Cleveland Museum of Art unveils ambitious 2026-27 performing arts season

CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Cleveland Museum of Art is making a strong case that its performing arts programming deserves to be considered a destination in its own right.The museum’s 2026-27 Performing Arts Series brings together an unusually broad mix of classical, jazz, global / worldbeat, contemporary music, dance and spoken word—with internationally recognized artists sharing the bill with Cleveland and Northeast Ohio performers.The result is a season that feels less like an add-on to the museum’s exhibitions and more like a major performing arts presenter in its own right.“It’s a series for Cleveland,” said Gabe Pollack, the museum’s director of performing arts, in an interview with cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer this week. “I try to have at least one or a few concerts that really speak to whoever lays eyes on the series.”That philosophy is evident throughout the season, which includes Monsieur Periné, Hiromi, Leenalchi, the Bad Plus, Pink Martini, aja monet, Amina Figarova, Camila Fernández, Yasmin Williams, Trio Mandili and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, among many others. Several artists will make their Cleveland debuts.Pollack said the programming strategy is built around three roughly equal components.Leenalchi is an alternative pop group from Seoul that found viral success with its fusion of pansori-style singing, electronic synths, and groovy bass lines.Swan StudioAbout a third of the programs connect directly with exhibitions or works in the museum’s collection. Another third is developed in partnership with local and regional arts organizations. The remaining programs are Pollack’s opportunity to fill out the season with artists and styles he believes belong in the mix.That approach creates some of the season’s most intriguing pairings.Leenalchi, the wildly inventive South Korean group that combines pansori-style vocals, electronic sounds and funky bass lines, performs Nov. 4 in conjunction with “Ten Kings of Hell: The Afterlife in Medieval Korea.” The Cleveland debut is an especially distinctive example of the museum using its exhibitions as a springboard for live performance.Likewise, Cleveland Ballet will create “Painting the French Riviera,” inspired by the museum’s special exhibition of the same name. And Dancing Wheels Company & School will develop new works based on art and images from the CMA collection, with the Oct. 23 performance representing the world debut of those specific dances.For Pollack, that kind of collaboration is part of the point.“I don’t necessarily need to know what the final product is,” he said of working with artists such as Dancing Wheels. “I have full faith and trust in them that it’s going to be amazing.”Pink Martini returns to the Cleveland Museum of Art with its signature fusion of jazz, Latin, cabaret and lounge.Courtesy of Chris HornbeckerThe season also represents a deeper international emphasis. Pollack said booking artists from outside the United States can involve substantial logistical challenges, particularly around visas and the ability of artists to tour in the country.But those hurdles have made the international component more meaningful, not less.“I think presenting international music is really important,” Pollack said.Among the highlights are Damir Imamović, bringing the musical tradition of Bosnian sevdah to Cleveland; Colombian artist Santiago Cañón-Valencia, whose cello performance will incorporate his own visual art; Mexican regional music artist Camila Fernández; and Georgian vocal trio Mandili, whose videos have generated more than a billion views worldwide.There are also plenty of Cleveland connections. The season includes partnerships with the Cleveland Chamber Music Society and Cleveland Cello Society, as well as performances by CityMusic Cleveland, Apollo’s Fire and the Jazz Heritage Orchestra. A John Waters Christmas and Pink Martini are presented in partnership with the Grog Shop.And then there is the wonderfully strange.On April 23, New Thread Quartet will bring 100 roaming saxophonists into the museum’s Ames Family Atrium for Salvatore Sciarrino’s “La Bocca, i Piedi, il Suono,” creating what Pollack promises will be a memorable acoustic spectacle. The free performance also includes the premiere of a companion work by New Thread founder Erin Rogers.Pollack sees that kind of variety as essential to the museum’s role in Cleveland.The Gartner Auditorium performances are only part of the picture. Across Gartner, the atrium and galleries, the museum expects to present roughly 80 performances during the year, many of them free.The goal, Pollack said, is for Clevelanders to begin thinking of the museum not only as a place to see great art, but as a place where something compelling is happening virtually every week.Judging from the 2026-27 lineup, that transformation is already well underway.