Holiday cultural offerings

We're very fortunate to be living in NE Ohio, a place that is rich in cultural offerings. The holidays this year has meant a veritable smorgasbord of great things to do and see. A few weeks ago, I had the great privilege to go hear Apollo's Fire, Cleveland's Baroque Orchestra, perform the Monteverdi Vespers in the breathtaking Trinity Cathedral in downtown Cleveland, a modern day Gothic cathedral, the perfect setting for such a grand piece of music. Then last week, we were treated to a live performance of "The Nutcracker" ballet performed by the world renowned Joffrey Ballet in the resplendent State Theatre in downtown Cleveland, one of those old grand restored theatres from the 1920s, and the icing on the cake was that the live music was provided by The Cleveland Orchestra, who were down in the orchestra pit. It was a lavish performance that made me feel like a child again, with breathtaking sets and astonishing and athletic dancing. It was spectacular and quite memorable. This evening, we went to hear Apollo's Fire perform one of their "crossover" programs called "Sacrum Mysterium: A Celtic Christmas Vespers". What was really great was that they came down to Kent to perform on the Kent State University campus in Cartwright Hall. While it lacked the atmosphere of one of the Gothic churches in Cleveland in which they usually perform, having them come here to our town and University was quite a privilege and an honor to have them visit our town and perform here. "Sacrum Mysterium" was a spectacular blend of reverence and joy, dancing, instrumental music and singing that was absolutely beautiful and invited the listener to consider the earthier version of Christianity that was practiced by the Celtic people who clung to the roots of their paganism while gradually becoming Christianized. It was an absolutely lovely evening that I will not soon forget. I do hope that Apollo's Fire will make a return trip here to my hometown sometime again. It was such an honor to have them come and treat us to the beautiful program that they performed for us this evening. We're so lucky to be living close enough to Cleveland to benefit from the cultural offerings that come out of that town, like the music, the art, the dance and more. Kent State also provides a great deal of culture for us here locally, so that's another great reason for living here. Yeah, the weather may suck a lot of the year, but having what we do in the way of great culture makes it more than worth it to live here. How cool is that?