Fireworks at the Cleveland Orchestra’s Blossom Music Festival. Photo: Roger Mastroianni
“The hills will once again be alive with music when the Cleveland Orchestra’s Blossom Music Festival returns to its picturesque summer home … adjacent to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park … from the Fourth of July weekend through Labor Day Weekend,” writes John Benson in Wednesday’s (6/29) News-Herald (Northeast Ohio). “In addition to opening weekend’s ‘Salute to America,’ featuring the music of Sousa, Copland, John Williams, Sara Curry, and Florence Price and fireworks, there’s also the ‘Paul Simon Songbook’ … and ‘Broadway Legends: Webber, Sondheim, Bernstein and More.’ … The summer schedule boasts two movie presentations … the score of ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring’ [and] ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,’ with music from The Cleveland Orchestra and Cleveland Orchestra Youth Chorus…. The summer schedule also includes plenty of dates for the more discriminating classical music lover. [Cleveland Orchestra Artistic Administrator Michael] Gandlmayr pointed to The Cleveland Orchestra presenting Beethoven Symphony No. 9… ‘One of the programs I’m personally most looking forward to is the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 with [Daniil] Trifonov,’ Gandlmayr said. ‘It’s a huge crowd pleaser with these sweeping melodies. The second half of the program [includes] John Adams’ ‘Harmonielehre.’ ”
