The Cleveland Museum of Art Announces 2025–26 Performing Arts Series
- Press Release
Clockwise from top left: Country GongBang. Courtesy of HoonKoo Lee; Judith Hill. Courtesy of Ginger Sole Photography; Omar Sosa. Courtesy of MM Music Agency; Brad Mehldau. Courtesy of Yoshika Horita
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Original Performances from Local and Internationally Renowned Artists
Cleveland (August 28, 2025)—Featuring internationally renowned artists, including several Grammy-winning and Grammy-nominated artists, the Cleveland Museum of Art’s (CMA) 2025–26 Performing Arts Series showcases a robust offering of original music and performances. Spanning classical and contemporary music, global music traditions, and dance, the series regularly complements special exhibitions and illuminates the permanent collection.
“In addition to bringing a wide variety of remarkable talent and energy, this year’s Performing Arts Series is also offering new experiences,” said Gabe Pollack, director of performing arts. “Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Becca Stevens is performing an intimate concert with the audience seated on the stage; Omar Sosa’s new trio, Outside the Box, is making its debut, as is electronic-accented Catalan folk duo Tarta Relena; and Cleveland Ballet is interpreting our exhibition In Vino Veritas (In Wine, Truth), joining the audience to socialize and discuss the performance before the concert.”
Highlighted musical performances in Gartner Auditorium include the Brad Mehldau Trio, Tigran Hamasyan, Judith Hill, the Isidore String Quartet with Jeremy Denk, Makaya McCraven, and Omar Sosa’s Outside the Box trio.
Tickets can be reserved at cma.org/performingarts. Members receive discounted admission to most performances, and student rates are available at the door for select performances. In addition to events in Gartner Auditorium, the CMA presents a robust lineup of performances in the museum’s Ames Family Atrium, galleries, Community Arts Center, and Provenance Restaurant throughout the year.
Omar Sosa Trio
Wednesday, September 10, 2025, 7:30–9:00 p.m.
Gartner Auditorium, Suzanne and Paul Westlake Performing Arts Center
Composer, pianist, and bandleader Omar Sosa (opens in a new tab) premieres his new trio, Outside the Box, featuring Yosvany Terry on saxophone and Julian Miltenberger on drums. Sosa is one of the most versatile jazz artists on the scene today. His musical trajectory traces the diaspora from Cuba to Africa and Brazil; from Central America to Ecuador’s African-descent communities; from San Francisco and New York to his current home base in Barcelona. Nominated for seven Grammy Awards and twice for the BBC Awards for World Music, Sosa received a lifetime achievement award from the Smithsonian Associates in Washington, DC, in 2003 for his contribution to the development of Latin jazz in the United States.
Cleveland Ballet: In Vino Veritas
Friday, September 26, 2025, 7:00–8:30 p.m.
Gartner Auditorium, Suzanne and Paul Westlake Performing Arts Center
While the exhibition In Vino Veritas (In Wine, Truth) celebrates the presence and meaning of wine in prints, drawings, textiles, and objects, Cleveland Ballet (opens in a new tab) interprets the exhibition’s subject through movement with its performance of Walpurgisnacht. A celebration on the eve of May Day, April 30, Walpurgisnacht marks the end of winter and the beginning of spring. The night known for its debauchery involves celebrations, as well as rituals and bonfires to ward off evil spirits. Cleveland Ballet’s performance builds on this sense of joyful revelry.
Cleveland Ballet continues the celebration with Picnic, a collection of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s dances for piano and violin choreographed by Artistic Director Timour Bourtasenkov, as well as the lively and energetic “Dance of the Toreadors” from Don Quixote.
In the spirit of In Vino Veritas, socialize with members of Cleveland Ballet with a glass of wine before the performance at 6:00 p.m. outside Gartner Auditorium. Then at 6:20 p.m., Bourtasenkov gives a Behind the Curtain artist talk to share insights into the performance, accompanied by Emily Peters, curator of prints and drawings.
Country GongBang
Wednesday, October 8, 2025, 7:30–9:00 p.m.
Gartner Auditorium, Suzanne and Paul Westlake Performing Arts Center
Founded in 2014, Country GongBang (opens in a new tab) is South Korea’s first and only bluegrass band, pioneering a distinctive blend of contemporary bluegrass and K-pop sentiments. Singing in both English and Korean, the group crafts music that bridges cultural boundaries, carving a unique space in the global music scene.
In 2023, Country GongBang received the prestigious International Band Performance Grant from the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA), recognizing the band’s groundbreaking artistry. This honor led to Country GongBang’s historic 2024 US tour, where the group performed at renowned venues and festivals, including the legendary Grand Ole Opry in Nashville—making it the first-ever Korean band to grace that iconic stage.
The group’s lineup features Yebin Kim on mandolin and lead vocals, Hyunho Jang on banjo, Jongsu Yoon on fiddle, Sunjae Won on guitar, and Keeha Song on bass.
Judith Hill
Friday, October 10, 2025, 7:30–9:00 p.m.
Gartner Auditorium, Suzanne and Paul Westlake Performing Arts Center
Gutsy and nuanced as a vocalist, Judith Hill (opens in a new tab) is an accomplished songwriter, arranger, and multi-instrumentalist—and one of the few musicians who can cite Elton John, Spike Lee, Prince, and Michael Jackson among those who have sought out her talent. One of the highest-profile background singers of her generation, she got her start in the early 2000s and established a solo career in the next decade built on a discography of increasingly refined and creative albums that include the Prince-produced Back in Time (2015), Golden Child (2018), Baby, I’m Hollywood! (2021), and her recent album, Letters from a Black Widow (2024).
Letters from a Black Widow delves into her struggles after the deaths of Michael Jackson and Prince, two iconic artists who selected Hill for collaborations. After Jackson’s sudden passing in June 2009, Hill sang lead on a number at Jackson’s memorial service, putting her on the worldwide map. Her rise to fame is explored in 20 Feet from Stardom, the Oscar-winning documentary film narrated by Morgan Freeman. Hill also wrote a stirring soundtrack to Spike Lee’s 2012 film, Red Hook Summer.
CityMusic Cleveland Chamber Orchestra
Sunday, October 19, 2025, 2:30–4:00 p.m.
Gartner Auditorium, Suzanne and Paul Westlake Performing Arts Center
CityMusic Cleveland (opens in a new tab) is a professional chamber orchestra dedicated to making music accessible through free concerts and innovative programming, bringing exceptional performances to longtime music lovers and first-time audience members alike. This debut performance at the CMA features conductor John McLaughlin Williams and soprano Kirsten Kunkle.
Program:
Erich Wolfgang Korngold: Suite from Much Ado About Nothing
Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate: Ko’koomfena (Our Grandmother) ***CityMusic commission / world premiere***
Samuel Barber: Knoxville: Summer of 1915
George Frederick McKay: Tlingit
The Cleveland Women’s Orchestra at 90 Years
Sunday, October 26, 2025, 2:30–4:00 p.m.
Gartner Auditorium, Suzanne and Paul Westlake Performing Arts Center
The historic Cleveland Women’s Orchestra (opens in a new tab) closes out its celebratory 90th anniversary season with a performance in Gartner Auditorium featuring mezzo-soprano Kira McGirr. The program is being conducted by Music Director Eric Benjamin.
Founded in 1935, the orchestra continuously provides performance opportunities for women musicians, showcases talented young soloists, and performs a series of free “Gift of Music” outreach concerts for various social service agencies, schools, hospitals, retirement homes, and nursing homes. Over its many years, the orchestra has performed over 500 free outreach concerts—a record unmatched by any other orchestra in the area.
For this concert, McGirr performs repertoire spanning from Baroque to contemporary. Her solo performances have included Elgar’s Sea Pictures, Mozart’s “Requiem” and Coronation Mass, and Handel’s Messiah, among many other works. Debuting this season with the Lexington Bach Festival, the Heights Chamber Orchestra, the Musical Theater Project, and the Cleveland Women’s Orchestra, she also returns to the Cleveland Repertory Orchestra and the Perrysburg Symphony Orchestra. McGirr regularly sings with the Cleveland Chamber Choir at Trinity Cathedral.
Program:
Fanny Mendelssohn: Overture in C
Edward Elgar: Sea Pictures (featuring Kira McGirr)
Clara-Jane Maunder: “The Coast” ***US premiere***
Florence Price: Symphony No. 1
Becca Stevens
Wednesday, November 12, 2025, 7:30–9:00 p.m.
Gartner Auditorium, Suzanne and Paul Westlake Performing Arts Center
Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Becca Stevens (opens in a new tab) performs an intimate solo concert in which the audience is seated on the Gartner Auditorium stage. Stevens has established an outstanding career of blending effortless vocal talent with exquisite compositions that draw inspiration from pop, jazz, indie rock, and folk-music traditions. Her music stretches the boundaries of convention with songs that weave together her classical and Appalachian folk-music upbringing with her love of the rich rhythms and harmonies of jazz and world music, further enhanced and accompanied by her skill on multiple stringed instruments.
Boulez 100: Celebrating the Pierre Boulez Centenary
Friday, November 14, 2025, 7:30–9:00 p.m.
Gartner Auditorium, Suzanne and Paul Westlake Performing Arts Center
The Cleveland international conference celebrating the Pierre Boulez centenary culminates with a concert of virtuoso chamber works by one of the most influential avant-garde artists of the 20th century. Produced by the Cleveland State University School of Music in collaboration with the Cleveland Orchestra, the Paul Sacher Foundation, and the Cleveland Museum of Art, an all-star ensemble of performers from across the country, under the direction of Andrew Rindfleisch, presents this all-Boulez program of seminal modernist compositions.
Program:
Incises for solo piano, featuring pianist Shuai Wang
Dérive I for six players
Dérive IIfor eleven players
CLE Mixtape Live
Friday, November 21, 2025, 7:00–8:30 p.m.
Gartner Auditorium, Suzanne and Paul Westlake Performing Arts Center
Join us for a captivating night of local music as four of Northeast Ohio’s premier artists share the stage. Each artist has collaborated with composer-arranger Dan Bruce as he reimagines their works to feature them with an octet, blending intimate storytelling with innovative orchestration.
In addition, a portion of the proceeds from ticket sales and all merchandise sales from this celebration benefit the Greater Cleveland Food Bank, supporting vital programs that fight hunger in our community.
The performance includes original music by Ray Flanagan, Liz Bullock, Jinari Kemet, and Gretchen Pleuss.
The Octet:
Chris Coles—tenor sax and alto sax
Brad Wagner—soprano sax, tenor sax, and bass clarinet
Chris Anderson—trombone
Theron Brown—piano and keyboards
Dan Bruce—electric guitar
Aidan Plank—bass
Anthony Taddeo—drum set
Jamey Haddad—percussion
Disclaimer: At times, this concert may contain strong language and mature themes. Viewer discretion is advised.
ENCORE Chamber Music Institute: Trio Seoul
Wednesday, January 14, 2026, 7:30–9:00 p.m.
Gartner Auditorium, Suzanne and Paul Westlake Performing Arts Center
Trio Seoul (opens in a new tab) was founded in 2022 by violinist Jinjoo Cho, cellist Brannon Cho, and pianist Kyu Yeon Kim—artists who together hold more than 20 international competition prizes and distinctions. The ensemble was formed with a shared vision of 21st-century artistry, uniting three acclaimed soloists who are equally at home on the world’s greatest concert stages and in multidisciplinary collaborations with composers, choreographers, writers, and visual artists.
Trio Seoul has been presented by leading concert series and institutions across North America and Asia, including ENCORE Chamber Music Institute in Northeast Ohio, Hudson Valley Chamber Music Circle at Bard College, the Linton Chamber Music Series in Cincinnati, the Harvard Musical Association in Boston, the Vancouver Chamber Music Society, and Kumho Art Hall in Seoul. In the upcoming 2025–26 season, the trio appears at the Winter Chamber Music Festival at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music, Cecilia Concerts in Halifax, and ESQYRE at the Wayne Center for the Arts in Wooster, Ohio.
Named after Seoul, a city that embodies both the ensemble’s cultural heritage and artistic energy, Trio Seoul channels a dynamic voice grounded in tradition and driven by curiosity, innovation, and expressive depth.
Program:
David Baker: Roots II
Juri Seo: “July Mountain”
Franz Liszt: Tristia (After Vallée d’Obermann), S. 723c
Maurice Ravel: Trio for Piano, Violin, and Cello in A Minor, M. 67
Tarta Relena and Meara O’Reilly’s Hockets for Two Voices
Friday, January 16, 2026, 7:30–9:00 p.m.
Gartner Auditorium, Suzanne and Paul Westlake Performing Arts Center
Electronic-accented Catalan folk duo Tarta Relena (opens in a new tab), composed of Helena Ros and Marta Torrella, makes its Cleveland debut at the CMA. Founded in 2016, Tarta Relena is dedicated to exploring the rich tapestry of a cappella music with roots stretching across the Mediterranean. With a unique repertoire spanning traditional oral music to original compositions, Tarta Relena weaves the distinct timbres of two voices into a complex yet simple harmony. Renowned for its captivating live performances, the duo has enchanted audiences at festivals, including Sónar, Le Guess Who?, Mutek, Big Ears, and Primavera Sound.
Makaya McCraven
Wednesday, February 18, 2026, 7:30–9:00 p.m.
Gartner Auditorium, Suzanne and Paul Westlake Performing Arts Center
Prolific Chicago-based drummer, composer, and producer Makaya McCraven (opens in a new tab) is a cultural synthesizer with a unique gift for blending past, present, and future into jazz-rooted 21st-century folk music. Born in Paris to a Hungarian singer and flutist and an African American expat jazz drummer, McCraven was influenced by an enticing blend of cultures that helped establish his philosophies around jazz as folk music, as well as the role of music in building and reflecting communities. He has collaborated with a diverse range of artists and has been profiled in major outlets, including Vice, Rolling Stone, and The Guardian. McCraven’s music continues to evolve, drawing on both the past and present to push the boundaries of Black improvised music. This performance ties in with a new album release following In These Times, his phenomenally successful 2022 recording.
Tigran Hamasyan
Wednesday, March 11, 2026, 7:30–9:00 p.m.
Gartner Auditorium, Suzanne and Paul Westlake Performing Arts Center
A piano virtuoso with a powerful groove, Tigran Hamasyan (opens in a new tab) is considered one of the most remarkable and distinctive jazz-meets-rock pianists/composers of his generation, seamlessly fusing improvisation and progressive rock with the rich folkloric music of his native Armenia. For this performance, Hamasyan is joined by his bandmates to celebrate their most recent release.
Hamasyan has won numerous awards, including first place in both the 2003 Montreux Jazz Festival Solo Piano Competition and the 2005 Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz International Piano Competition. In addition to many accolades and critical acclaim, Hamasyan has built a dedicated following worldwide, garnering high praise from Herbie Hancock, Brad Mehldau, and the late Chick Corea.
Les Délices Presents “Marianne Mozart”
Sunday, March 22, 2026, 3:00–4:30 p.m.
Gartner Auditorium, Suzanne and Paul Westlake Performing Arts Center
Les Délices (opens in a new tab) (pronounced “Lay Day-lease”) delights, inspires, educates, and expands audiences for music on period instruments through innovative programming and world-class performances. With deep roots in the Northeast Ohio community, Les Délices is building a national reputation as a leader in the field of early music, advancing its relevance and sustainability. In this performance, Les Délices presents its program “Marianne Mozart.” Known as Nannerl, Marianne Mozart was an acclaimed keyboardist and composer who shared the spotlight with her younger brother through her teenage years. As time went on, only one of them would be free to make a career in music. Stellar violinist Shelby Yamin and virtuoso Mark Edwards from Les Délices present a special recital for fortepiano and violin that places sonatas by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart alongside works by Margarethe Danzi, Maddalena Lombardini Sirmen, and Franziska Lebrun to illuminate Marianne’s story.
Apollo’s Fire Presents “O Jerusalem!”
Friday, April 10, 2026, 7:30–9:00 p.m.
Gartner Auditorium, Suzanne and Paul Westlake Performing Arts Center
Ticket Required (opens in a new tab)
Cleveland’s own internationally acclaimed, Grammy-winning ensemble Apollo’s Fire (opens in a new tab) brings to life the music of the past for audiences of today. Join us for this special occasion in which the group presents its program “O Jerusalem! Crossroad of Three Faiths,” created and directed by Jeannette Sorrell.
Ringing with urgency in our time, this celebrated program returns with a fresh version. Honoring the peoples whose music and faith brought such vibrancy to the Middle East, 26 artists from Jewish, Palestinian, Muslim, and Christian backgrounds perform on oud, theorbo, medieval harp, zither, strings, and exotic percussion.
Performers
Daphna Mor—vocals, recorder, and ney (Middle Eastern flute)
Ronnie Malley—oud and accordion
Aryssa Leigh Burrs—mezzo-soprano
Jacob Perry—tenor
Edward Vogel—baritone
Apollo’s Singers
Stephan Crump: Slow Water
Friday, April 24, 2026, 7:30–9:00 p.m.
Gartner Auditorium, Suzanne and Paul Westlake Performing Arts Center
Memphis-bred, Brooklyn-based composer and bassist Stephan Crump (opens in a new tab) presents an extraordinary ensemble and body of work inspired by science journalist Erica Gies’s book Water Always Wins and the movement to redefine how we live with water in an era of rapid change.
Working beyond genre, Crump has become a crucial component of multiple New York music communities in and beyond jazz. For two decades, Crump recorded and toured as a third of Vijay Iyer’s acclaimed trio, helping to build that band’s global reputation. Crump’s physical and emotional connection to the bass is abundant through the new sextet Slow Water, which explores ecology and environment through composition and group communication.
Performers:
Patricia Brennan—vibraphone
Carrie Frey—viola
Erica Dicker—violin
Jacob Garchik—trombone
Kenny Warren—trumpet
Stephan Crump—acoustic bass
The Verona Quartet with Yaron Kohlberg
Tuesday, April 28, 2026, 7:30–9:00 p.m.
Gartner Auditorium, Suzanne and Paul Westlake Performing Arts Center
Ticket Required (opens in a new tab)
The Cleveland Museum of Art has partnered with the Cleveland Chamber Music Society to present the Verona Quartet (opens in a new tab), featuring pianist Yaron Kohlberg.
A string quartet for the 21st century, the Verona Quartet champions the rich breadth of the string quartet repertoire from the time-honored canon through contemporary classics. Notable commissions and premieres include works by composers Julia Adolphe, Texu Kim, and Sebastian Currier, as well as Michael Gilbertson’s Pulitzer Prize–nominated Quartet. In 2023, the Verona Quartet celebrated several world premieres, including a work for string quartet, yangqin (Chinese dulcimer), and dancer by Cheng Jin Koh, commissioned by the Smithsonian Institution in honor of the centennial of the Freer Gallery of Art.
Program:
Alessandro Scarlatti: Sonata a Quattro No. 4 (1720)
Philip Glass: String Quartet No. 2, “Company”
Leoš Janáček: String Quartet No. 1, “The Kreutzer Sonata”
Antonín Dvořák: Quintet for Piano and Strings in A Major, op. 81
The Brad Mehldau Trio with Felix Moseholm and Jorge Rossy
Wednesday, May 13, 2026, 7:30–9:00 p.m.
Gartner Auditorium, Suzanne and Paul Westlake Performing Arts Center
Grammy Award–winning jazz pianist Brad Mehldau (opens in a new tab) has recorded and performed extensively since the early 1990s. Mehldau’s most consistent output over the years has taken place in the trio format, which he brings to his debut in Gartner Auditorium.
One of the most lyrical and intimate voices of contemporary jazz piano, Mehldau has forged a unique path, which embodies the essence of jazz exploration, classical romanticism, and pop allure. From critical acclaim as a bandleader to major international exposure in collaborations with Pat Metheny, Renée Fleming, and Joshua Redman, Mehldau continues to garner numerous awards and admiration from both jazz purists and music enthusiasts alike. His forays into melding musical idioms, in both trio and solo settings, have seen brilliant reworkings of songs by contemporary songwriters alongside the ever-evolving breadth of his own significant catalogue of original compositions.
The Isidore String Quartet with Jeremy Denk
Tuesday, May 19, 2026, 7:30–9:00 p.m.
Gartner Auditorium, Suzanne and Paul Westlake Performing Arts Center
Ticket Required (opens in a new tab)
The Cleveland Museum of Art has partnered with the Cleveland Chamber Music Society to present the Isidore String Quartet (opens in a new tab), featuring pianist Jeremy Denk.
Winners of a 2023 Avery Fisher Career Grant and the 14th Banff International String Quartet Competition in 2022, the New York City–based Isidore String Quartet was formed in 2019 with a vision to revisit, rediscover, and reinvigorate the repertoire. The quartet is heavily influenced by the Juilliard String Quartet and the idea of “approaching the established as if it were brand new, and the new as if it were firmly established.”
Program:
Joseph Haydn: String Quartet in B-flat Major, op. 76, no. 4, “Sunrise”
György Ligeti: String Quartet No. 2
Johannes Brahms: Quintet for Piano and Strings in F Minor, op. 34
The views expressed by performers during these events are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Cleveland Museum of Art.
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About the Cleveland Museum of Art
The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is renowned for the quality and breadth of its collection, which includes more than 66,500 artworks and spans 6,000 years of achievement in the arts. The museum is a significant international forum for exhibitions, scholarship, and performing arts and is a leader in digital innovation. One of the foremost encyclopedic art museums in the United States, the CMA is recognized for its award-winning open access program—which provides free digital access to images and information about works in the museum’s collection—and is free of charge to all. The museum is located in the University Circle neighborhood with two satellite locations on Cleveland’s west side: the Community Arts Center and Transformer Station.
The museum is supported in part by residents of Cuyahoga County through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture and made possible in part by the Ohio Arts Council (OAC), which receives support from the State of Ohio and the National Endowment for the Arts. The OAC is a state agency that funds and supports quality arts experiences to strengthen Ohio communities culturally, educationally, and economically. For more information about the museum and its holdings, programs, and events, call 888-CMA-0033 or visit cma.org.