Kent Blossom Timeline

Selected highlights from the fifty-year span of Kent Blossom. (Names in bold are pictured below the caption.)

1968

The Blossom Festival School is founded at The Cleveland Orchestra’s new summer home, Blossom Music Center  

MUSIC 
Aaron Copland conducts a Blossom Festival school class  

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Aaron Copland 1968

ART 
Richard Anuszkiewicz, BS ’56, leader in the op art movement, is the first visiting artist in painting

1969  

MUSIC 
The documentary Sounds of Summer: The Blossom Music Center with Pierre Boulez is released in August

1970  

ART 
Alex Katz, visiting artist in painting, holds a life-drawing class

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Alex Katz, 1970

1971  

MUSIC 
Pierre Boulez rehearses the Blossom Music Festival School orchestra in Ludwig Recital Hall.

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Pierre Boulez, 1971

THEATRE  
Porthouse Theatre is dedicated in July and puts on a production of Idiot’s Delight

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Porthouse Theater Dedication, 1971

1972

ART 
Visiting artist Will Hindle hosts a six-day film festival in August at Porthouse Theatre

1974  

THEATRE  
The Kent State Light Opera Company produces The Mikado, which plays to sold-out audiences

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The Kent State Light Opera Company, 1974

1975  

ART
Eells Gallery opens; designed by architect Peter van Dijk, construction was completed in 1974  

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The Eells Gallery

MUSIC 
A 300-member Blossom Festival Chorus performs with The Cleveland Orchestra in Mahler’s “Symphony No. 3” in July and Mendelssohn’s “Witches’ Sabbath” in August

1981  

ART 
Dale Chihuly visiting artist, glass

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Dale Chihuly, 1981

1983  

THEATRE 
Ray Wise, BFA ’69, performs at Porthouse in Man of La Mancha

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Ray Wise, 1983

1985  

MUSIC 
Emerson String Quartet, visiting artists in residence

1986  

ART 
Ceramic artist Toshiko Takaezu speaks at the visiting artist lecture series

1991  

MUSIC 
Josef Gingold, violinist, coaches and rehearses alongside students

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Josef Gingold, 1991

1993  

THEATRE  
Terri Kent and Eric van Baars, MFA ’02, meet on a production of Dames at Sea

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Terri Kent and Eric Van Baars, 1993

2004  

MUSIC 
The Blossom Festival Band records its first album, under the direction of Loras John Schissel 

2013  

MUSIC 
David Shifrin, clarinet, inaugurates the Kulas Visiting Artist series

2014

ART 
Hilary Harnischfeger, visiting artist in sculpture

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Hilary Harnischfeger, 2014

2016  

THEATRE 
Colleen Longshaw, BFA ’01, MFA ’15, in Sister Act

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Colleen Longshaw, 2016