About 50 teenagers from the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Chorus will step onto the Blossom Music Center stage next Saturday, lending their voices to one of classical music's trickiest wordless choral parts as part of an all-French program with The Cleveland Orchestra. The Aug. 22 concert pairs the high schoolers with guest conductor Antonello Manacorda and pianist Nelson Goerner for works by Debussy and Ravel, marking a rare spotlight moment for the youth ensemble on one of the region's biggest stages.
The performance was first detailed by Cleveland.com, in a piece by reporter Zachary Lewis. According to that reporting, the chorus will sing the “Sirènes” movement from Debussy's Nocturnes, a work that excludes most middle voices and calls specifically for treble or higher registers. The program also includes Debussy's Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun and Ravel's Mother Goose Suite, alongside Goerner's performance of Ravel's Piano Concerto in G.
A Demanding, Wordless Showcase
Singing “Sirènes” is no small task. The movement requires a treble chorus to hold its own without lyrics, without amplification, and without much cover from a full orchestra, all while projecting across Blossom's open-air pavilion and out toward the lawn. Debussy completed the Nocturnes in 1899 after drawing inspiration from the twilight paintings of American artist James McNeill Whistler, and he scored the third movement for full orchestra alongside a wordless female or treble chorus, treating the human voice as an orchestral color rather than a text-driven instrument, according to The Cleveland Orchestra.
Cleveland.com's report notes that the youth chorus has minimal experience singing Debussy or French repertoire, which makes the assignment especially demanding for singers who range from eighth grade through 12th grade. Chorus director Daniel Singer told the outlet the performance is very important to the group, and that the featured role is extremely exciting for the young musicians. He added that younger voices carry a purity that suits this particular music, and per the same account, he expects the chorus has created strong musical colors in rehearsals that could surprise audiences.
Guest Artists Make Cleveland Debuts
The concert also brings two notable debuts to Blossom. Manacorda, born in Turin, was a founding member and longtime concertmaster of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra before studying conducting under Finnish instructor Jorma Panula, and he has since led major ensembles including the Berlin Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera, according to The Cleveland Orchestra. Argentine pianist Nelson Goerner is making his official debut with the orchestra at this concert, performing Ravel's Piano Concerto in G, as noted by Colin's Column. Goerner keeps an active international schedule that has included solo recitals in Tokyo, London, and Bucharest.
The Cleveland Orchestra Youth Chorus itself has deep roots in the region. Founded in 1991 to promote choral singing across northeastern Ohio, the ensemble typically selects about 80 high school singers each year through auditions held at nearly 40 local schools, and it presents around five concerts per season alongside major orchestral collaborations, per The Cleveland Orchestra. Singer joined the orchestra's conducting staff in 2012 as assistant director of the Youth Chorus before rising to Assistant Director of Choruses and Director of the Youth Chorus; he also serves as music director for the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh.
A Season of Transition at Blossom
The Aug. 22 date carries extra weight because it will be Franz Welser-Möst's last appearance at Blossom as music director, according to Cleveland.com's reporting. Welser-Möst's 2026-27 season marks his 25th and final year in the role, making him the longest-serving musical leader in the orchestra's history since he took the post in 2002. He first guest-conducted the ensemble in 1993 and will have led more than 1,200 concerts worldwide by his retirement in June 2027, according to The Cleveland Orchestra. Tickets for individual performances in his farewell season, which features extensive programming devoted to Richard Strauss, go on public sale Aug. 18 following a subscriber presale.
The youth chorus performance also lands within a packed summer at a jam-packed Blossom lineup, which this year features 13 symphonic programs running from July through Labor Day weekend, blending classical staples with pop headliners and film-with-live-orchestra events. Blossom Music Center itself opened in July 1968 as the orchestra's summer home inside Cuyahoga Valley National Park, with a covered pavilion seating up to 6,051 and an outdoor lawn holding roughly 13,500 to 15,000 spectators, according to the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. The venue was championed by former Music Director George Szell to help secure year-round employment for orchestra musicians.
The orchestra's parent nonprofit, the Musical Arts Association, recently received $731,966 from Ohio's state budget as part of a record $23.2 million statewide arts grant rollout, one of the largest awards given to an Ohio arts organization that year. Just days before the youth chorus concert, singer-songwriter Jon Batiste made his first appearance with The Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom, another marquee guest slot in a summer season stacked with milestone moments.
Details and Tickets
The concert begins at 7 p.m. Aug. 22 at Blossom Music Center, located at 1145 W. Steels Corners Rd. in Cuyahoga Falls. Ticket prices range from $34 to $108, and tickets are available through clevelandorchestra.com or by phone at 216-231-1111.
