Antonello Manacorda gave his long-awaited debut with the Cleveland Orchestra at this year’s Blossom Music Festival. The program featured Mendelssohn’s Overture to “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, Berlioz’ “Les nuits d’été” with soprano Véronique Gens and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7. The press called this debut “impressive” pointing out that “that kind of synchronization between conductor and players simply doesn’t happen that often”: “Manacorda lived the music, joyfully exchanging smiles with orchestra members, giving deft leadership through transitions, and getting out of the way and letting the orchestra run like the thoroughbreds they are in many passages.”