Sala: Blossom Music Center, Cleveland

An evening with the Cleveland Orchestra shows the virtuoso violinist in fine form both as a player and a Beethoven devotee on the podium.

The rising American conductor led works by Dvořák and Tchaikovsky, along with a fine performance of Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto no. 1 with Behzod Abduraimov and Michael Sachs as soloists.

At age 94, Herbert Blomstedt led a superb all-Beethoven concert with the Cleveland Orchestra at the Blossom Music Center, with Garrick Ohlsson an exemplary soloist in the Fourth Piano Concerto.

Conductor Jane Glover capitalized on The Cleveland Orchestra’s affinity for Mozart in a Sunday evening concert at the Blossom Music Center, with the versatile pianist Conrad Tao.

There were no unorthodox interpretations in this program, which featured The Cleveland Orchestra’s associate concertmaster Jung-Min Amy Lee in Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto, just excellent, straightforward music making.

Andrey Boreyko’s Blossom Music Center program included Beethoven’s “Emperor” concerto with Francesco Piemontesi and a rare but convincing performance of Zemlinsky’s Die Seejungfrau.

A fresh and compelling performance of Carl Orff’s classic. Aaron Copland’s rarely-performed Statements filled out the orchestra’s last concert performance at the Blossom Music Festival for 2018.

Excellent performances by James Gaffigan and The Cleveland Orchestra of music by Barber, Mendelssohn, and Sibelius made for an enjoyable summer evening at the Blossom Music Festival. Stephen Hough was an outstanding piano soloist.