Cleveland Orchestra to resume Blossom Music Center concerts this summer

The return of the Cleveland Orchestra's recently announced 2021 Blossom Music Festival season means the hills of Cuyahoga Falls once again will be alive with music this summer. "After closing things down last year, opening things up now feels really good," Cleveland Orchestra Chief Brand Officer Ross Binnie said. "That's our primary job to sell tickets and experiences, and make people happy. "It's been far too long with far too many sad things having happened in the year in between, so it's just a really nice small piece of joy getting back to some sort of new normal." The traditional summertime affair features 11 concerts taking place from Fourth of July through Labor Day weekends (July 3 to Sept. 5) at the orchestra's scenic outdoor venue situated on 800 acres of rolling hills adjacent to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. The 2021 season provides favorite classical with a wide array of programs — from Brahms, Beethoven and Mozart to Elgar and Dvořák — performed by a mix of rising and international music stars, as well as fan favorite conductors and soloists. The Blossom Music Festival will be adhering to pandemic safety protocols including required mask wearing and social distancing. The latter finds the normally 19,200-seat venue operating at a reduced capacity of roughly 6,000 concertgoers. Each concert will include lawn monitors assisting in maintaining appropriate distancing and encouraging households to set up chairs 6 feet from other groups. Pavilion seating features appropriate distance between all households. "When the concert starts, that's probably the easiest," Binnie said. "The hardest thing to think about is when people are arriving and leaving. We're doing our bit. Hopefully the public is doing their bit. We should be good." Considering the Blossom Music Festival averages roughly 7,000 concertgoers per performance, the drop-off in capacity isn't substantial. However, what's missing from the upcoming season are the big events that include the Cleveland Orchestra performing a live soundtrack to blockbuster feature films. "Some of these shows require that we get audiences of more than 6,000 to even consider doing it economically," Binnie said. "It's just too big of a show for us to embark on at this stage. "We're still working on other shows that we may announce if things open up later in the summer. We're kind of going one month at a time. Looking ahead, we're hoping that next year will be 100 percent — including movies." As far as the financial impact of 2020, Binnie said it was "devastating." On the average year at both Severance Hall and Blossom Music Center, the Cleveland Orchestra sells roughly $11 million's worth of tickets, which represents slightly more than a third of its annual budget. Something heartwarming for Binnie was watching many 2020 Blossom Music Festival and Severance Hall ticket holders donate refunds back to the Cleveland Orchestra. "It was incredible generosity," said Binnie, who now is witnessing the other side of that coin. Since the announcement about the 2021 Blossom Music Festival was released earlier this week, Binnie said the reception has been overwhelmingly positive. "I'm getting a sense that people were sort of nostalgic for it," Binnie said. "There's definitely pent-up demand — and not just for Blossom. We put out Christmas tickets on sale recently and people have gone mad to snatch those up. "There is an urgency for returning to normal. We always knew Blossom was popular in the summer, so it's good to be able to provide that again." Contact John Benson at ndiffrence@att.net.