A summer partnership with the Cleveland Orchestra continues, presenting some of the finest chamber music in Northeast Ohio
The Kent/Blossom Music Festival, an advanced training institute for professional music training operated by Kent State University in cooperation with the Cleveland Orchestra and Blossom Music Center, celebrates its 49th season. The Kent/Blossom Music Festival offers a special and unique program with unparalleled excellence in chamber music, private instruction and a terrific working relationship with the Cleveland Orchestra. This year, the Kent/Blossom Music Festival again will feature its highly anticipated Faculty Concert Series, which showcases performances by some of the region’s most coveted musicians from the Cleveland Orchestra, as well as a variety of world-class soloists.
Highlights of the upcoming season include a recital by the Cleveland Orchestra’s Associate Concertmaster Jung-Min Amy Lee and First Associate Concertmaster Peter Otto; the Miami String Quartet in concert with Steinway Artist Spencer Myer; and performances by Kent State faculty Yu Jin, Danna Sundet and Jerry Wong, joined by members of the Cleveland Orchestra, Katherine Bormann, Alan DeMattia, Tanya Ell, Joela Jones, Stanley Konopka, Marisela Sager, Isabel Trautwein, Richard Weiss and Robert Woolfrey.
In collaboration with the Kulas Foundation, the Kent/Blossom Music Festival is excited to announce a special performance and master class by the virtuoso American trio Time for Three as the Kulas Visiting Guest Artist. The program, which was established in 2013, brings an artist of stature to spend one week of the five-week festival to work intensively with the group of talented students. The Kent/Blossom Music Festival is happy to make this one-of-a-kind concert a free gift to the community and open to the public.
Additionally, the public is invited to enjoy the talents of some of the world’s finest young musicians performing in the Kent/Blossom Music Festival’s Student Concert Series, which are free and open to all. This year, the Kent/Blossom Music Festival will feature 43 students from all over the world, whose visit will culminate in a side-by-side performance with the Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom Music Center.
As in past seasons, the Kent/Blossom Music Festival is offering discounted concert subscriptions. A four-concert subscription is $70 for adults and $50 for seniors, with a total savings of $10 for the subscriber. A $20 subscription also is being offered for college students with a valid ID. In addition, thanks to a generous donation from a longtime supporter and patron of the Kent/Blossom Music Festival, anyone 18 and under can attend the concerts for free.
Subscriptions can be purchased by calling 330-672-2787 or in person at the Performing Arts Box Office located in the lobby of the Roe Green Center, Center for the Performing Arts, 1325 Theatre Dr. in Kent between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.
Single tickets also are available at $20 for adults, $15 for seniors and $5 for college students. The Ludwig Recital Hall Box Office will open one hour prior to the performance for walk-up sales and will accept Visa, MasterCard and Discover. Tickets and more information are available by calling 330-672-ARTS (2787) or visiting www.kent.edu/blossom.
Faculty Concert Series
Concerts in this series are ticketed through the Performing Arts Box Office.
Concert 1
Wednesday, June 29, at 7:30 p.m. – Ludwig Recital Hall
Jung-Min Amy Lee, violin, with Peter Otto, violin
Chaconne from Partita in D Minor, J. S. Bach
Etude 4 (2006), Jörg Widmann
Etude 5 - Hommage à Niccolò Paganini (2008), Jörg Widmann
Sonata No. 3 in D Minor “Ballade” (1923), Eugène Ysaÿe
Etude 6 - Salome's Lullaby (2010), Jörg Widmann
Sonata for Two Solo Violins (1967), Eugène Ysaÿe
Concert 2
Wednesday, July 6, at 7:30 p.m. – Ludwig Recital Hall
Miami String Quartet with Spencer Myer, piano
String Quartet in F Minor, Op. 95 “Serioso, ” Ludwig van Beethoven
Milagros for String Quartet (2010), Gabriela Lena Frank
Piano Quartet in G Minor, Op. 25, Johannes Brahms
Concert 3
Wednesday, July 13, at 7:30 p.m. – Cartwright Hall
Kulas Guest Artist, Time for Three
Program TBA
Concert 4
Wednesday, July 20, at 7:30 p.m. – Ludwig Recital Hall
Marisela Sager, flute; Robert Woolfrey, clarinet; Katherine Bormann, violin; Isabel Trautwein, violin; Yu Jin, viola; Stanley Konopka, viola; Tanya Ell, cello; Jerry Wong, piano
Four Waltzes for Flute, Clarinet, and Piano (1937), Dmitri Shostakovich
Sonata for Viola and Piano, Op. 147 (1975), Dmitri Shostakovich
Piano Quintet in G Minor, Op. 57 (1940), Dmitri Shostakovich
Concert 5
Wednesday, July 27, at 7:30 p.m. – Ludwig Recital Hall
Danna Sundet, oboe; Alan DeMattia, horn; Richard Weiss, cello; Joela Jones, piano
Gabriel’s Oboe (1986), Ennio Morricone, arr. Erik Sundet
Trio for Oboe, Horn and Piano, Op. 188, Carl Reinecke
Sonata for Cello and Piano in D Minor (1915), Claude Debussy
Sonata for Cello and Piano in C Minor, Op. 6 (1932), Samuel Barber
The Kent/Blossom Music Festival also provides students with the opportunity to perform throughout their residency. Below is the list of concerts, which are open and free to the public. Tickets are not required.
Student Concert Series
Concerts in this series are free and open to the public.
Recital 1
Friday, July 8, at 7:30 p.m. – Ludwig Recital Hall
Sonata No. 1 in G Major, Gioachino Rossini
Serenade in C Minor, K. 388, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Caprice on Danish and Russian Airs, Op. 79, Camille Saint-Saëns
Piano Quintet in F Minor, Op. 34, Johannes Brahms
Recital 2
Saturday, July 9, at 2 p.m. – Ludwig Recital Hall
Horn Trio, Op. 40, Johannes Brahms
Octet in E-flat Major, Op. 103, Ludwig van Beethoven
Concertino for Flute, Viola and Double Bass (1925), Erwin Shulhoff
Piano Quintet in G Minor, Op. 57 (1940), Dmitri Shostakovich
Recital 3
Sunday, July 10, at 2 p.m. – Hudson Library and Historical Society
Bachianos Brasileiras No. 6 (1938), Heitor Villa-Lobos
Serenade in C Major, Op. 10 (1902), Ernő Dohnányi
Octet in E-flat Major, Op. 20, Felix Mendelssohn
Recital 4
Sunday, July 10, at 7:30 p.m. – Ludwig Recital Hall
Sextet for Piano and Winds (1981), Lee Hoiby
Clarinet Quintet in B Minor, Op.115, Johannes Brahms
Piano Quintet in C Minor, Alexander Borodin
Recital 5
Friday, July 22, at 7:30 p.m. – Ludwig Recital Hall
Six Bagatelles for Wind Quintet (1953), György Ligeti
Piano Trio in D Major, Op.70, No.1 “The Ghost,” Ludwig van Beethoven
Quintet in G Minor, Op. 39 (1923), Sergei Prokofiev
Piano Quintet in F Minor, Op. 15, César Franck
Recital 6
Saturday, July 23, at 2 p.m. – Ludwig Recital Hall
Romans de Rois (2007), Margaret Griebling-Haigh
Phases for Wind Quintet (2007), Jeffrey Rathbun
Overture on Hebrew Themes, Op. 34 (1919), Sergei Prokofiev
Piano Quintet in E-flat Major, Op. 44, Robert Schumann
String Quartet No. 1, Op. 11, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Recital 7
Sunday, July 24, at 2 p.m. – Hudson Library and Historical Society
String Quartet No. 7 in F-sharp Minor, Op. 108 (1960), Dmitri Shostakovich
String Quartet No. 61, Op. 76, No. 2 “Fifths,” Franz Joseph Haydn
Divertissement for bassoon and string quintet (1942), Jean Françaix
String Sextet in A Major, Op. 48, Antonín Dvořák
Recital 8
Sunday, July 24, at 7:30 p.m. – Ludwig Recital Hall
Miniatures for String Quartet (1945), Sulkhan Tsintsadze
Piano Quintet in A Major, Op. 81, Antonín Dvořák
Suite for Two Violins and Piano, Op. 71 (1903), Moritz Moszkowski
Suite in B-flat Major, Op. 4, Richard Strauss
Performances at Blossom Music Center
Tickets for this series are available through the Cleveland Orchestra by calling 216-231-1111.
Saturday, July 30, at 7 p.m.
Kent/Blossom Music Festival Chamber Orchestra
Saturday, July 30, at 8 p.m.
Kent/Blossom Music Festival Side-by-Side with the Cleveland Orchestra
For more information about the Kent/Blossom Music Festival, visit www.kent.edu/blossom.
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Media Contacts:
Ricardo Sepulveda, rsepulv1@kent.edu, 330-672-0397
Emily Vincent, evincen2@kent.edu, 330-672-8595