music that shaped US
SOUNDING AMERICA
This season, our 52nd, we celebrate America’s 250th Anniversary, told through the music that defines our nation.
From Copland’s open landscapes to Gershwin and Bernstein’s city beats, and Dvořák’s visit to the Midwest, each performance is a musical journey.
Summit Masterworks
Timeless scores. Carried forward. Exploring the works that have stirred audiences for generations.
Appalachian Spring:
Music from the Mountains
Explore a continuum of American concert music composers who’ve borrowed from traditional folk music styles as inspiration and raw material, from Charles Ives to Aaron Copland and Edgar Meyer.
Setzer and the Sound of Dreams
Artistic Director Philip Setzer is our guide through a vivid, varied dreamscape in sound, slipping from a musical curio by Benjamin Franklin (yes, that Benjamin Franklin!) to Samuel Barber’s elegiac Adagio for Strings.
Dvořák in America
A founding father of nationalism in classical music, Bohemian composer Antonín Dvořák urged American composers to draw inspiration from indigenous and Black musical styles.
West Side Story:
Goes Hollywood
The siren call of Hollywood studios gave composers like Bernard Hermann, Elmer Bernstein and John Williams free rein to create classic works, and augmented the extraordinary success of Leonard Bernstein’s beloved musical West Side Story.
Rhapsody in Blue:
Music from the City
George Gershwin invented a new American idiom by fusing classical music’s disciplined elegance with the swinging spontaneity of jazz in Rhapsody in Blue, inspiring bold work from successors like Aaron Copland, William Bolcom, and John Adams.
Discovery Specials
Bold ideas. Fresh perspectives. Not your typical night of chamber music. These concerts break format and lean into the unexpected.
Hilary Gardner
& The Lonesome Pines
An evening of music celebrating the nostalgic heart of the American West.
Their album, On the Trail with The Lonesome Pines, was hailed by The Wall Street Journal as “something new and wondrous.”
Jennifer Koh
Violin
Bach’s Complete Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin.
Jennifer Koh, a superbly gifted violinist, has proved to be a steadfast and sure surveyor of this terrain.
—The New York Times
Next Artists
Rising talent. Bright futures. See the next generation of classical stars on the stage.
Experience our Festival Young Artists pushing boundaries in solo performances that bring their individual voices to the forefront. Be part of their journey from conservatory to the concert stage.
Unbound: Rising Stars
Barrier-breaking composer George Walker comes alive as violist Dillon Scott and our Festival Young Artists weave Walker’s music and story into a celebration of artistry.
American Original: Spotlighting Walker
From pioneering women to today’s innovators, this program shines a light on women’s contributions in music and is dedicated to violinist Marie Setzer — one of the first female musicians in The Cleveland Orchestra and mother of our Artistic Director, Philip Setzer.
Her Story: In Harmony
Hear More. Save More.
Become a festival subscriber, and let music be your escape — a gift just for you.