Wed 5/15-5/26
Wed 5/15 @ 7PM
Fri 5/17 @ 7:30PM
Tue 5/21 @ 7PM
From Wednesday May 15 through Sunday May 26, the Cleveland Orchestra will be hosting its second Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Opera & Humanities Festival, taking place at Severance Music Center and other locations. This year’s theme is “Power,” which will be reflected in a series of concerts, exhibitions and conversations. The centerpiece is four fully staged performances of Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute, directed by Nikolaus Habjan with Franz Welser-Möst leading the Cleveland Orchestra. Performance take play Thursday May 16, Saturday May 18, Friday May 24 and Sunday May 26 at Severance Music Center. All are at 7pm except Sunday May 26 @ 3PM.
The festival opens with a keynote talk by author/journalist Kai Bird, who has written extensively about the U.S. bombings of Japan at the end of World War II and U.S./Middle East relations. He co-wrote the 2006 Pulitzer Prize-winning biography American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, using physicist Oppenheimer as a pivot to tell the story of the development of the atomic bomb, in which he was a key figure, and the ethics of its use. He’s also the author of a biography of Jimmy Carter.
The program will also feature violinist Jung-Min Amy Lee, pianists Christina Dahl and Miloš Repický, and bass-baritone Dashon Burton performing pieces connected to the festival theme including Sarasate’s Fantasy on The Magic Flute and John Adams’ “Batter my Heart” from his opera Doctor Atomic. It takes place in the Mandel Concert Hall at Severance Music Center.
Go here for tickets and information.
On Friday May 17, pianist Conrad Tao will perform a solo recital in Severance Music Center’s Reinberger Chamber Hall called “Power and Influence,” exploring the influence of Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) on American music. It intersperses Rachmaninoff’s work with pieces by composers such as Billy Strayhorn, Harold Arlen and Buddy Kaye He’ll be joined by Cleveland Orchestra cellist Dane Johansen. Go here to get tickets.
Then, on May 21, legendary jazz trumpet player and composer Terence Blanchard will lead a program at Severance in honor of mentor, another jazz legend Wayne Shorter. He’ll be performing with his longtime collaborators the quintet the E-Collective and Turtle Island Quartet. Get tickets here.
Get a full festival schedule here.
Cleveland, OH 44106