by Daniel Hathaway
Cleveland, March 1, 2015 — Under the direction of Franz Welser-Möst, The Cleveland Orchestra will begin its 98th season on September 24 with the first of three of Richard Strauss’s large tone poems, An Alpine Symphony. Also sprach Zarathrustra and Ein Heldenleben will follow later in the year.
Welser-Möst is also scheduled to conduct performances of such larger works as Béla Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle and The Miraculous Mandarin, and excerpts from Richard Wagner’s Götterdämmerung and Tristan und Isolde.
Distinguished guest conductors returning to the Severance Hall podium will include music director laureate Christoph von Dohnányi, Herbert Blomstedt, Lionel Bringuier, Alan Gilbert, Jane Glover, Gianandrea Noseda, Vladimir Jurowski and Antonio Pappano. Andrés Orozco-Estrada and Antoni Wit will lead the orchestra for the first time.
The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, Chamber Chorus and Children’s Chorus will join the Orchestra for Mahler’s third symphony, Verdi’s Te Deum and Stabat Mater (from Four Sacred Pieces), Handel’s Messiah, Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy, Bartók’s The Miraculous Mandarin, and Dvořák’s’s Stabat Mater.
World premieres highlighting members of the Orchestra as soloists will include Richard Sortomme’s Concerto for Two Violas and Bernard Rands’ English horn concerto. Sortomme’s work is a commission from the Orchestra and will feature Robert Vernon and Lynne Ramsey as soloists. Vernon has announced plans to retire in the summer of 2016 after serving forty years as principal viola. The Rands piece is a commission from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music for the Orchestra’s English hornist, Robert Walters, who teaches at the school.
A pair of concerts largely devoted to the music of Olivier Messiaen will feature pianist Joela Jones in his Couleurs de la cite celeste. Principal flute Joshua Smith will collaborate with guest harpist Yolanda Kondonassis in Mozart’s flute and harp concerto.
The season will feature a number of returning guest soloists: violinists Leila Josefowicz, Leonidas Kavakos and Frank Peter Zimmerman, pianists Yefim Bronfman, Rudolf Buchbinder, Kiril Gerstein, Stephen Hough, Maria João Pires and Mitsuko Uchida, cellist Truls Mørk, sopranos Barbara Hannigan, Luba Orgonášová, and Yulia Van Doren, mezzo-sopranos Jennifer Johnson Cano and Kelley O’Connor, tenors Norbert Ernst and John Tessier, bass-baritone Eric Owens, and bass John Relyea.
Artists appearing with the Orchestra for the first time include pianist Jan Lisiecki, soprano Katarina Dalayman, mezzo-sopranos Jennifer Johnston and Marie-Nicole Lemieux, and bass Mikhail Petrenko. Pianist Julien Brocal will make his Severance Hall debut in an all-Beethoven recital with Maria João Pires.
The next Daniel R. Lewis Young Composer Fellow will be Anthony Cheung, whose Lyra will be performed during the season. Other works from the 21st century to be featured during 2015-2016 are from the pens of Hans Abrahamsen, Thomas Adès, Marc-André Dalbavie, György Kurtág and Goffredo Petrassi.
Soprano Renée Fleming will be the featured artist during a benefit concert on October 3.
The complete schedule follows.
Thursday, SEPTEMBER 24, 2015 at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, SEPTEMBER 25, 2015 at 8 p.m.
Saturday, SEPTEMBER 26, 2015 at 8 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor
MOZART Symphony No. 41 (“Jupiter”)
STRAUSS An Alpine Symphony
Thursday, OCTOBER 1, 2015 at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, OCTOBER 2, 2015 at 8 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor
Kelley O’Connor, mezzo-soprano
Women of the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus
Cleveland Orchestra Children’s Chorus
MAHLER Symphony No. 3
Saturday, OCTOBER 3, 2015 at 8 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor
Renée Fleming, soprano
A gala evening with Renée Flemiing.
Program to be announced.
Thursday, OCTOBER 8, 2015 at 7:30 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor
Joela Jones, piano
MESSIAEN L’Ascension: 4 méditations symphoniques
MESSIAEN Couleurs de la cité céleste (Colors of the Celestial City)
STRAUSS Also sprach Zarathustra
Friday, OCTOBER 9, 2015 at 8 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor
Joela Jones, piano
Cleveland Orchestra Chorus
MESSIAEN Chronochromie
MESSIAEN Couleurs de la cité céleste (Colors of the Celestial City)
VERDI Stabat Mater & Te Deum (from Four Sacred Pieces)
Saturday, OCTOBER 10, 2015 at 8 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor
Joela Jones, piano
Cleveland Orchestra Chorus
STRAUSS Also sprach Zarathustra
MESSIAEN Couleurs de la cité céleste (Colors of the Celestial City)
VERDI Stabat Mater & Te Deum (from Four Sacred Pieces)
Friday, NOVEMBER 6, 2015 at 11 a.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Gianandrea Noseda, conductor
Leonidas Kavakos, violin
SHOSTAKOVICH Violin Concerto No. 1
RACHMANINOFF Symphonic Dances
Saturday, NOVEMBER 7, 2015 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, NOVEMBER 8, 2015 at 3 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Gianandrea Noseda, conductor
Leonidas Kavakos, violin
PETRASSI Partita
SHOSTAKOVICH Violin Concerto No. 1
RACHMANINOFF Symphonic Dances
Thursday, NOVEMBER 19, 2015 at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, NOVEMBER 20, 2015 at 8 p.m.
Saturday, NOVEMBER 21, 2015 at 8 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Christoph von Dohnányi, conductor
Robert Vernon, viola
Lynne Ramsey, viola
SMETANA Overture to The Bartered Bride
SORTOMME Concerto for Two Violas and Orchestra on Themes from Smetana’s String Quartet No.1, “From My Life” (World premiere, Cleveland Orchestra Commission)
SCHUBERT Symphony in C major (“The Great”)
Friday, NOVEMBER 27, 2015 at 8 p.m.
Saturday, NOVEMBER 28, 2015 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, NOVEMBER 29, 2015 at 3 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Lionel Bringuier, conductor
Robert Walters, English horn
DEBUSSY Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
RANDS Concerto for English Horn and Orchestra (World premiere – Oberlin Conservatory of Music Commission)
BERLIOZ Symphonie fantastique
Thursday, DECEMBER 3, 2015 at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, DECEMBER 4, 2015 at 8 p.m.
Saturday, DECEMBER 5, 2015 at 8 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Robert Porco, conductor
Yulia Van Doren, soprano
Jennifer Johnson Cano, mezzo-soprano
John Tessier, tenor
John Relyea, bass
Cleveland Orchestra Chamber Chorus
HANDEL Messiah
Thursday, JANUARY 7, 2016 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, JANUARY 9, 2016 at 8 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor
Yefim Bronfman, piano
Cleveland Orchestra Chorus
BEETHOVEN String Quartet No. 15 (for string orchestra)
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 3
BEETHOVEN Choral Fantasy
Friday, JANUARY 8, 2016 at 11 a.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor
Yefim Bronfman, piano
BEETHOVEN String Quartet No. 15 (for string orchestra)
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 3
Thursday, JANUARY 14, 2016 at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, JANUARY 15, 2016 at 8 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor
Barbara Hannigan, soprano
ABRAHAMSEN let me tell you (U.S. premiere)
SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 4
Thursday, FEBRUARY 4, 2016 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, FEBRUARY 6, 2016 at 8 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Vladimir Jurowski, conductor
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, piano
DALBAVIE La Source d’un Regard
RAVEL Piano Concerto in G major
DEBUSSY Images
Friday, FEBRUARY 5, 2016 at 7 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Vladimir Jurowski, conductor
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, piano
RAVEL Piano Concerto in G major
DEBUSSY Images
Thursday, FEBRUARY 11, 2016 at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, FEBRUARY 12, 2016 at 8 p.m.
Saturday, FEBRUARY 13, 2016 at 8 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Mitsuko Uchida, piano and conductor
William Preucil, concertmaster and leader
MOZART Piano Concerto No. 17
MOZART Divertimento in D major
MOZART Piano Concerto No. 25
Thursday, FEBRUARY 18, 2016 at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, FEBRUARY 19, 2016 at 8 p.m.
Saturday, FEBRUARY 20, 2016 at 8 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Herbert Blomstedt, conductor
BERWALD Symphony No. 3 (“Sinfonie singulière”)
DVOŘÁK Symphony No. 7
Thursday, MARCH 3, 2016 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, MARCH 5, 2016 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, MARCH 6, 2016 at 3 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Alan Gilbert, conductor
Stephen Hough, piano
SCHUMANN Overture to Manfred
DVOŘÁK Piano Concerto
NIELSEN Symphony No. 4 (“The Inextinguishable”)
Thursday, MARCH 10, 2016 at 7:30 p.m.
Maria João Pires, piano
Julien Brocal, piano – Severance Hall debut
Program to include:
BEETHOVEN Piano Sonata No. 31
BEETHOVEN Piano Sonata No. 32
Thursday, MARCH 24, 2016 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, MARCH 26, 2016 at 8 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor
Truls Mørk, cello
KURTÁG Grabstein für Stephan
SCHUMANN Cello Concerto
BRUCKNER Symphony No. 6
Thursday, MARCH 31, 2016 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, APRIL 2, 2016 at 8 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor
Leila Josefowicz, violin
CHEUNG Lyra
ADÈS Concentric Paths (for violin and orchestra)
WAGNER Excerpts from Götterdämmerung
Friday, APRIL 1, 2016 at 11 a.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor
Leila Josefowicz, violin
ADÈS Concentric Paths (for violin and orchestra)
WAGNER Excerpts from Götterdämmerung
Thursday, APRIL 7, 2016 at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, APRIL 8, 2016 at 8 p.m.
Saturday, APRIL 9, 2016 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, APRIL 10, 2016 at 5 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor
Mikhail Petrenko, bass
Katarina Dalayman, sopranos
Members of the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus
BARTÓK The Miraculous Mandarin
BARTÓK Bluebeard’s Castle
Thursday, APRIL 14, 2016 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, APRIL 16, 2016 at 8 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Jane Glover, conductor
Joshua Smith, flute
Yolanda Kondonassis, harp
HAYDN Symphony No. 6 (“Le Matin”)
MOZART Concerto in C major for Flute, Harp and Orchestra
MOZART Symphony No. 39
Friday, APRIL 15, 2016 at 7 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Jane Glover, conductor
Joshua Smith, flute
Yolanda Kondonassis, harp
MOZART Concerto in C major for Flute, Harp and Orchestra
MOZART Symphony No. 39
Thursday, APRIL 21, 2016 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, APRIL 23, 2016 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, APRIL 24, 2016 at 3 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Antoni Wit, conductor
Jan Lisiecki, piano
WAGNER Polonia Overture CHOPIN Piano Concerto No. 2
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 3 (“Eroica”)
Thursday, APRIL 28, 2016 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, APRIL 30, 2016 at 8 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Antonio Pappano, conductor
Marie-Nicole Lemieux, mezzo-soprano
WAGNER Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan and Isolde
CHAUSSON Poème de l’amour et de la mer
STRAUSS Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life)
Friday, APRIL 29, 2016 at 11 a.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Antonio Pappano, conductor
WAGNER Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan and Isolde
STRAUSS Ein Heldenleben [A Hero’s Life]
Thursday, MAY 5, 2016 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, MAY 7, 2016 at 8 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Andrés Orozco-Estrada, conductor
Kirill Gerstein, piano
KODÁLY Dances of Galánta
RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No. 1
STRAVINSKY Suite from The Firebird (1945 version)
Friday, MAY 6, 2016 at 11 a.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Andrés Orozco-Estrada, conductor
Kirill Gerstein, piano
RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No. 1
STRAVINSKY Suite from The Firebird (1945 version)
Friday, MAY 6, 2016 at 7 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Andrés Orozco-Estrada, conductor
Kirill Gerstein, piano
RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No. 1
STRAVINSKY Suite from The Firebird (1945 version)
Thursday, MAY 12, 2016 at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, MAY 13, 2016 at 8 p.m.
Saturday, MAY 14, 2016 at 8 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor
Frank Peter Zimmermann, violin
LISZT Orpheus, Symphonic Poem No. 4
BARTÓK Violin Concerto No. 2
BARTÓK Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta
Thursday, MAY 19, 2016 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, MAY 21, 2016 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, MAY 22, 2016 at 3 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor
Rudolf Buchbinder, piano
DVOŘÁK The Wood Dove
JANÁČEK Suite from From the House of the Dead
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 5 (“Emperor”)
Friday, MAY 20, 2016 at 11 a.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor
JANÁČEK Suite from From the House of the Dead
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 5 (“Emperor”)
Thursday, MAY 26, 2016 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, MAY 28, 2016 at 8 p.m.
The Cleveland Orchestra
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor
Luba Orgonášová, soprano
Jennifer Johnston, mezzo-soprano
Norbert Ernst, tenor
Eric Owens, bass-baritone
Cleveland Orchestra Chorus
DVOŘÁK Stabat Mater
Published on ClevelandClassical.com March 1, 2015.
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