“Since 1968, when our summer home Blossom Music Center was founded, the partnership with The Cleveland Orchestra and Kent State University has been a valuable part of our education collaborations in Northeast Ohio,” said André Gremillet, Cleveland Orchestra president and CEO. “I am looking forward to a rich program including Haydn and the Hummel Trumpet Concerto with principal trumpet Michael Sachs on Nov. 22 and this opportunity to share a free concert with the Kent community.”
A summer training institute was born with the partnership and every summer for the past 51 years, students from major conservatories and schools of music all over the world attend Kent State for a five-week “in residence” session to receive lessons, masterclasses and chamber music coaching from members of The Cleveland Orchestra and Kent State faculty. Faculty of the festival perform concerts throughout the summer and students perform by themselves and side-by-side with The Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom Music Center, the orchestra’s summer music home. More than 2,500 alumni boast from the program, and many of them currently hold positions in orchestras all around the world. Alumni of the program include The Cleveland Orchestra’s Miho Hashizume, Ioana Missits, Scott Weber, Analisé Kukelhan, Arthur Klima, Lisa Boyko, Richard Weiss, Ralph Curry, David Alan Harrell, Martha Baldwin, Henry Peyrebrune, Joshua Smith, Frank Rosenwein, Jeffery Rathbun, Robert Walters, Michael Mayhew, Alan DeMattia, Paul Yancich and Joela Jones.
Previous Cleveland Orchestra performances at Kent State’s Cartwright Hall include the grand reopening of University Auditorium in 2002 and a benefit concert for Kent Blossom Music Festival in 2010.
“It is our honor to welcome back The Cleveland Orchestra to Kent State University,” said John R. Crawford-Spinelli, dean of the College of the Arts at Kent State. “We are expecting large participation from the Kent community as well as Firestone, Solon, Hudson, Stow-Munroe Falls and Cuyahoga Falls High Schools for this matinee performance. This is such an exclusive opportunity for Kent State University and the community to hear one of the finest ensembles in the world perform an intimate concert.”
The concert is free, but a ticket is required. Reserve online at https://www.kent.edu/music/upcoming-concerts, by calling 330-672-2787 or visit the Performing Arts Box Office located in the lobby of the Roe Green Center, Center for the Performing Arts, 1325 Theatre Drive in Kent (previously known as the Music and Speech Building) between the hours of noon and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.
No tickets will be available at the door the day of the performance. For more information, visit www.kent.edu/music.
For information about The Cleveland Orchestra, please visit www.clevelandorchestra.com.
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For media inquiries, contact:
Ricardo Sepulveda, Assistant Professor/Director
Kent Blossom Music Festival College of the Arts
Hugh A. Glauser School of Music at Kent State University
330-672-0397 | rsepulv1@kent.edu