The Cleveland Orchestra Celebrates 'Rhapsody in Blue' and the Rest of the Classical Music to Catch This Week

Credit: Courtesy the Cleveland Orchestra

This week, we’re on the cusp between Thanksgiving and December holiday programs, which come up quickly beginning on the first of the month.

– On Wednesday at 12 Noon, organist Linda Kempke plays “Thanksgiving and Praise” on the Beckerath organ in Trinity Lutheran Church in Ohio City.

– This weekend, guest conductor David Robertson takes the Severance Music Center podium to lead The Cleveland Orchestra with pianist Marc-André Hamelin in a program of American music by Aaron Copland, Duke Ellington, and George Gershwin (celebrating the centennial of Rhapsody in Blue) on Friday at 7:30, Saturday at 8, and Sunday at 3.

– Cleveland POPS Orchestra and Chorus are first up with Christmas programs on Sunday at 2 pm and 7 pm at Playhouse Square’s Connor Palace Theatre, complete with Dancing Santas, and puppies and kittens from local shelters looking for permanent lodging. Carl Topilow conducts and leads an audience singalong.

– West Shore Chorale and Orchestra won’t be far behind. Michael Lisi will lead those ensembles in seasonal arrangements on Sunday at 7:30 in Rocky River.

– And two big programs are scheduled for Tuesday evening.

Apollo’s Fire begins its local tour of WASSAIL! An Irish-Appalachian Christmas at St. Noel Church in Willoughby Hills featuring vocalists, fiddlers, a medieval harpist, and hammered dulcimer under the direction of Jeannette Sorrell.

And at E.J. Thomas Hall in Akron, Tuesday Musical will put Joyce Didonato together with the male vocal quartet Kings Return in a holiday program of sacred and popular songs for the season.

For details of these and other classical events, visit the ClevelandClassical.com Concert Listings.

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