The Cleveland Orchestra announces 2009-10 Severance Hall season

Staged opera at Severance Hall continues with Franz Welser-Möst conducting Mozart’s Così fan tutte, the second of three Mozart/Da Ponte productions from the Zurich Opera

The Cleveland Orchestra has announced its 2009-10 season at Severance Hall. During his eighth season as Music Director, Franz Welser-Möst will conduct a wide range of works, including staged performances of Mozart’s Così fan tutte. The 2009-10 season will open with the launch of the Orchestra’s new Community Music Initiative, a series of programs aimed at expanding the Orchestra’s efforts to share music with the people of Cleveland . The week-long celebration of the Community Music Initiative includes The Cleveland Orchestra and Franz Welser-Möst performing in-school and family concerts plus a benefit performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. The season also includes several new programs aimed at reaching new audiences, including a series of early Friday evening concerts with post-concert chamber music and entertainment, a baroque/classical series, a new Musically Speaking Sundays series featuring commentary about a single major symphonic work, and more.

Music Director Franz Welser-Möst’s Program Highlights

Cleveland Orchestra subscription concerts begin October 1 with Franz Welser-Möst conducting a program featuring Haydn’s Symphony No. 85 (“La Reine”) and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5. Additional major works featured in Mr. Welser-Möst’s concerts during the subscription season include Beethoven’s Symphonies Nos. 3 (“Eroica”) and 5, Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem, Bruckner’s Symphony No. 8, staged performances of Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Richard Strauss’s Don Juan, and a program featuring the music of Richard Wagner, to be recorded for release on CD by Deutsche Grammophon.

Throughout the season, Mr. Welser-Möst’s concerts will include works new to or rarely performed by The Cleveland Orchestra, including the Adès Violin Concerto, Berg’s Symphonic Suite from Lulu, Liszt’s A Faust Symphony, and Mozart’s “Haffner” Serenade.

Mozart’s Così fan tutte

Staged opera continues at Severance Hall as Franz Welser-Möst will conduct the Orchestra’s first performances of Mozart’s Così fan tutte on March 2, 4, 6, and 8, 2010. Like the Orchestra’s acclaimed performances of The Marriage of Figaro in March 2009, these performances will be staged using Severance Hall’s orchestra pit together with sets and costumes from the Zurich Opera. The cast for Così fan tutte will include soprano Malin Hartelius (Fiordiligi), soprano Anna Bonitatibus (Dorabella), soprano Martina Janková (Despina), tenor Javier Camarena (Ferrando), baritone Ruben Drole (Guglielmo), and bass Oliver Widmer (Don Alfonso). The Orchestra will perform Don Giovanni (also from the Franz Welser-Möst/Zurich Opera collaboration) in the 2010-11 season to complete its three-season cycle of the Mozart/Da Ponte operas.

Cleveland Orchestra Premieres

Franz Welser-Möst will conduct the Cleveland Orchestra premieres of Mozart’s Così fan tutte, John Adams’s Son of Chamber Symphony, Thomas Adès’s Violin Concerto with Leila Josefowicz as soloist, Richard Wagner’s Overture to Das Liebesverbot, and Jörg Widmann’s Chor (for orchestra). Other Cleveland Orchestra premieres include John Adams’s Doctor Atomic Symphony conducted by David Robertson; Osvaldo Golijov’s The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind, with Principal Clarinet Franklin Cohen as soloist, led by Tito Muñoz; Johann Baptist Georg Neruda’s Trumpet Concerto with Principal Trumpet Michael Sachs as soloist, conducted by Bernard Labadie; Jean-Philippe Rameau’s Suite from Dardanus led by Mr. Labadie, and Johann Wagenaar’s “Cyrano de Bergerac” Overture conducted by Jaap van Zweden.

Distinguished Guest Artist Appearances

Several conductors and soloists long associated with The Cleveland Orchestra will appear with the Orchestra during the 2009-10 season. Conductor Pierre Boulez returns to Severance Hall for two weeks of concerts in February 2010, following a two-year absence. Mr. Boulez has conducted The Cleveland Orchestra in more than 145 concerts since making his debut with the ensemble in 1965. He served as musical advisor of the Orchestra from 1970 to 1972. The program for his first week of concerts includes music by Debussy and Messiaen as well as Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major and Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, with Pierre-Laurent Aimard as soloist. The second week features Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn, with soprano Magdalena Kožená, in her Cleveland Orchestra debut, and baritone Christian Gerhaher.

Vladimir Ashkenazy, who made his Cleveland Orchestra debut as piano soloist in August 1968 and has since appeared with the Orchestra in over 175 concerts, served as the Orchestra’s principal guest conductor from 1987 to 1994, having conducted the ensemble on a regular basis since his Severance Hall podium debut in 1983. His most recent appearances with The Cleveland Orchestra were in September 2007, when he conducted the Orchestra in performances of the complete incidental music to Grieg’s Peer Gynt. In March 2010, he will lead the Orchestra in concerts featuring his own orchestral transcription of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition and Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 1, with Jean-Efflam Bavouzet as soloist.

Pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard made his Cleveland Orchestra debut in 1996 and has performed with the Orchestra in nine different works in more than 25 concerts, including tour performances. Mr. Aimard served as Artist-in-Residence with The Cleveland Orchestra for the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons. The position is supported by the Malcolm E. Kenney Artist-in-Residence Endowment Fund. Mr. Aimard’s most recent performances with the Orchestra and Franz Welser-Möst were in the world premiere of George Benjamin’s Duet for piano and orchestra, premiered at the 2008 Lucerne Festival and given subsequent performances at Severance Hall in Cleveland and Carnegie Hall in New York.

Soprano Measha Brueggergosman made her Cleveland Orchestra debut in July 2006, and has returned to sing with the ensemble each season since that time. She appeared as soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, which was recorded live at Severance Hall concerts in January 2007 and subsequently released on the Deutsche Grammophon label; she also performed in the work in the opening subscription concerts of the Orchestra’s Miami Residency that month. Ms. Brueggergosman’s other appearances with the Orchestra include Vaughan Williams’s A Sea Symphony and Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass (also presented in Carnegie Hall). Her performances in Wagner’s Wesendonck Songs in February 2010 are to be recorded live for future release on Deutsche Grammophon.

Soprano Malin Hartelius has appeared with The Cleveland Orchestra on a regular basis since making her debut with the Orchestra in September 2002, as a soloist in Haydn’s The Creation in the opening concerts of Franz Welser-Möst’s first season as music director. Her appearances in Mozart’s Così fan tutte in March 2010 will mark her fourth operatic engagement with the Orchestra. Ms. Hartelius’s other Cleveland Orchestra performances have included leading roles in Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier, and Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, and she has appeared as soloist in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 (including performances in Carnegie Hall and at the Musikverein in Vienna), and Mozart’s Mass in C minor.

Cellist Truls Mørk will serve as the 2009-10 Artist-in-Residence with The Cleveland Orchestra, a position supported by the Malcolm E. Kenney Artist-in-Residence Endowment Fund. Mr. Mørk has performed as soloist with the Orchestra in over a dozen concerts since making his Cleveland Orchestra debut in April 1997 with Haydn’s Cello Concerto in C major. He also performed a recital in Severance Hall’s Reinberger Chamber Hall in December 2002. His most recent appearances with the Orchestra were in March 2005, in the Schumann Cello Concerto. He will perform the Dvořák Cello Concerto with the Orchestra in November 2009.

Mitsuko Uchida will appear with the Orchestra in two subscription weeks during the 2009-10 season: in October 2009 performing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 under the direction of Franz Welser-Möst and in April 2010 performing Mozart’s Piano Concertos Nos. 20 and 27, conducting from the keyboard. Ms. Uchida, who made her Cleveland Orchestra debut as piano soloist in 1990 and her conducting debut with the Orchestra in March 1998, has appeared with the Orchestra in more than 70 performances, including concerts at Carnegie Hall and on tour in Europe and Japan. From 2002 to 2007, she served as Artist-in-Residence with the Orchestra, a position made possible by the Malcolm E. Kenney Artist-in-Residence Endowment Fund. She completed her five-year project to perform all of Mozart’s piano concertos with the Orchestra in May 2007. Ms. Uchida’s most recent appearances with the Orchestra, in December 2008, were in Mozart’s Piano Concertos Nos. 23 and 24, recorded for future release on the Decca label. In April 2009, she will be soloist in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 25, under the direction of Sir Colin Davis.

Much more is in store for Cleveland. Call the Ticket Office at (216) 231-1111 or 1-800-686-1141 or visit their site online at www.clevelandorchestra.com.