The Cleveland’s Orchestra’s An American Celebration at Blossom Music Center
The 2021 Blossom Music Festival is back. The summer season runs July 3-Sept. 5, but this year, count on two concerts for An American Celebration. Florence Price’s “Concerto in One Movement” will be performed by Michelle Cann — her Cleveland Orchestra debut. Cannon fire will thunder over Cuyahoga Valley National Park in wake of Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture.” The Cleveland Orchestra will also premiere Mary D. Watkin’s “Soul of Remembrance” in honor of the lives lost to the coronavirus pandemic. Free lawn tickets are offered to those below 18 years of age. $25-$45, July 3-4, 8 p.m., 1145 W. Steels Corners Road, Cuyahoga Falls, 216-231-1111, clevelandorchestra.com
Hong-Da Chin at No Exit
The Old and New World will collide to create a night of harmony and intrigue as No Exit welcomes flutist and composer Hong-Da Chin back for this online event. Hong-Da will perform five of his own original compositions, including “Darker,” “The Buzz of a Fly” and “Voice Poem.” Each incorporates traditional Chinese flutes, but Hong-Da also employs Western instruments for a sound that challenges cultures and lifts us to a new tier of imagination. The show will be linked on No Exit’s website and Facebook page. Free, July 2, 7 p.m., noexitnewmusic.com
Freedom Festival at Victory Park Ohio
Victory Park Ohio has everything you need to feel festive and intrigued for the Fourth of July. From a casual family hayride, to a towering stilt-walker, face paint, a magic show and fire jugglers (likely away from the hayride) there’s few reasons not to hang around for the fireworks at 10 p.m. Select from one of five packages — tickets sold online only — as suits your family, for a night of carnival-esque flourish and patriotic dues. $15-$125 per vehicle, July 3, 6 p.m., 7777 Victory Lane, North Ridgeville, 440-954-8703, victoryparkohio.com
Panther Women: An Army for the Liberation at Cleveland Public Theatre
Cleveland Public Theatre is seizing the chance to highlight local talent and bring together communities by launching its 2021 Free Summer Season. First up is Panther Women: An Army for the Liberation. Written by India Nicole Burton, the play illuminates the lives of three women who were part of the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Movement. The free show will take place on Cleveland Public Theatre’s outdoor summer stage, around which guests can space out in chairs and blankets provided by the theater. Free, July 1-3, 8 & 9, 7 p.m., 6415 Detroit Ave., Cleveland, 216-631-2727, cptonline.org
Private Lives: Home and Family in the Art of the Nabis, Paris, 1889-1900 at the Cleveland Museum of Art
The past year shrank the plans of many to living rooms and family life, not unlike the domestic scenes depicted in artists from the Nabi brotherhood. Quite homelives and intimate moments are frozen in strokes of paint and pencil in the exhibit, featuring the works of Pierre Bonnard, Edouard Vuillard, Maurice Denis and Felix Vallotton. But like our own experiences, these lapses happen amid tension, the artists using symbolism to hint at a larger plot evolving beyond nuclear families and wedlock, asking the audience to take a closer inspection at the unfolding story. $8-$15, July 1-Sept. 19, Tue, Thu, Sat & Sun 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Wed & Fri 10 a.m.-9 p.m., 11150 East Blvd., Cleveland, 216-421-7350, clevelandart.org