Public Square Concert & Festival
Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration
Performances in the Community

Public Square Concert and Festival
Each summer, The Cleveland Orchestra, with the support of a host of community partners, presents a free concert of patriotic favorites and popular classical repertoire in downtown Cleveland. An annual tradition since 1990, the Public Square concert attracts up to 80,000 people to downtown Cleveland and ends with a spectacular display of fireworks set against the Cleveland skyline. Since 2003, the event has included a pre-concert festival featuring performances by Cleveland-based musical groups in the hours leading up to the Orchestra concert.

 

The Concert and Festival are made possible through a generous grant by Cuyahoga County Commissioners Jimmy Dimora, Tim Hagan, and Peter Lawson Jones, and the citizens of Cuyahoga County, and corporate sponsor Charter One. Additional support is provided by WVIZ/WCPN ideastream, the Avenue at Tower City Center, The Plain Dealer, and The Cleveland Foundation. The members of The Cleveland Orchestra donate their services for this concert to benefit the sustaining fund of the Musical Arts Association.

Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration
Each January, The Cleveland Orchestra commemorates Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday with a free concert. First performed in 1980, this concert features The Cleveland Orchestra, choruses, and guest artists. The celebration continues on Martin Luther King Day, with a free special presentation in Severance Hall honoring the life, leadership, and vision of Dr. King.

The Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Concert is sponsored by Key Foundation. Additional support is provided by The Cleveland Foundation, the George Gund Foundation, and Cleveland Public Power. The musicians of The Cleveland Orchestra donate their services for this concert as a benefit to the Musical Arts Association sustaining fund.

Performances in the Community Throughout the Year
The Cleveland Orchestra goes on the road to meet the greater Ohio community through annual orchestral concerts in venues such as Akron, Oberlin, and Toledo.

In addition, many of the Orchestra’s educational programs have homes in the community:

• Music Study Groups meet weekly in selected libraries and community centers on Cleveland’s east and west sides for in-depth explorations of the Orchestra’s music.
• Learning Through Music (LTM) partner schools throughout the greater Cleveland area use music and the arts to support the general classroom curriculum and meet state standards.
• “Musical Rainbows on the Road” venues throughout the community help The Cleveland Orchestra introduce very young children to the instruments of the orchestra and complement our Musical Rainbow series in Severance Hall.

Learning Through Music is supported by the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation, and Musical Rainbows are sponsored by Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital and endowed by the Pysht Fund.

For more information about the Orchestra’s community events, contact the Public Relations Office at 216-231-7476 or at publicrelations@clevelandorchestra.com.