on one hand. And the opening orchestral number, “That’s Entertainment!” lets the audience know what it’s in for.

On August 31, conductor Lucas Waldin led the Akron Symphony Orchestra at Blossom Music Center in an evening of Broadway hits combined with acrobatics from the Big Top.

[Read on…]

Isabelle and Raphaël Olivier evoke French sensibility at Reithoffer’s (Aug. 23)

by Kevin McLaughlin

Harpist Isabelle Olivier and her son, guitarist Raphaël Olivier, combined for an eclectic program of smart, original compositions and unexpected covers on Friday evening, August 23. The charming nightclub setting of Reithoffer’s (called Hoff’s by regulars), 10 miles east of Chagrin Falls, is an especially agreeable place to hear music.

Raphaël, age 27, who did most of the talking, charmed us right off with the duo’s origin story: “We’re from a small town outside Paris, but have now lived in Chicago twelve years. I’ve been a US citizen for a month and have less of a French accent, but Isabelle has more.”

This also applied to their musical accents. [Read on…]

Tony DeSare and the Blossom Festival (Big) Band light up the summer night with Sinatra tribute (Aug. 25)

by Daniel Hathaway

This article was originally published on cleveland.com

CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio — The deities that throw the dice to determine what the weather is going to be like were kind to vocalist & pianist Tony DeSare on Sunday. A dark and stormy morning morphed into a beautiful late summer evening that according to a tram usher doubled the crowd, originally expected to number 4,000.

Those fans enjoyed a generous two-set concert mostly of songs associated with super-crooner Frank Sinatra. Although this wasn’t a tribute show, DeSare’s 20 selections reflected the singer/pianist’s deep regard for Sinatra’s taste and musicianship. And while DeSare brought his own fair share of charisma to the stage, he avoided becoming a caricature of Ol’ Blue Eyes.

[Read on…]

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