Heights Arts keeps holiday focus local

Last year's Holiday Store window enlivened Lee Road

Holiday season is here, and Heights Arts celebrates with the opening of the 2019 Holiday Store. From Nov. 1 through Dec. 30, 100 local artists will fill the Heights Arts gallery with unique fine arts and crafts. The public opening is Friday, Nov. 1 from 6:30 to 9 p.m., with a members' special preview that evening from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Get a jump on holiday shopping with refreshments and other special treats. The 2019 Holiday Store is open seven days a week, except for Thanksgiving and Christmas days.

Heights Arts offers community partner events in the Holiday Store and throughout the year. Memberships start at $50 for individuals and $150 for businesses, and members are eligible to participate in community partner events for free. Heights Arts will promote the partnership, invite the partner to co-host the event, and provide a cash bar and complimentary food for attendees. In addition, Heights Arts’ 10-percent membership discount will be extended to partner attendees. Attendees who are already Heights Arts members will receive an additional 5-percent discount for purchases that evening. For more information, visit www.heightsarts.org/community-partner-events

The Close Encounters concert series is underway. On Nov. 24, the second concert of the series features four First Ladies in Classical Music. The program includes string quartets by the first woman chosen to perform for Abraham Lincoln, the first female composer-in-residence at the Cleveland Institute of Music, the first woman instrumentalist in a major orchestra, and a brand-new clarinet quintet by a young New York composer, Anna Weesner, recipient of a 2009 Guggenheim Fellowship and a 2008 award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Mari Soto, 23-year violinist in the Cavani String Quartet, will guide the audience through these selections. Other performers in the concert are Isabel Trautwein (the Cleveland Orchestra), violin; Eric Wong (Cavani Quartet), viola; Paul Kushious (the Cleveland Orchestra), cello; and Robert Woolfrey (the Cleveland Orchestra), clarinet. Purchase tickets online at www.heightsarts.org/concerts. Discounted member and student tickets are available.

For more information on Heights Arts community programs and events, including house concerts, gallery performances and outreach, visit www.heightsarts.org.