Thu 5/18 @ 6PM
Thu 5/18 @ 7:30PM
Fri 5/19 @ 7:30PM
Sun 5/21 @ 2PM
The Cleveland Orchestra’s Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Opera & Humanities Festival: The American Dream, runs through Saturday May 20, with a series of programs this weekend in and around University Circle with one downtown at the Cleveland Public Library.
On Thursday May 18 @ 6pm, tenor Steven Weems will do a solo vocal performance titled “Finding the Dream,” with opening remarks by Dr. Regennia N. Williams, a professional African-American historian at the Western Reserve Historical Society. It’s free with paid admission.
That evening, pianist/composer Julian Davis Reid will host a free jazz lecture and musical presentation on “The American Dream, the American Nightmare, and Black American Music” at Severance Music Center’s Reinberger Chamber Hall. In it, he’ll share his own experiences as well as the influence of his ancestors, referring to Amiri Baraka’s Blues People: Negro Music in White America. He’ll perform music by Duke Ellington, Herbie Hancock and Marvin Gaye, as well as his own music. Tickets/reservations are not required.
One of the festival’s marquee events, the The American Dream Festival Concert, takes place at Severance on Friday May 19 @ 7:30pm. Franz Welser-Möst will conduct a program called “Musical Reflections: Dreams We’ve Dreamed; Songs We’ve Sung; Hopes We’ve Held.” It will feature music by Sott Joplin, Jullia Perry, William Grant Still, Bernard Herrman and Edgard Varese.
Sunday’s closing program, “Honoring Black Composers,” takes place at Karamu House’s Jeliffe Theatre @ 2pm. Members of the Cleveland Orchestra will play music by Carlos Simon, Florence Price, Jesse Montgomery, Howard Swanson, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, and the Orchestra’s current composer in residence Allison Loggins-Hull. Loggins-Hull, who is a flutist, will also be in the performing ensemble.
For more information and event tickets, go to cclevelandorchestra.com/americandream.
Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106
Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106
Cleveland, OH 44106