Severance Hall offers free MLK Day Community Open House on Monday, January 18

Event includes performances by the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra and the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Chorus

Ensembles including Cleveland Metropolitan School District All-City Choir and Drum Line, Opera Per Tutti, and Gabriel’Äôs Horns to perform during the day

CLEVELAND, December 17, 2009 ’Äì Severance Hall will hold its eleventh annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Community Open House on Monday, January 18, 2010, from 12:00 to 5:15 p.m. The free day of activities and performances celebrates the legacy of Dr. King and will include performances by some of Cleveland’Äôs finest community performing arts groups, including the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra and the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Chorus. Other performances include the Cleveland Metropolitan School District All-City Choir and Drum Line; ’ÄúOn Ma Journey: A Celebration of the Negro Spiritual’Äù by Opera Per Tutti; and a big band/jazz performance by Gabriel’Äôs Horns. Activities throughout the afternoon include the ’ÄúI Have a Dream’Äù wall where children can ’Äúcolor their dreams,’Äù the ’ÄúPicture Yourself At Severance Hall’Äù photo activity, and popular DJ Terry Macklin’Äôs Sounds of Entertainment.

Performances and Activities

The Community Open House kicks off in Reinberger Chamber Hall at 12:10 p.m. with a performance by the Cleveland Metropolitan School District All-City Choir. At 12:45 p.m., the Cleveland Metropolitan School District All-City Drum Line will lead concertgoers up into the Grand Foyer for their performance, then into the Main Concert Hall. The All-City Arts Program is a district-wide, after-school and weekend program providing artistic and college-readiness skill development for students of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District.

At 1:00 p.m. in the Main Concert Hall, an ensemble of French horn students from area middle schools, high schools, and colleges, and including members of The Cleveland Orchestra’Äôs horn section, will perform selections by Weber, Schubert, and Bach, led by Loras John Schissel. The students are participating in a special day of clinics and masterclasses titled ’ÄúHornapalooza,’Äù led by members of The Cleveland Orchestra’Äôs horn section.

At 2:00 p.m., the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra will perform under its music director, James Feddeck. Their program includes Copland’Äôs Fanfare for the Common Man, including members of The Cleveland Orchestra’Äôs horn section; Copland’Äôs ’ÄúSimple Gifts’Äù Theme from the Appalachian Spring Suite; Ravel’Äôs Piano Concerto in G major featuring Stephanie Lee as soloist; George Walker’Äôs Lyric for Strings; and the first movement of Brahms’Äôs Symphony No. 4. The Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra is supported by generous grants from the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation, the Surdna Foundation, and many other donors. Endowment support is provided by The George Gund Foundation and Christine Gitlin Miles.

At 3:00 p.m. in the Main Concert Hall, Opera Per Tutti will perform On Ma Journey: A Celebration of the Negro Spiritual. Opera Per Tutti is a non-profit organization that brings opera to Northeast Ohioans at performances throughout the community including the Art Walk in Little Italy, the annual Home & Garden Show at Cleveland’Äôs IX Center, and al fresco concerts at the Italian Cultural Garden in Rockefeller Park.

At 4:00 p.m., Gabriel’Äôs Horns will perform big band and jazz music in the Main Concert Hall. The ensemble, directed by James T. May, Jr., is a Cleveland-based, non-profit community jazz-praise big band whose members include professional and amateur musicians, music teachers, youth pastors, ministers, high-school and college students, and talented youth.

The Community Open House concludes with a 4:45 concert by the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Chorus under its director, Frank A. Bianchi. The Youth Chorus program will feature music from around the world, including Glinka’Äôs Russian folk tune Traveling Song, a traditional Negro spiritual Ezekiel Saw De Wheel (arranged by Moses Hogan), a Spanish folk song titled El Vito, and classical selections. The concert will conclude with a performance of Jai Ho, the theme song from the 2008 hit movie Slumdog Millionaire. The Cleveland Orchestra Youth Chorus is supported by the Edward and Ruth Wilkof Foundation.

Throughout the day, and especially in between Concert Hall performances, attendees can enjoy a DJ from Terry Macklin’Äôs Sounds of Entertainment ’Äì DJ-driven musical fun including line-dancing for the whole family, in the Bogomolny-Kozerefski Grand Foyer. Attendees will have an opportunity to write their ’Äúdreams for the world’Äù or color line drawings of Dr. King, to be included on the ’ÄúI Have a Dream’Äù Wall in Severance Hall’Äôs Smith Lobby. And, attendees can participate in ’ÄúPicture Yourself At Severance Hall’Äù (sponsored by Macy’Äôs Foundation) ’Äì a photo opportunity where you can pretend you are ’Äúperforming’Äù on the Severance Hall main stage.

A complete schedule of ’ÄúCommunity Open House’Äù performances and activities follows.

Shopping, Food & Parking

The Cleveland Orchestra Store, located in the Lerner Lobby, will be open to the public from 12:00 to 5:00 p.m. Offering a unique shopping experience, the store features Cleveland Orchestra recordings and signature merchandise as well as specialty musical gift items and children’Äôs toys.

Light concessions will be available for purchase in the Smith Lobby.

Parking will be available in the Case Western Reserve University Campus Center Garage (the underground garage located directly behind Severance Hall). Convenient off-site and alternative parking options include the Cleveland Botanical Garden, which offers two levels of covered parking. The garage is located on the corner of East Boulevard and Wade Oval Drive. CWRU Lot 1, located off Euclid Avenue across from Severance Hall, and University Circle Lot 13A on Adelbert Road are surface lots within walking distance of Severance Hall. There is also metered street parking along East Boulevard between Severance Hall and the Cleveland Museum of Art. Visit universitycircle.org for more details on parking.

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The 2010 MLK Day Community Open House is sponsored by Medical Mutual of Ohio, the exclusive health insurer of The Cleveland Orchestra and a Cleveland Orchestra Partner in Excellence. Additional support is provided by Cuyahoga Arts and Culture and the Ohio Arts Council.