Leslie Odom Jr. Joins the Cleveland Orchestra and the Rest of the Classical Music to Catch This Week

We have a plethora of classical offerings to recommend this week, filed by their presenting organizations. Take a deep breath and dive in!

- Ohio Light Opera is running full tilt beginning this week, with all six shows in rotation in Freedlander Theatre at the College of Wooster through July 28. Here’s the lineup: Me and My Girl (Wednesday at 2), The Arcadians (Thursday, Sunday & Tuesday at 2), The Count of Luxembourg (Friday at 2), The Gondoliers (Friday at 7:30, The Sound of Music (Saturday at 2) & Guys and Dolls (Saturday at 7:30).

- The fourth Kent/Blossom Faculty Concert on Wednesday at 7:30 in Ludwig Recital Hall on the Kent State Campus will feature violinist William Hagen with Cleveland Orchestra members Stephen Tavani, violin, Afendi Yusuf, clarinet and friends in a program including Franz Schubert’s Octet. And Kent/Blossom Young Artists will play five programs: Friday at 2 pm & 7:30 pm & Sunday at 2 pm & 7:30 pm in Ludwig & Saturday at 2 at Hudson Meadows Retirement Community.

- Apollo’s Fire will “rediscover” Antonio Vivaldi’s Four Seasons five times this week at Kirtland’s Holden Arboretum (Wednesday & Thursday at 7:30, Saturday at 4 & 7:30 & Sunday at 3), plus 17th-century songs about Nature by Henry Purcell and Thomas Morley featuring soprano Andréa Walker & with light food and drink available.

- Piano Cleveland is gearing up for August’s Cleveland International Piano Competition with events around the city. 2021 prizewinner Martín García García returns for a recital (Thursday at 7, Heights Theater) and plays an outdoor concert with Jazz Musicians (Friday at 6:30, Van Aken District).

- Then the CIPC Concert Truck and 2024 quarter-finalists will make several appearances (Sunday at 3 in Playhouse Square, Monday — time TBA — at King Kennedy Club / Boys & Girls Club & 5 pm at Progressive Field at a Cleveland Guardians Game where CIPC CEO Yaron Kohlberg will throw out the first pitch and play “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.” Next week, the truck will show up on Tuesday at noon at Edgewater Beach & at 6 pm at the Cleveland Public Library Mobile ArtBox.

- The Cleveland Orchestra will play two weekend concerts at Blossom: Saturday at 7 with guest conductor Antonello Manacorda & soprano Véronique Gens & Sunday at 7 with guest conductor Edwin Outwater & vocalist Leslie Odom, Jr.

- Carillonneur Keiran Cantilina will play two varied programs on the McGaffin bells in University Circle on Friday at 12:15 Noon & 7 pm.

- The Oberlin Piano Festival will present faculty recitals by Robert Shannon & Haewon Song (Sunday at 7) & Zhou Ting and Tianying Zhao (Tuesday at 7:30, both in Clonick Hall).

- And there are one-off performances as well: Organist Robert Myers (Wednesday at 12:15,Trinity Lutheran Church in Ohio City), the revival of Classical Revolution at the Happy Dog (Wednesday at 8), & the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Third Thursday at Transformer Station with Bill O’Connell and Opus 216 (Thursday at 7),

Click here to visit the ClevelandClassical.com Concert Listings page for more information.

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