Guide

Cleveland, March 15, 2010 – The Cleveland Orchestra has announced its 2010-11 season.

Under the leadership of Music Director Franz Welser-Möst, the Orchestra continues its local programming diversification with numerous initiatives to attract new audiences and support.

Within a full schedule of traditional subscription concerts, the season will feature the new series that were introduced in 2009 including Fridays@7, Musically Speaking, and the Celebrity Series, alongside fully staged opera.

Also in the coming season, the Orchestra will inaugurate a two week Baroque Festival in Severance Hall.

Orchestra performances in public schools are an important part of The Cleveland Orchestra’s history.

Franz Welser-Möst restored that tradition in the 2009-10 season when he conducted the Orchestra in two high schools in Cleveland and one in Miami.

Hundreds of students who had never heard live orchestral music before were able to experience it for the first time.

The Orchestra’s traditional Education Concerts at Severance Hall for more than 16,000 students annually will continue, as well as the Cleveland Orchestra Family Concert series.

The innovative variety of concert programs and formats presents audiences in Northeast Ohio with multiple ways to partake of symphonic music.

Fridays@7 offers a social experience, Musically Speaking brings new audiences and long-time fans closer to the music, and the Celebrity Series spotlights different genres of music.

Music Director Franz Welser-Möst’s Programming

Franz Welser-Möst opens his ninth season with The Cleveland Orchestra with a program including Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, in two subscription concerts at Severance Hall and at a Cleveland Metropolitan School District high school.

Also during the 2010-11 season, Mr. Welser-Möst will conduct John Adams’s Doctor Atomic Symphony; Bach’s Mass in F major (BWV 233); Bartók’s Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta; Bartók’s Second Piano Concerto and Schumann’s Piano Concerto with Pierre-Laurent Aimard; Beethoven’s Symphonies Nos. 3 and 8; Dvořák’s Te Deum, Mahler’s Symphony No. 4; a fully staged production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni; Rossini’s Stabat Mater; and Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben, among 39 performances at Severance Hall, the Miami Residency, and on tour.

Mr. Welser-Möst will lead the fifth Roche Commission, an American premiere of Woven Dreams, by Toshio Hosokawa, in January.

At the end of the season, Mr. Welser-Möst conducts the world premiere of Daniel R. Lewis Young Composer Fellow Jörg Widmann’s Flute Concerto and the Cleveland Orchestra premiere of On a Wire, a concerto for eighth blackbird by Jennifer Higdon that is a co-commission by six orchestras.

Franz Welser-Möst will conduct Bruckner Symphonies Nos. 5 and 7 in the 2010-11 season.

He has led the Orchestra in three DVD productions of Bruckner symphonies in three historic venues – the Abbey of St. Florian in Linz, Austria, the Musikverein in Vienna, Austria, and in Cleveland at Severance Hall – which have been telecast in Europe and the United States.

In 2011, during the Orchestra’s residency at the Lincoln Center Festival, Mr. Welser-Möst will conduct four Bruckner symphonies.

Mr. Welser-Möst is a native of Linz, Austria, where Bruckner spent the formative years of his career.

Don Giovanni with Simon Keenlyside

The Mozart/Da Ponte cycle of operas fully staged at Severance Hall concludes as Franz Welser-Möst conducts Don Giovanni starring Simon Keenlyside on March 19, 22, 24, and 27, 2011.

The production of Don Giovanni will be based on the Zurich Opera production directed by Sven-Eric Bechtolf.

“He can switch from genteel seductiveness to physical threat in a moment, registering all the gradations in his wonderfully vital and well-focused singing,” wrote the Guardian of London reviewing a performance of Simon Keenlyside in Don Giovanni at Covent Garden.

In a 2008 production at the Royal Opera House, the Guardian described Mr. Keenlyside as “a tour de force.”
Mr. Keenlyside most recently appeared with the Orchestra during a Cleveland Orchestra Musikverein Residency in Vienna in the fall of 2009.

The cast for Don Giovanni includes soprano Eva Mei (Donna Anna) in her Cleveland Orchestra debut, soprano Malin Hartelius (Donna Elvira), baritone Ruben Drole (Leporello), tenor Shawn Mathey (Don Ottavio) in his Cleveland Orchestra debut, soprano Martina Janková (Zerlina), baritone Reinhard Mayr (Masetto) in his Cleveland Orchestra debut, bass-baritone Alfred Muff (Commendatore), and the Cleveland Orchestra Opera Chorus. The opera will be performed in Italian, with English supertitles.

Orchestra’s Baroque Festival Features Artist-in-Residence Ton Koopman

Ton Koopman will lead a two-week Baroque Festival with The Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Hall in April and May, including works by J.S. Bach, C.P.E. Bach, and Handel.

Mr. Koopman will become the Orchestra’s Artist-in-Residence with the 2010-11 season.

He is the founder and conductor of the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and Choir, artistic director of the French Festival “Itinéraire Baroque,” Professor at the University of Leiden, and an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music in London.

He was named as Artist-in-Residence for The Cleveland Orchestra in June 2008, following his debut with the Orchestra in February 2008.

The three-year Artist-in-Residence position is supported by the Malcolm E. Kenney Artist-in-Residence Fund.

Jörg Widmann, Daniel R. Lewis Young Composer Fellow

Franz Welser-Möst will conduct the world premiere of Jörg Widmann’s Flute Concerto, featuring Cleveland Orchestra Principal Flute Joshua Smith, at Severance Hall in May 2011.

German composer Jörg Widmann is the Orchestra’s sixth Daniel R. Lewis Young Composer Fellow.

In his second season with the Orchestra, Mr. Widmann will continue to participate in rehearsals, masterclasses, and educational activities.

Mr. Widmann is a winner of the Claudio Abbado Composition Award of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Academy, and most recently the winner of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Elise L. Stoeger Prize.

The Flute Concerto was commissioned by The Cleveland Orchestra through the Young Composers Fund, established in 1997 by a $1 million gift from Jan R. and Daniel R. Lewis, who reside in Florida. Mr. Lewis is the Chair of the Musical Arts Association of Miami.

Conductor and Soloist Debuts

Guest conductors making their Cleveland Orchestra debuts in 2010-11 are Jiří Bĕlohlávek, Andrey Boreyko, Thomas Dausgaard, and Vladimir Jurowski.

Other artists debuting this season are tenor Shawn Mathey, baritone Reinhard Mayr, soprano Eva Mei, bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni, soprano Jessica Rivera, and the ensemble eighth blackbird.

Mitsuko Uchida appears this season with the Orchestra in Japan, and will perform a solo recital at Severance Hall in February.

Violinist Julia Fischer, cellist Alban Gerhardt, and pianists David Fray and Kirill Gerstein will mark their Severance Hall debuts – they have performed with the Orchestra in prior seasons at Blossom Music Center.

Returning Artists

Several conductors make return visits this season: Semyon Bychkov, Herbert Blomstedt, Andrew Davis, Music Director Laureate Christoph von Dohnányi, Hans Graf, Ton Koopman, Kurt Masur, Matthias Pintscher, and Pinchas Steinberg.

Returning soloists include Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Emanuel Ax, Anna Bonitatibus, Laura Claycomb, Ruben Drole, Andrew Foster-Williams, Horacio Gutiérrez, Malin Hartelius, Steven Isserlis, Martina Janková, Leonidas Kavakos, Simon Keenlyside, Radu Lupu, Christopher Maltman, Martin Mitterrutzner, Alfred Muff, Kelley O’Connor, Garrick Ohlsson, and Frank Peter Zimmermann.

The season features five members of the Orchestra as soloists. Franklin Cohen, Principal Clarinet, will perform Nielsen’s Clarinet Concerto; Richard King, Principal Horn, will perform in programs led by Christoph von Dohnányi; William Preucil, Concertmaster, will perform Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5; Joshua Smith, Principal Flute, premieres Widmann’s Flute Concerto; and Robert Walters, Solo English Horn, will perform Vasks’s English Horn Concerto.

Miami Residency

The Cleveland Orchestra’s annual Miami Residency continues in its fifth season at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County.

The Orchestra’s Miami Residency includes a series of subscription concerts at the Adrienne Arsht Center as well as education and family concerts, and a broad spectrum of music education and outreach activities in the Miami-Dade community.

In 2010, Cleveland Orchestra collaborations include New World Symphony fellows and the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music students, with masterclasses led by members of The Cleveland Orchestra, reading sessions of new music, access to Cleveland Orchestra working rehearsals, and an upcoming event at the Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami.

In partnership with Miami-Dade County Public Schools, the Orchestra continues to provide Education Concerts for fifth-grade students, Musical Rainbows for younger school children, and high-school coachings for older students, plus a Cleveland Orchestra Family Concert.

The Orchestra’s residency activities in Miami are conceived and made possible with the leadership of the Musical Arts Association of Miami, the Miami-based board governing the Orchestra’s Miami Residency.

Details of The Cleveland Orchestra 2011 Miami Residency will be announced at a later date.

Tokyo Residency and Asian Tour

Music Director Franz Welser-Möst and The Cleveland Orchestra will embark on their tenth international tour together this fall, performing in Japan and South Korea.

Mitsuko Uchida will join the Orchestra in Japan. The eight-concert, four-city tour begins with a performance in Sapporo, Japan, on November 10 and ends with a program at the Seoul Arts Center in South Korea on November 21.

The centerpiece of the tour is a Cleveland Orchestra Residency at Suntory Hall in Tokyo, with four concerts at the acclaimed venue.

Indiana University Residency

In January 2011, The Cleveland Orchestra will participate in an intensive residency at Indiana University.

The IU Jacobs School of Music and IU Auditorium have partnered to present a concert during IU Auditorium’s season of events and to broaden the orchestra’s visit to bring additional learning opportunities to students on campus and in the community.

The IU Residency will include masterclasses, coachings, arts administration seminars, and other community and educational activities.

Plans call for every principal musician in The Cleveland Orchestra to teach a class for IU students; students will also have an opportunity to take part in side-by-side rehearsals with The Cleveland Orchestra.

Carnegie Hall and United States Tour

The Orchestra will tour in February to Hill Auditorium, on the campus of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, on February 1, and to Symphony Center in Chicago on February 2.

The Orchestra will appear in two programs at Carnegie Hall in New York, on February 4 and 5.

At the end of the tour, the Orchestra performs at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark on February 6.

Franz Welser-Möst will lead all performances, and Pierre-Laurent Aimard will appear as soloist in four of the five programs on the tour.

Community Music Anniversaries

Under the direction of James Feddeck, the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra (COYO) celebrates its 25th anniversary this season, and the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Chorus, led by Frank Bianchi, celebrates its 20th anniversary.

More than a thousand young musicians from communities throughout the region have benefited from the unique musical experiences that COYO has offered since 1986 – weekly coachings with members of The Cleveland Orchestra, rehearsals and performances in historic Severance Hall, and opportunities to work with internationally renowned guest artists and conductors, including Pierre Boulez, Yo-Yo Ma, Kurt Masur, Gil Shaham, and Cleveland Orchestra Music Director Franz Welser-Möst.

The Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra presents a three-concert subscription series in Severance Hall each season, three concerts in the community, and the ensemble has traveled for additional performing opportunities, most recently on tour in Massachusetts in 2009.

The Cleveland Orchestra Youth Chorus was founded in 1991 to help raise awareness of choral music-making in the schools of Northeast Ohio and to encourage more students to continue their choral activities through college and into adulthood.

More than 120 students in grades 9 through 12, representing more than 40 schools and communities in Northeast Ohio, belong to the Youth Chorus.

Alternate Concert Formats Welcome Audiences Seeking New and Different Experiences

The Fridays@7 concert series continues with five programs in 2010-11, following its success in attracting new audiences in 2009-10.

More than 800 new ticket buyers have attended the new series thus far in the 2009-10 season.

The format is an hour-long Orchestra concert at the early start time, followed by entertaining and diverse styles of world music featuring international musicians, along with food and drink in a casual atmosphere.

In the 2010-11 season, Franz Welser-Möst, Pinchas Steinberg, and Jiří Bĕlohlávek will conduct concerts in the Fridays@7 series.

As part of the popular Musically Speaking series, an HD presentation of Holst’s The Planets will feature breathtaking NASA images projected on a giant screen during the performance.

The complete work includes Women of the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus.
The series also includes a Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Beyond the Score® program of Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5 and a full performance of baroque and classical works led by Ton Koopman, featuring cellist Steven Isserlis, with a preview discussion prior to the performance.

The Celebrity Series will continue in 2010-11, spotlighting diverse artists and repertoire, embracing many genres.
Guest artists and repertoire for the series will be announced in August.

More people will attend the Celebrity Series per concert than any other series offered by the Orchestra in 2009-10.

Subscription and Ticket Information

A variety of subscription options will be available for Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday concerts.

Subscriptions will go on sale March 22.

Tickets to individual performances go on sale in August.

For more information, call the Ticket Office at (216) 231-1111 or (800) 686-1141 or visit us online at www.clevelandorchestra.com.

The Severance Hall Ticket Office and Subscription Office are located on street level in the Smith Lobby.

The entrance and 15-minute Ticket Service parking are along the west side of the building, on East Boulevard.

Severance Hall Ticket Office hours are Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. (closed Sundays and holidays except for those days with performances, when the Ticket Office will be open three hours prior to each performance).

Severance Hall Subscription Office Hours are Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Contact:

Ana Papakhian
(216) 231-7476
Email: anap@clevelandorchestra.com

Jennifer Schlosser
(216) 231-7518
Email: jschlosser@clevelandorchestra.com

National Press Contact:
Shuman Associates
(212) 315-1300
Email: shumanpr@shumanassociates.net