Distant Worlds: Music from FINAL FANTASY Added to 2023 Blossom Music Festival

The Cleveland Orchestra has announced Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY will be part of the 2023 Blossom Music Festival. Tickets, starting at $26 each are on sale now, November 30.

Grammy Award-winning musician and conductor Arnie Roth will lead the Blossom Festival Orchestra and the Blossom Festival Chorus in a performance celebrating the entire FINAL FANTASY video game series on Saturday, September 9. The series' iconic soundtrack boasts compositions by many prominent video game composers, including Nobuo Uematsu, who is considered one of the greatest and prolific composers in video game history. Uematsu specially curated Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY to commemorate his incredible music catalog. This concert includes high-definition presentations from the FINAL FANTASY game developers, Square Enix, projected onto screens above the stage and throughout Blossom Music Center's Pavilion.

Earlier this month, The Cleveland Orchestra revealed a lineup of special performances and movies for the 54th Blossom Music Festival at Blossom Music Center, the Orchestra's summer home in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. It features Beethoven's triumphant Symphony No. 9 ("Choral"), Broadway classics sung by six-time Tony Award-winner Audra McDonald, and live orchestral accompaniment for Jurassic Park and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Details of these and additional concerts are included below in the calendar listing section.

The full list of programming, including classical concerts by The Cleveland Orchestra, will be announced in early 2023.

2023 Tickets and Subscriptions
Tickets and Subscriptions are available by contacting Cleveland Orchestra Ticket Services at 216-231-1111, emailing boxoffice@clevelandorchestra.com, or visiting clevelandorchestra.com.

Lawn Ticket Books cannot be redeemed for Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY. Lawn Ticket Books for other Blossom Music Festival concerts are available now for $160. That is $20 off the regular book price and more than $100 off individually priced tickets. This special offer ends December 31, 2022.

Individual tickets for all Blossom Pops subscription concerts and special events, including Jurassic Park, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, and Disney: The Sound of Magic, are on sale now. Single tickets range from $25 to $121.

About Blossom Music Center, Summer Home of The Cleveland Orchestra

Blossom Music Center was created as the summer home of The Cleveland Orchestra and opened in July 1968 with performances of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony conducted by George Szell. The 200-acre music park features the award-winning and acoustically-acclaimed Blossom Pavilion, designed by renowned Cleveland architect Peter van Dijk and seating more than 5,000 people under cover. The adjoining Blossom Lawn accommodates as many as 15,000 more outside on an expansive natural-bowl amphitheater of grass surrounded by bucolic woods.

In the more than half-century since Blossom's opening, headline makers and yet-to-be-discovered young artists across all genres have created unforgettable musical experiences for more than 21 million visitors. In a typical summer, Blossom serves more than 400,000 visitors, who attend concerts ranging from rock, country, and pop to classical. Live Nation operates Blossom under a long-term contract with The Cleveland Orchestra, dividing each year between the Orchestra's Blossom Music Festival of orchestral performances, and a series of presentations from across many genres.

Located 25 miles south of Cleveland and just north of Akron, Blossom is situated in the rolling hills of Cuyahoga Valley National Park, which preserves 33,000 acres of natural parkland along the Cuyahoga River. Blossom Music Center was named to honor the Dudley S. Blossom family, who have been major supporters of The Cleveland Orchestra throughout its history. Blossom lies within the city limits of Cuyahoga Falls, an Ohio community first settled in the early 1800s, at 1145 West Steels Corners Road in Summit County. For more information visit clevelandorchestra.com/discover/blossom-music-center/.

2023 Blossom Music Festival Pops and Special Performances Calendar (as of November 30)
All performances at Blossom Music Center, summer home of The Cleveland Orchestra.

Beethoven's Ode to Joy

Saturday, July 1 at 8:00pm
The Cleveland Orchestra
Jahja Ling, conductor
Blossom Festival Chorus

WAGNER Siegfried Idyll
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9 ("Choral")

An Ode to Joy. An anthem for humanity. Experience one of history's most powerful and inspiring artistic works. A masterpiece whose staggering influence is felt across cultures everywhere, it culminates with the famous Ode to Joy, a rallying cry for hope, humanity, and universal fellowship.

Special performance-not on subscription series.

Salute to America

Sunday, July 2 at 8:00pm
Monday, July 3 at 8:00pm
Tuesday, July 4 at 8:00pm
Blossom Festival Band
Loras John Schissel, conductor

Great music, fireworks, and fun for the whole family! Blossom's traditional, star-spangled celebration with the Blossom Festival Band returns with a mix of patriotic marches, Broadway favorites, an Armed Forces Salute and more-concluding with fireworks (weather permitting).

Movie Night Live:
Jurassic Park

Friday, July 7 at 7:00pm
Saturday, July 8 at 7:00pm
Sunday, July 9 at 7:00pm
The Cleveland Orchestra
Sarah Hicks, conductor

WILLIAMS Jurassic Park (film with live orchestral underscore)

Welcome... to Jurassic Park! Relive the magic of Jurassic Park on the big screen with a thrilling performance of John Williams's iconic score by The Cleveland Orchestra. The action-packed adventure pits man against prehistoric predators in the ultimate battle for survival. Featuring visually stunning imagery and groundbreaking special effects, this epic film is sheer movie magic 65 million years in the making.

Jurassic Park in Concert is produced by Film Concerts Live!, a joint venture of IMG Artists, LLC and The Gorfaine/Schwartz Agency, Inc.

She's Got Soul

Sunday, July 16 at 7:00pm
The Cleveland Orchestra
Lucas Waldin, conductor
Capathia Jenkins, vocals

A wide-ranging revue of R&B classics. The sensational Capathia Jenkins brings her powerhouse voice to soulful hits of Adele, Toni Braxton, The Jackson 5, Earth, Wind and Fire, Chaka Khan, Stevie Wonder, and other great soul and R&B artists.

Two Pianos: Who Could Ask for Anything More

Sunday, July 23 at 7:00pm
The Cleveland Orchestra
Keith Lockhart, conductor
Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano
Michael Feinstein, piano and vocals

Experience music from Gershwin, Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers and more when two of today's most celebrated artists - Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Michael Feinstein - join forces for the first time in an innovative program for two pianos, celebrating the captivating music and world of George Gershwin, including the Rhapsody in Blue. Feinstein, renowned vocalist, and pianist, is a leading authority on the Great American Songbook, while Cleveland favorite Thibaudet brings his sparkling virtuosity as one of today's finest pianists.

Summer Soirée: This special fundraising event takes place before the concert. For more information about the Blossom Summer Soirée, as well as ticket and table options, please contact Sean Brewster at specialevents@clevelandorchestra.com.

Movie Night Live:
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Friday, July 28 at 7:00pm
Saturday, July 29 at 7:00pm
Sunday, July 30 at 7:00pm
The Cleveland Orchestra
Ludwig Wicki, conductor
Blossom Festival Chorus
Cleveland Orchestra Children's Chorus

SHORE The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (film with live orchestral underscore, chorus, and soloists)

A new power is arising ... the Journey continues. Experience the second installment of the epic trilogy on the big screen-with the original score performed live by The Cleveland Orchestra! Composer Howard Shore brings J.R.R. Tolkien's literary imagination to vivid life with his Academy-and Grammy Award-winning scores to the Peter Jackson films. In the saga's second chapter, The Two Towers, the world has darkened, cloaked beneath the advancing shadow of Mordor and the threat of the evil One Ring.

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is produced by Columbia Artists Music, LLC.

An Evening with Audra McDonald

Sunday, August 13 at 7:00pm
The Cleveland Orchestra
Andy Einhorn, conductor
Audra McDonald, vocals

Named one of TIME magazine's 100 most influential people of 2015, Emmy, Grammy, and six-time Tony Award--winning Broadway icon Audra McDonald star of CBS's The Good Fight and HBO's The Gilded Age - joins The Cleveland Orchestra for a special evening of Broadway favorites by Rodgers and Hammerstein, Stephen Sondheim, George Gershwin, and many others, with songs from her latest album, Sing Happy.

Movie Night Live:
Disney: The Sound of Magic

Friday, September 1 at 7:00pm
Saturday, September 2 at 7:00pm
Sunday, September 3 at 7:00pm
The Cleveland Orchestra
Susie Benchasil Seiter, conductor

Join The Cleveland Orchestra for Disney in Concert: The Sound of Magic, a symphonic celebration of Disney music, animation, and memories -100 years in the making!

Your favorite characters and soundtracks from the Walt Disney Animation Studios and Disney Parks come to life on the concert hall stage and big screen in a live-to-film concert like never before. Performed live by The Cleveland Orchestra, this new concert takes you on a magic carpet ride through the most memorable song, score, and movie moments of the first 100 years of The Walt Disney Company, including Peter Pan, Moana, Aladdin, The Jungle Book, Frozen, The Lion King, Fantasia, Encanto, Disney Parks classics, and more. Join the celebration and discover The Sound of Magic.

Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY

Saturday, September 9 at 7:00pm
Blossom Festival Orchestra
Arnie Roth, conductor
Blossom Festival Chorus

UEMATSU Music from FINAL FANTASY

Celebrating the entire FINAL FANTASY video game series, Distant Worlds features the music of composer Nobuo Uematsu, often called the "John Williams of video games." With high-definition presentations from the FINAL FANTASY game developers, Square Enix, projected onto giant screens, Distant Worlds showcases diverse and constantly expanding repertoire of classic Final Fantasy music throughout the history of the game series in an innovation multimedia concert experience that has delighted audiences around the world.

Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY is produced by Nobuo Uematsu and Arnie Roth, AWR Music Productions, LLC, and Square Enix. All associated trademarks are owned by and used under license from SQUARE ENIX CO.LTD. © 2022 SQUARE ENIX CO.LTD. All Rights Reserved.

Special performance-not on subscription series.
Under 18s Free Ticketing Program is not valid for this concert.
Lawn Ticket Books cannot be redeemed for Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY.

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