CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio — If you’ve been missing live music, the Cleveland Orchestra has announced their return to Blossom Music Center this summer. That’s right! The Blossom Music Festival is back with 11 concerts planned for Blossom Music Center between July and September (see the full schedule below).
These performances will mark the first time in more than a year since the Cleveland Orchestra has played concerts for a live audience.
“This Blossom Music Festival season celebrates our community, with music that we know our fans have been eager to hear again,” said Ilya Gidalevich, Artistic Administrator of The Cleveland Orchestra. “For this long-awaited return to the Blossom stage, audiences will experience some of their favorite classical music — like the works of Brahms, Beethoven, Mozart, Elgar, and Dvořák. As always, expect to see a mix of rising, international music stars and fan favorite conductors and soloists along with the unmatched musicians of ‘America’s finest Orchestra.’”
Subscriptions are on sale now with individual tickets available Monday, May 3. Prices start at $25. All Lawn Ticket Books (including Under 18s Free passes) originally sold for the 2020 Blossom Music Festival can be used for any of the Cleveland Orchestra concerts this summer. Due to social distancing guidelines, lawn capacity will be limited.
Under 18s Free continues to develop young audiences by making attending Orchestra concerts affordable for families, once again offering free Lawn tickets to young people (17 and under) for every Blossom Music Festival concert this season.
CLICK HERE for more on ticketing.
COVID-19 safety protocols will also be in place, which includes the following:
- Limited capacity to maintain proper distancing.
- All guests are required to wear a mask that covers both the nose and mouth at all times throughout the venue, except when actively eating and drinking.
- Physical distancing should be maintained with those outside of your household. Lawn monitors will assist in maintaining appropriate distancing, encouraging households to set up chairs 6 feet from other groups. Seating in the Pavilion will provide appropriate distance between all households.
- Guests are asked not to visit Blossom Music Center if they are feeling sick, experiencing Covid-19 symptoms or have been potentially exposed to COVID-19 until cleared by a medical professional. If guests develop symptoms while visiting Blossom, please return home immediately and contact your primary care physician.
- Parking, entrance and exit procedures will be posted to help direct guests on site, check for symptoms of COVID-19 and maintain social distancing.
- Cleveland Orchestra and Blossom Music Center staff, musicians and volunteers will wear masks, submit to daily temperature scans, frequently wash and sanitize hands and disinfect high touch surfaces regularly.
Here’s the 2021 Blossom Music Festival schedule as outlined by the Cleveland Orchestra (additional repertoire and guest artists will be announced this May):
AN AMERICAN CELEBRATION
Saturday, July 3, 2021 at 8 p.m.
With fireworks
The Cleveland Orchestra
Brett Mitchell, conductor
Program to include:
COPLAND Suite from Appalachian Spring
TCHAIKOVSKY 1812 Overture
SOUSA Stars and Stripes Forever
A Blockbuster opening weekend! Celebrate the start of the Blossom season and enjoy a night under the stars with great music, fireworks, and fun for the whole family! Join The Cleveland Orchestra for its first public performances in more than a year, featuring Copland’s iconic Appalachian Spring, Tchaikovsky’s 1812 overture — with cannons! — a march by Sousa and more.
MOZART IN THE MEADOWS
Sunday, July 11, 2021 at 7 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Dame Jane Glover, conductor (Blossom Music Festival debut)
Program to include:
MOZART Symphony No. 40
Come enjoy the natural beauty of Blossom and a splendid night of Mozart! Highlighting the evening is his Symphony No. 40, sometimes called his “Great G minor” and arguably his most popular symphony, striking for its originality and shadowy intensity — influencing generations of musicians to follow.
THE GREAT AMERICAN SONGBOOK: Gershwin and Ellington
Sunday, July 18, 2021 at 7 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Lucas Waldin, conductor
Capathia Jenkins, vocalist
Program to include:
GERSHWIN Fascinating Rhythm
ELLINGTON Satin Doll
KERN All the Things You Are
GERSHWIN The Man I Love
GERSWHIN Summertime
A treasure trove of American songs overflowing with the very best of George Gershwin, Duke Ellington, and Oscar Hammerstein. “Sweet, smart, and sassy” (Chicago Tribune), Broadway star and audience favorite Capathia Jenkins returns to sing these classics and more.
FROM THE NEW WORLD
Sunday, July 25, 2021 at 7 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Rafael Payare, conductor (Cleveland Orchestra debut)
Program to include:
DVOŘÁK Symphony No. 9 (“From the New World”)
An outsider’s perspective on the beauty of America. Dvořák came to the U.S. in the 1890s — and was thrilled by the sounds and sights of this wild new country. He admired the beauty of African American spirituals, and was fascinated by Native American traditions. When describing his New World symphony, he said “I tried to write only in the spirit of those national American melodies.” Yet, in the end, his Ninth is a glowing expression of both the Old World and the New.
BEETHOVEN’S SEVENTH SYMPHONY
Sunday, Aug. 1, 2021 at 7 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Herbert Blomstedt, conductor
Program to include:
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 7
One of Beethoven’s greatest and most admired symphonies, the Seventh is loved by audiences for its energy and beauty, and its lilting dance rhythms are some of the stormy composer’s most delightful moments. The somber and dignified second movement of this symphony brings magic to the soundtrack for the film The King’s Speech.
CLASSICAL MYSTERY TOUR: A TRIBUTE TO THE BEATLES
Sunday, Aug. 8, 2021 at 7 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Martin Herman, conductor (Cleveland Orchestra debut)
with Classical Mystery Tour
The Best of the Beatles like you’ve never heard them: totally live with symphony orchestra. Sensational tribute band Classical Mystery Tour joins the Orchestra, performing all of The Beatles’ greatest hits from their early music to the solo years in original orchestrations. “Penny Lane,” “Yesterday,” “A Day in the Life,” and so much more!
TCHAIKOVSKY’S FOURTH
Sunday, Aug. 15, 2021 at 7 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Karina Canellakis, conductor (Cleveland Orchestra debut)
Program to include:
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 4
He sought refuge in music when his life was in ruins. Tchaikovsky’s life was in disarray; he entered into a marriage that only lasted six weeks. Nearly mad with passion, he poured out his feelings into his Fourth Symphony, and the act of writing the music itself helped to rebalance his sanity — saying of the finale “rejoice in the happiness of others and you can still live.”
ROMANTIC BRAHMS
Sunday, Aug. 22, 2021 at 7 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Jahja Ling, conductor
Program to include:
BRAHMS Symphony No. 3
Enjoy a romantic evening with Brahms’s gorgeous Third Symphony. Filled with passion and longing, it has directly inspired artists today — the third movement was “borrowed” for the 1951 pop song “Take My Love,” recorded and co-written by Frank Sinatra, and is a favorite of Carlos Santana who used it as inspiration for “Love of My Life.”
ENIGMA VARIATIONS
Saturday, Aug. 28, 2021 at 7 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Elim Chan, conductor (Cleveland Orchestra debut)
Program to include:
ELGAR Enigma Variations
A lovely tribute — and a musical riddle. Elgar’s Enigma Variations was, in effect, his version of a mixtape: each movement was gifted as a tender portrait of a personal friend. These powerful and emotional tokens of friendship have become extraordinarily popular — the “Nimrod” variation is often used as a song of national mourning and was played at Princess Diana’s funeral. Not content with writing a beautiful piece, Elgar claimed that there was a musical mystery hidden deep in this work. Many claimed to have solved it but no one knows for certain.
HOLLYWOOD UNDER THE STARS
Saturday, Sept. 4, 2021 at 7 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 5, 2021 at 7 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Richard Kaufman, conductor
From tender love stories to blind obsessions, serene tranquility to pulse-pounding excitement, movie scores are essential for transforming images to powerful stories and emotions. Now, Richard Kaufman, one of Hollywood’s most sought-after film score conductors, leads the Orchestra in a program filled with blockbuster favorites, including works by John Williams from films like Superman, Harry Potter, Star Wars, E.T. and much more.