Fri 5/15-Sun 5/24

For the fourth year, The Cleveland Orchestra is again hosting its annual Mandel Opera & Humanities Festival taking place at Severance Music Center and partnering locations from Friday May 15 through Sunday May 24.

This year’s theme is Courage, and the opera that provides the centerpiece is Beethoven’s only opera Fidelio, which originally debuted in 1805. It will have three performances, conducted by Music Director Franz Welser-Möst on Saturday May 16, Thursday May 21 and Sunday May 24. While it’s not filled with the glamour, action and excitement of many operas, its wonderful music tells the story of a woman named Leonore, which disguises herself as a prison guard Fidelio to rescue her husband Florestan from the prison where he’s being held due to exposing the corruption of a powerful nobleman. Unlike many operas, it has a happy ending—the corrupt nobleman ends up in prison; maybe there WILL be justice for Epstein’s victims! Certainly, there are many contemporary parallels here. Unlike many operas also, its action is fairly static—but its music is often memorable.

This year, noted jazz trumpet player/composer Terence Blanchard has served as a creative partner to the festival, curating its events. He’ll open the festival with a program called The World(s) of Terence Blanchard on Friday May 15 at Severance Music Center. It will include arias from his 2021 opera Fire Shut Up in My Bones, featuring Will Liverman, the E-Collective, and the Turtle Island Quartet, and his Malcolm X Jazz Suite, drawn from his score for the Spike Lee’s film Malcolm X, which will feature immersive projections by Andrew F. Scott.

The festival also includes speakers, storytellers, a spoken word performance, a community choral concert and a Cleveland Orchestra concert featuring Antonin Dvořák’s Hero’s Song.

For information, including a full schedule of events, and tickets, go to clevelandorchestra.com/tickets/calendar/mandel-opera-and-humanities-festival.