A Night at the Opera
- Aug 13, 2026
- Mandel Concert Hall
- 2026 Summers at Severance
Performing Artists
The Cleveland Orchestra
John Fiore, conductor
Latonia Moore, soprano
Russell Thomas, tenor
Blossom Festival Chorus, chorus
About the Music
The year is 1627. You’re pressed in elbow-to-elbow on the ground-level parterre, jockeying to catch a first glimpse of the performers’ feet below the curtain. The air is full of smoke from the tallow candles lining the base of the stage, and your view is blocked by a sea of decadent wigs. The roar of the crowd lowers to a murmur as the concertmaster beats his staff to begin the overture. Heads crane to track the King’s progress to his prominent box. As the orchestra finishes the overture with a flourish, the curtain rises ...
Opera houses have always been a place to see and be seen. Some of the earliest designs featured box seats for royalty that didn’t even face the stage, displaying the monarchs for audience members rather than letting them see the action. Sometimes, the singers and dancers on stage rivaled the fame of the monarchs perched above them. Stars won legions of fans wherever they performed and composers would tailor arias to specific singers, giving them ample opportunity to display their talents.
While arias give singers a chance to show off vocal pyrotechnics — especially the da capo form, with its built-in repeat leaving ample room for lavish ornamentation — recitative dialogue fills in the blanks and moves the story forward. Meanwhile, the orchestra often holds the most emotional power of all, introducing important melodies and pulling at heartstrings as tensions rise.
What of the stories? Perhaps the most stereotypical opera plot finds both humor and heartbreak in an unlikely love triangle, straining the barriers between classes, or entangling the fates of gods and mortals. The very earliest operas, written at the turn of the 17th century, attempted to revive the sung dramas of Classical antiquity, drawing inspiration from Greek mythology. Throughout the 18th century, adaptations of folklore and literature joined the mix, often with allegorical connections to powerful rulers or current events. As the 19th century progressed and revolutions weakened monarchs across Europe, audiences began to prefer plots that featured everyday people and their lives — a tradition that came to be known as verismo (true to life).
Tonight’s concert borrows common elements of opera — instrumental overtures and interludes, arias, and choruses — to tell a story that transcends time and place, celebrating this treasured art form.
The program opens with the overture from Otto Nicolai’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, a delightful opera based on the Shakespeare play. With the scene set, the evening’s soloists launch into the final part of Antonín Dvořák’s opera Rusalka. Dvořák resists the usual alternation between aria and recitative, preferring a drama that flows organically as the action unfolds. In this fateful final embrace between a human prince and a water spirit, you can hear how the music changes to match the conversation, rather than following a fixed form.
The Orchestra then whisks us off into the longing world of Franz Schreker’s Der ferne Klang (The Distant Sound). In this opera about an opera, a young composer, Fritz, leaves his small-town love behind in search of “the distant sound” that compels him to write music. The Nachtstück (Night Piece) from Act III accompanies his realization that he has squandered his life by abandoning his sweetheart. In the end, the two are reunited, and he frantically revises his great opera before dying in her arms. This popular work catapulted Schreker to the limelight as Austria’s rising star of opera, but his fame was cut short by Nazi bans of Jewish composers and by his untimely death in 1934.
A fellow Austrian Jewish composer, Erich Wolfgang Korngold had a much longer career after he emigrated to the United States and became a notable Hollywood composer. While he’s most remembered for his film scores, he had an auspicious start in the opera world. Die tote Stadt (The Dead City) is an adaptation of a novel about a man who struggles to let go of the memory of his dead wife, Marie. He meets a young opera singer, Marietta, who so resembles Marie that he imagines she’s come back to life. In Marietta’s Lied, she sings a tender song for Paul that Marie used to sing. Driven to madness, Paul spends much of the rest of the opera in a twisted fever dream, before emerging to finally find closure.
The final selection of the first half comes from yet another Austrian, Franz Lehár. His opera The Land of Smiles centers on a common opera trope: cultural mismatch. In it, an Austrian noblewoman marries a Chinese prince but ultimately cannot bear his native customs and returns to Europe. “Yours is my heart alone” was a so-called Tauberlied — a virtuosic aria Lehar wrote specifically for his friend, famed tenor Richard Tauber. Of the Tauberlieder Lehár wrote in various operas, this is perhaps the most famous.
From Austria, the Orchestra travels south to Italy for the second half of this program. As in The Land of Smiles, Giuseppe Verdi’s La forza del destino (The Force of Destiny) follows doomed lovers from different cultures. South American Don Alvaro and Spaniard Donna Leonora experience disaster after disaster — from the accidental murder of her father, to the lovers’ separation in their haste to flee, to the deaths of both Leonora and her vengeful brother (the ominous triple blows of fate that open the overture presage the loss of life that awaits). “Son giunta!” is Leonora’s song of gratitude in Act II, as she arrives safely to a monastery to live out her days, alone, but protected.
The Blossom Festival Chorus continues the tribute to Verdi with two of his most memorable choruses. Both represent the voices of oppressed peoples — the Roma in Il trovatore (The Troubadour) and the Israelites in Nabucco. In the Anvil Chorus, the Roma mock their station in a rollicking song, singing that a good drink and the love of a maiden will carry them into the hope of a new day. The hope of the Israelites in “Va pensiero” is much more understated yet inspiring, as they sing a lilting waltz about their homeland in the face of certain death at the hands of their Babylonian enslavers.
Giacomo Puccini was Verdi’s successor as the leading composer of Italian opera, and the concert closes with selections from two of his operas, after the pulsing strains of doomed love from Umberto Giordano’s Fedora (based on the 1882 play from which the iconic hat draws its name). The first comes from Tosca, a gripping tale of love, mistrust, and loyalty set during the Napoleonic wars. In “Or lasciami al lavoro,” the painter Cavaradossi and his jealous lover Tosca flirt and bicker.
Puccini’s final, unfinished opera, Turandot tells the story of a Chinese princess who vows to marry only the one who can answer her three riddles. All who fail are executed. But when a mysterious prince succeeds in passing the test, Turandot refuses his hand. He sets her a counteroffer: if she can learn his name by morning, he will accept death. As Turandot frantically demands that no one rest until this name is discovered, Prince Calaf sings “Nessun dorma” (Let no one sleep) confident he will prevail. And with all of these enchanting melodies dancing in our minds, we may all find it difficult to sleep tonight.
— Ellen Sauer Tanyeri
Ellen Sauer Tanyeri is The Cleveland Orchestra’s Archives & Editorial Assistant and is a PhD candidate in musicology at Case Western Reserve University.
Overture to The Merry Wives of Windsor
by Otto Nicolai
- Composed: 1849
- Duration: about 8 minutes
Final Scene from Act III of Rusalka, Op. 114
by Antonín Dvořák
- Duration: about 10 minutes
Text by Jaroslav Kvapil
RUSALKA (SOPRANO)
Proč volal jsi mě v náruč svou,
proč ústa tvoje lhala?
Teď měsíční jsem vidinou
v tvá muka neskonalá!
Teď tebe šálím v nočních tmách,
je zneuctěn můj klín,
a s bludičkami na vodách
tě svedu do hlubin!
Proč volal jsi mě v náruč svou,
proč ústa tvoje lhala?
Tys hledal vášeň, vím to, vím,
jíž já jsem neměla,
a teď-li tě políbím,
jsi ztracen docela.
Why did you take me into your arms,
why did your lips lie?
Now I am but a moonlit vision
that will torment you forever!
Now I seduce you in the darkness of night,
my honor is defiled,
and with the will-o’-the-wisps on the lake,
I’ll entice you to its watery depths!
Why did you take me into your arms,
why did your lips lie?
You sought passion, I know, I know,
which I could not show,
and now, if I kiss you,
you’re lost forever.
PRINCE (TENOR)
Líbej mne, líbej, mír mi přej,
nechci se vrátit ve světa rej,
do smrti třeba mě ulíbej!
Kiss me, kiss me, grant me peace,
I do not want to return to the joys of the world,
kiss me until I die!
RUSALKA
A tys mi, hochu můj, tolik dal,
proč jsi mne, hochu můj, oklamal?
Zda to víš, hochu, zda to víš,
z loktů mých že se nevrátíš,
že zkázou to v loktech mých zaplatíš?
And you, my darling, have given me so much,
why, my darling, did you deceive me?
Do you know, darling, do you know
that you will never return from my embrace,
that you will meet death in my arms?
PRINCE
Všechno chci ti, všechno chci ti dát,
líbej mne, líbej tisíckrát!
Nechci se vrátit, zemru rád,
nemyslím na návrat!
I want to give you everything,
kiss me, kiss me a thousand times!
I do not want to return; I’d gladly die,
I have no thought of going back!
RUSALKA
Láska má zmrazí všechen cit,
musím tě, musím zahubit,
musím tě v lednou náruč vzít!
My love will freeze all it touches,
I must, I must destroy you,
I must draw you into my icy embrace!
PRINCE
Líbej mne, líbej, mír mi přej!
Polibky tvoje hřích můj posvětí.
Umírám šťasten ve tvém objetí!
Kiss me, kiss me, grant me peace!
Your kiss will absolve my sin.
I die happy in your embrace!
RUSALKA
Za tvou lásku, za tu krásu tvou,
za tvou lidskou vášeň nestálou,
za všechno, čím klet jest osud můj,
lidská duše, Bůh tě pomiluj!
For your love and for your beauty,
for your fickle human passion,
for all the curses that decided my fate,
may God have mercy on your human soul!
Nachtstück from Der ferne Klang
by Franz Schreker
- Composed: 1910
- Duration: about 15 minutes
Marietta’s Lied from Die tote Stadt, Op. 12
by Erich Wolfgang Korngold
- Composed: 1920
- Duration: about 5 minutes
Text by Julius Korngold (pseud. Paul Schott)
MARIETTA (SOPRANO)*
Soll ich? Nun hören Sie.
Glück, das mir verblieb,
rück zu mir, mein treues Lieb.
Abend sinkt im Haag
bist mir Licht und Tag.
Bange pochet Herz an Herz
Hoffnung schwingt sich himmelwärts.
Wie wahr, ein traurig Lied.
Das Lied vom treuen Lieb,
das sterben muß.
Ich kenne das Lied.
Ich hört es oft in jungen,
in schöneren Tagen …
Es hat noch eine Strophe —
weiß ich sie noch?
Naht auch Sorge trüb,
rück zu mir, mein treues Lieb.
Neig dein blaß Gesicht.
Sterben trennt uns nicht.
Mußt du einmal von mir gehn,
glaub, es gibt ein Auferstehn.
Should I? Well, listen.
Happiness, all that remains with me,
return to me, my truest love.
Evening falls in the grove;
yet you are my light and day.
Heart to heart, anxiously beating,
while hope soars toward the heavens.
How true, a sad song.
The song of true love,
bound to die.
I know this song.
I heard it often in my youth,
in happier days …
There is another stanza —
do I still remember it?
Even though worry clouds your heart,
return to me, my truest love.
Turn your pale face.
Death will not part us.
If ever you must leave me,
believe that you will rise again.
*In the opera, this scene is a duet between Marietta and Paul, but both parts are often sung by a single soprano soloist in concert, as in tonight’s performance.
“Yours is my heart alone” from The Land of Smiles
by Franz Lehár
- Composed: 1929
- Duration: about 3 mintues
Text by Ludwig Herzer and Fritz Löhner-Beda
SOU-CHONG (TENOR)
Dein ist mein ganzes Herz!
Wo du nicht bist, kann ich nicht sein.
So, wie die Blume welkt,
wenn sie nicht küsst der Sonnenschein!
Dein ist mein schönstes Lied,
weil es allein aus der Liebe erblüht.
Sag mir einmal, mein einzig Lieb,
oh sag noch einmal mir:
Ich hab dich lieb!
Wohin ich immer gehe,
ich fühle deine Nähe.
Ich möchte deinen Atem trinken
und betend dir zu Füssen sinken,
dir, dir allein!
Wie wunderbar ist dein leuchtendes Haar!
Traumschön und sehnsuchtsbang
ist dein strahlender Blick.
Hör ich der Stimme Klang,
ist es so wie Musik.
Dein ist mein ganzes Herz! …
Yours is my heart alone!
Where you are absent, I cannot exist,
just as the flower wilts
when it is not kissed by the sunshine!
Yours is my most beautiful song,
because it blooms from love alone.
Tell me once again, my only love,
oh, tell me once again:
I love you!
Wherever I may go,
I feel your presence.
I want to drink your breath
and sink to your feet, pleading,
you, you alone!
How wonderful is your shining hair!
Dreamlike and longing
is your shining gaze.
When I hear the sound of your voice,
it is like music.
Yours is my heart alone! …
Overture to La forza del destino
by Giuseppe Verdi
- Composed: 1861
- Duration: about 8 minutes
Anvil Chorus from Il trovatore
by Giuseppe Verdi
- Composed: 1853
- Duration: about 3 mintues
Text by Salvadore Cammarano and Leone Emanuele Bardare
CHORUS
Vedi! le fosche notturne spoglie
de’ cieli sveste l’immensa vôlta:
sembra una vedova che alfin si toglie
i bruni panni ond’era involta.
All’opra, all’opra!
Dàgli! Martella!
Chi del gitano i giorni abbella?
La zingarella!
Versami un tratto: lena e coraggio
il corpo e l’anima traggon dal bere.
Oh guarda, guarda! del sole un raggio
brilla più vivido nel tuo bicchiere!
All’opra, all’opra! …
Behold! The immense vault of heaven
sheds its dark, nocturnal garb:
it seems like a widow who at last casts off
the black garments in which she was shrouded.
To work, to work!
Go to it! Hammer on!
Who brightens our days?
The fairest maiden!
Pour me a drink: the body and soul
gain strength and courage from drinking.
Oh, look, look! A ray of sunlight
shines more vividly in your cup!
To work, to work! …
Son giunta! from La forza del destino
by Giuseppe Verdi
- Composed: 1862
- Duration: about 7 minutes
Text by Francesco Maria Piave
LEONORA (SOPRANO)
Son giunta! Grazie, o Dio!
Estremo asil quest’è per me!
Son giunta! Io tremo!
La mia orrenda storia è nota in quell’albergo,
e mio fratel narrolla!
Se scoperta m’avesse! Cielo!
Ei disse naviga vers’occaso Don Alvaro!
Né morto cadde quella notte in cui io,
io del sangue di mio padre intrisa,
l’ho seguito e il perdei!
Ed or mi lascia, mi fugge!
Ah! ohimé, non reggo a tant’ambascia!
Madre, pietosa Vergine, perdona al mio peccato,
m’aita quel’ingrato dal core a cancellar.
In queste solitudini espierò l’errore.
Pietà di me, Signore.
Deh! non m’abbandonar!
Ah, que’ sublimi cantici ...
Dell’organo i concenti,
che come incenso
ascendono a Dio sui firmamenti,
inspirano a quest’alma fede, conforto e calma!
I’ve arrived! Thank you, O God!
This is my last refuge!
I’ve arrived! I’m trembling!
My dreadful story is known in that inn,
and my brother is staying there!
If he had discovered me! Heaven!
He said, “Sail toward the west,” Don Alvaro!
Nor did he die that night when I,
drenched in my father’s blood,
followed him and lost him!
And now he leaves me, he flees from me!
Ah! Alas, I cannot bear such anguish!
Mother, merciful Virgin, forgive my sin,
help me to erase that liar from my heart.
In these solitudes I will atone for my error.
Have mercy on me, Lord.
Please! Do not abandon me!
Ah, those sublime hymns ...
The organ’s strains,
which, like incense,
ascend to God through the heavens,
instill in this soul faith, comfort, and peace!
CHORUS OF MONKS
Venite, adoremus, et procedamus ante Deum,
ploremus coram Domino,
coram Domino qui fecit nos.
Come, let us adore and bow before God.
Let us weep before the Lord,
before the Lord who made us.
LEONORA
Al santo asilo accorrasi.
E l’oserò a quest’ora?
Alcun potria sorprendermi!
Oh, misera Leonora, tremi?
Il pio frate, accoglierti, no, non ricuserà, no!
Non mi lasciar, soccorrimi,
pietà Signor, pietà!
Deh! non m’abbandonar!
Hurry to the holy refuge.
But dare I go at this hour?
Someone might catch me!
Oh, poor Leonora, are you trembling?
The pious friar will not refuse to take you in, no!
Don’t leave me, help me,
have mercy on me, Lord, have mercy!
Please! Don’t abandon me!
CHORUS OF MONKS
Ploremus, ploremus
coram Domino qui fecit nos.
Let us weep, let us weep
before the Lord who made us.
“Va pensiero” from Nabucco
by Giuseppe Verdi
- Composed: 1841
- Duration: about 5 minutes
Text by Temistocle Solera
CHORUS
Va, pensiero, sull’ali dorate;
va, ti posa sui clivi, sui colli,
ove olezzano tepide e molli
l’aure dolci del suolo natal!
Del Giordano le rive saluta,
di Sionne le torri atterrate.
Oh mia patria, sì bella e perduta!
Oh membranza, sì cara e fatal!
Arpa d’ôr dei fatidici vati,
perché muta dal salice pendi?
Le memorie nel petto raccendi,
ci favella del tempo che fu!
O simile di Solima ai fati
traggi un suono di crudo lamento,
o t’ispiri il Signore un concento
che ne infonda al patire virtù!
Go, my thoughts, on golden wings;
go, settle upon the slopes and the hills,
where the sweet breezes of my homeland
spread their warm, calming scent!
Greet the banks of the Jordan
and Zion’s fallen towers.
Oh, my homeland, so beautiful yet lost!
Oh, memories, so dear yet deadly!
Golden harp of the prophets,
why do you now hang silent on the willow?
Rekindle the memories in our hearts,
and speak of times gone by!
Or, like Solomon, draw from the fates
a sound of raw lamentation,
or may the Lord inspire you with a song
that gives us the strength to endure!
Intermezzo from Fedora
by Umberto Giordano
- Composed: 1898
- Duration: about 3 mintues
“Or lasciami al lavoro” from Tosca
by Giacomo Puccini
- Composed: 1900
- Duration: about 5 minutes
Text by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa
CAVARADOSSI (TENOR)
Or lasciami al lavoro.
Now, let me get back to work.
TOSCA (SOPRANO)
Mi discacci?
You dismiss me?
CAVARADOSSI
Urge l’opra, lo sai!
My work is urgent, you know!
TOSCA
Vado, vado!
Chi è quella donna bionda lassù?
I am going!
Who is that blond woman up there?
CAVARADOSSI
La Maddalena. Ti piace?
Mary Magdalene. Do you like her?
TOSCA
È troppo bella!
She is too beautiful!
CAVARADOSSI
Prezioso elogio.
High praise!
TOSCA
Ridi?
Quegli occhi cilestrini già li vidi …
Are you laughing?
I have seen those sky-blue eyes before …
CAVARADOSSI
Ce n’è tanti pel mondo!
There are so many in the world!
TOSCA
Aspetta, aspetta, e l’Attavanti?
Wait, wait, is that Attavanti?
CAVARADOSSI
Brava!
Brava!
TOSCA
La vedi? T’ama? Tu l’ami?
Do you see her? Does she love you? Do you love her?
CAVARADOSSI
Fu puro caso.
By pure chance.
TOSCA
Quei passi e quel bisbiglio ...
Ah! Qui stava pur ora!
Those footsteps and whispers ...
Ah! She was here just now!
CAVARADOSSI
Vien via!
Come here!
TOSCA
Ah! la civetta! A me, a me!
Ah! The shameless flirt! Tell me, tell me!
CAVARADOSSI
La vidi ieri, ma fu puro caso …
A pregar qui venne …
Non visto la ritrassi.
By pure chance I saw her yesterday ...
She came here to pray ...
Unseen, I painted her.
TOSCA
Giura!
Swear!
CAVARADOSSI
Giuro!
I swear!
TOSCA
Come mi guarda fiso!
How she stares at me!
CAVARADOSSI
Vien via!
Let it go!
TOSCA
Dime, beffarda, ride.
She laughs and mocks me.
CAVARADOSSI
Follia!
Foolishness!
TOSCA
Ah, quegli occhi!
Ah, those eyes!
CAVARADOSSI
Qual’occhio al mondo può star di paro all’ardente occhio tuo nero?
È qui che l’esser mio s’affisa intero,
occhio all’amor soave, all’ira fiero ...
Qual altro al mondo può star di paro
all’occhio tuo nero?
What eyes in the world can compare
with your gleaming black eyes?
It is in them that my whole being is absorbed,
eyes tender with love and fiery with anger ...
What others in the world can compare
to your black eyes?
TOSCA
Oh, come la sai bene
l’arte di farti amare!
Ma, falle gli occhi neri!
Oh, how well you know the art
of winning my affections!
But, give her black eyes!
CAVARADOSSI
Mia gelosa!
My jealous Tosca!
TOSCA
Si, lo sento …
ti tormento senza posa.
Yes, I feel it …
I torment you constantly.
CAVARADOSSI
Mia gelosa!
My jealous Tosca!
TOSCA
Certa sono del perdono
se tu guardi al mio dolor!
I’m certain you’d forgive me
if you knew my grief!
CAVARADOSSI
Mia Tosca idolatrata,
ogni cosa in te mi piace:
l’ira audace e lo spasimo d’amor!
My beloved Tosca,
everything about you delights me:
your brazen anger and your bursts of love!
TOSCA
Certa sono del perdono
se tu guardi al mio dolor!
Dilla ancora la parola che consola …
Dilla ancora!
I’m certain you’d forgive me
if you knew my grief!
Say again those comforting words ...
Say them again!
CAVARADOSSI
Mia vita, amante inquieta,
dirò sempre: “Floria, t’amo!”
Ah! l’alma acquieta,
sempre “T’amo!” ti dirò!
My life, my troubled love,
I will always say: “Floria, I love you!”
Ah! Rest assured,
I’ll always say, “I love you!”
TOSCA
Dio! quante peccata!
M’hai tutta spettinata!
God! What a mess!
You have undone my hair!
CAVARADOSSI
Or va, lasciami!
Now go, leave me!
TOSCA
Tu fino a stassera stai fermo al lavoro.
E mi prometti: sia caso o fortuna,
sia treccia bionda o bruna,
a pregar non verrà donna nessuna?
You’re staying at work until evening.
And promise me: by chance or luck,
whether with blonde or brown hair,
no woman shall come here to pray?
CAVARADOSSI
Lo giuro, amore! Va!
I swear it, beloved! Go!
TOSCA
Quanto m’affretti!
How you rush me!
CAVARADOSSI
Ancora?
Come again?
TOSCA
No, perdona!
No, forgive me!
CAVARADOSSI
Davanti alla Madonna?
Before the Madonna?
TOSCA
E tanto buona!
Ma falle gli occhi neri!
She is very good!
But let her eyes be black!
“Nessun dorma” from Turandot
by Giacomo Puccini
- Composed: 1929
- Duration: about 5 minutes
Text by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni
PRINCE CALAF (TENOR)
Nessun dorma!
Tu pure, o Principessa,
nella tua fredda stanza
guardi le stelle che tremano
d’amore e di speranza!
Ma il mio mistero è chiuso in me,
Il nome mio nessun saprà!
No, sulla tua bocca lo dirò,
quando la luce splenderà!
Ed il mio bacio scioglierà
il silenzio che ti fa mia!
Dilegua, o notte!
Tramontate, stelle!
All’alba vincerò!
Let no one sleep!
You too, oh Princess,
in your cold room,
regard the stars that twinkle
with love and with hope!
But my secret is locked within me;
no one will ever know my name!
No, I will speak it on your lips,
when the light shines.
And my kiss will break
the silence that makes you mine!
Vanish, oh night!
Fade, stars!
At dawn, I will triumph!
Featured Artists
John Fiore
conductor
Well-known among international opera houses, John Fiore is renowned for his knowledge of a broad operatic repertoire, his sensitive and supportive collaborations with singers and soloists, and for his deft technique and ability to communicate between the stage and pit. A gifted linguist with command and fluency in eight languages, he has been a guest of the leading companies throughout Europe, North America, Asia, and Australia, leading works which span styles, languages, and centuries.
Recent highlights include Schreker’s Der ferne Klang at the Royal Swedish Opera, Giordano’s Fedora at the Deutsche Oper, Puccini’s Tosca at the Dresden Semperoper, and Verdi’s Aida at the Berliner Staatsoper. In summer 2026, Fiore returns to Santa Fe Opera to conduct Madama Butterfly.
Over his career, Fiore has forged relationships with some of Europe and North America’s great institutions. He was the first music director of the Norwegian Opera, chief conductor of the Deutsche Oper-am-Rhein, and general music director of the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker. At the Metropolitan Opera, Fiore has conducted more than 100 performances of a dozen works. He also holds longstanding relationships with the Lyric Opera of Chicago and San Francisco Opera.
In the symphonic realm, Fiore’s orchestral engagements have included the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Dresdner Staatskapelle, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and Basel Radio Symphony Orchestra, among many others.
Fiore was born in New York City to a musical family, and he received his earliest training at home from his father, a pianist and choral director, and mother, a singer. He later attended the Eastman School of Music, joined the staff at the Santa Fe Opera in 1981, and assisted such renowned conductors as Zubin Mehta, Daniel Barenboim, and Leonard Bernstein. In 1986, he made his solo conducting debut at the San Francisco Opera with Gounod’s Faust.
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Latonia Moore
soprano
Considered one of the greatest sopranos in the world today, Latonia Moore’s 2025–26 season included the roles of Bess and Serena in Porgy and Bess at the Theatro Municipal de São Paulo, The Metropolitan Opera, and Houston Grand Opera. She also appeared as Liù in Turandot at Music Hall Detroit and joined The Cleveland Orchestra for their annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration Concert.
During the 2024–25 season, Moore performed Musetta in La bohème at San Diego Opera, Mahler’s Eighth Symphony with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the title role in Jenůfa with The Cleveland Orchestra under the baton of Franz Welser-Möst, and at the Academy of Vocal Arts Gala Concert at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia. Moore has received global acclaim for her interpretation of the title role in Aida. Houses where she has sung the role include The Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House, Opernhaus Zürich, Teatro Colón, New National Theatre Tokyo, Pittsburgh Opera, Detroit Opera, Polish National Opera, and at the Ravinia Festival with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Additional operatic highlights include performances of Dead Man Walking and Madama Butterfly at The Metropolitan Opera, Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Turandot at the Royal Opera House, Tosca and Don Carlo at Opera Australia, La bohème at Semperoper Dresden, Otello at Bergen National Opera, Porgy and Bess at English National Opera, and an appearance at the 50th Anniversary Gala of The Metropolitan Opera.
Orchestral highlights include the role of Lady Macbeth in a recording of Macbeth with Edward Gardner for Chandos, Mahler’s Second Symphony with the Vienna Philharmonic and Gilbert Kaplan for Deutsche Grammophon, Verdi’s Requiem at the BBC Proms, L’arlesiana with the Opera Orchestra of New York at Carnegie Hall, and Porgy and Bess with the Berlin Philharmonic and Sir Simon Rattle.
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Russell Thomas
tenor
American tenor Russell Thomas continues to make a name as one of the most commanding dramatic tenors of his generation. With a voice of remarkable power and expressive range, his ability to move seamlessly between vocal traditions is a testament to his technical mastery, stylistic versatility, and dramatic intelligence.
The 2025–26 season was a landmark year in which Thomas added two major roles to his repertoire: the Emperor in Die Frau ohne Schatten at The Metropolitan Opera and the title role in Tannhäuser at Houston Grand Opera. Thomas also returned to some of his most celebrated lyric roles, including Canio (Pagliacci) at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and Don José (Carmen) at Opéra national de Paris, and debuted as the title role in Werther at the Canadian Opera Company.
A graduate of The Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Program, Thomas has appeared with the company in numerous roles and joined the Met Orchestra on their 2023 European tour alongside Renée Fleming and Yannick Nézet-Séguin. His long-standing relationship with Los Angeles Opera — where he served as the company’s inaugural artist in residence — has seen him perform roles in Otello, Aida, and Turandot, while also mentoring young artists and curating their After Hours recital series.
Other recent highlights include the world premiere of Joel Thompson’s Fire and Blue Sky and his acclaimed collaboration with Peter Sellars and John Adams in The Gospel According to the Other Mary, which was recorded for Deutsche Grammophon.
On the concert platform, Thomas has appeared with the Vienna Philharmonic, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, New York Philharmonic, and Frankfurt Radio Symphony in repertoire ranging from Maher’s Das Lied von der Erde and Stravinsky’s Oedipus rex to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.
Rooted in the Italian lyric tradition, where he brings vocal elegance, emotional immediacy, and stylistic authenticity, and now firmly established in the German dramatic canon, Thomas continues to make fearless artistic choices, shaping a career of profound impact and enduring resonance.
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Blossom Festival Chorus
chorus
The Cleveland Orchestra opened Blossom Music Center in 1968 to serve as the Orchestra’s summer home. A large new volunteer chorus was assembled for the inaugural concert and included many members of The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus and members of other Northeast Ohio choral groups. The Blossom Festival Chorus has since established itself as a permanent and beloved annual part of the Blossom Music Festival and has sung well over 100 concerts since its 1968 debut.
The Blossom Festival Chorus joins The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus at Severance every December for Christmas concerts with The Cleveland Orchestra. They have also performed at Chautauqua and on Cleveland’s Public Square for the annual Fourth of July concerts.
Auditions
Auditions for both The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus and Blossom Festival Chorus are held each spring. For audition dates and requirements, please call the Chorus office at 216-231-7372, send an email to chorus@clevelandorchestra.com, or visit here for the most current audition information.
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