The Cleveland Orchestra Does Harry Potter and the Rest of the Classical Music to Catch This Week

The orchestra also stops by Cain Park Credit: Cain Park

This week’s classical music suggestions include the opening of Ohio Light Opera’s fourth show of the summer, a rare (and free) al fresco concert by The Cleveland Orchestra as well as two screenings of a Harry Potter movie at Blossom with a live performance by the Orchestra of John Williams’ score, the second Kent Blossom faculty concert featuring the Imani Winds, an Independence Day performance by the Blossom Band, and a sunset concert by Opus 216 in Voinovich Park on the Ninth Street Pier.

– The Ohio Light Opera’s debut performance on Wednesday at 2 pm is W.S. Gilbert & Arthur Seymour Sullivan’s Patience, or Bunthorne’s Bride, a satire of the aesthetic movement and its mascots, poets Algernon Swinburne and Oscar Wilde, directed by Julie Wright Costa and conducted by Wilson Southerland, with choreography by Spencer Reese. Shows that have already hit the boards and will be repeated this week in Freedland Theater at the College of Wooster include TipToes (Saturday at 2), Brigadoon (Saturday at 7:30), and Carousel (Sunday at 2). Tickets available online.

– On Wednesday at 7 pm, the 57th Kent Blossom Music Festival presents the Imani Winds in Ludwig Recital Hall at Kent State University Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets available online.

– On Wednesday at the same hour, The Cleveland Orchestra will play a free concert at Cain Park in Cleveland Heights featuring works by Leonard Bernstein, Duke Ellington, Margaret Bonds, Florence Price, William Grant Still, Bernard Herrmann, and John Williams led by Anthony Parnther. Free tickets are required — reserve by calling 216.371.3000, or by visiting the Cain Park box office in person.

– In anticipation of Independence Day, on Thursday, July 3 at 8 pm, Blossom Festival Band, led by Michelle Rakers, will play A Salute to America, including a mix of patriotic marches, Broadway favorites, and an Armed Forces Salute, concluding with fireworks display at Blossom Music Center, 1145 W. Steels Corners Road, Cuyahoga Falls. The program will be repeated on July 4 at 8 pm. Tickets available online. Read a preview interview with Rakers here.

– On Saturday and Sunday at 7 pm, Brett Mitchell will lead The Cleveland Orchestra in live performances of John William’s film score for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone while the movie is screened in the Blossom Pavilion. Tickets available online.

– And on Sunday at 7, Opus 216 will host the first in a series of free, family-friendly chamber music concerts at sunset in the northwest corner of Voinovich Bicentennial Park on the E. 9th St. Pier. Picnics are welcome.

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

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