Having benefited from YELP reviews a number of times, today is my day to "give back" and write a few more about our many treasures in Cleveland such as our world-renowned orchestra. Also, having traveled many places, I've come to recognize even more how lucky we are to live in NE Ohio where so much of high quality is so readily accessible.
Our Cleveland Orchestra is fantastic and my husband and I are thrilled to avail ourselves of their concerts at both Severance and Blossom on a frequent basis. We think it is great that the orchestra has done so much in the last five years to reach out to different ages with a variety of venues and different programming.
We have a bias for Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Poulenc, Barber, etc and not-so-seldom heard cello concertos. (Please, no more Dvorak cello concerto performances as beautiful as that concerto is. How about Kabalevsky- Cello Concerto no. 2 instead?).
We also realize that war horses like Beethoven and Mozart Symphonies are a "must" and also appreciate being exposed to some contemporary composers such as John Adams. Acknowledging that others love the war horses and that we need exposure to more contemporary composers, next season perhaps more not-often heard programming (in keeping with some of our preferences) will be offered.
With all this said, we know you can't please everyone all the time and the Cleveland Orchestra is doing a lot to appeal to a variety of ages and musical tastes. Do go - we owe them our support and you will be doing yourself a favor!