Cleveland’s grand concert hall

Rock’s hall of fame isn’t Cleveland’s only magnet for music lovers, said Christopher Reynolds in the Los Angeles Times. At Severance Hall, “one of North America’s most admired classical music venues,” the Cleveland Orchestra has held court for nearly 90 years as one of the finest orchestras in the world, at times America’s best. Step inside, whether for a concert or during the monthly free tour, and you’re swallowed by a lavish explosion of Art Deco and Egyptian Revival details. “It’s ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ meets ‘King Tut.’” A great day in Cleveland would start with a tour of University Circle’s other landmarks: the natural history museum, the Cleveland Museum of Art. Then dinner at Severance’s restaurant, followed by a concert. A viola player I’d met warned me just before the end of intermission about the sonic assault about to come—Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 3. “This is going to be something,” he said, smiling. “This is a freight train.”