“With their performance of the national anthem before Game 7 of the World Series, eight current and former members of the Cleveland Orchestra made a lasting memory and a powerful statement about the group’s new openness and civic status,” writes Zachary Lewis in Sunday’s (11/13) Plain Dealer (Cleveland, OH). “The performance was later voted best of the Series…. The online news site The Wrap later described [it] as a ‘classy,’ ‘nice and simple’ account of the anthem.… The performance amounted to a push for the orchestra and classical music as more effective than anything a dedicated promoter could have concocted. ‘As a worldwide audience found out, we’re blessed with an incredible orchestra in Cleveland,’ said a spokesman for the [Cleveland] Indians. ‘We’re happy we could provide a vehicle for [those players] to perform for that audience.’ It also was a sign that the Cleveland Orchestra is eager to meet people where they are and to fully embrace its role as an emblem of the region. ‘It helps everybody when you cross those lines,” said cellist David Alan Harrell, one the eight Cleveland string players who took part in the performance.”
Posted November 16, 2016
