by Mike Telin
Conductor Oksana Lyniv has been riding a wave of firsts during the past few years. In July 2021, she became the first woman to lead a performance at the Bayreuth Festival. In 2022, she became music director of the Teatro Comunale in Bologna, Italy, the first woman to serve in that position. And this past February, she became the first Ukrainian to conduct at the Metropolitan Opera.
This week, Lyniv will continue her string of firsts when she makes her Cleveland Orchestra debut on Thursday, July 11 at 7:00 pm at Severance Music Center. The program, which is part of the Summers at Severance series, includes Leoš Janáček’s Suite from The Cunning Little Vixen, Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with Inon Barnatan as soloist, Borys Lyatoshynsky’s Grazhyna, and Igor Stravinsky’s Suite from The Firebird. Tickets are available online.