The Cleveland Orchestra 2016 Gala

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THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA OCTOBER 1

A Gala Evening with

The Cleveland Orchestra

and Emanuel Ax conducted by Franz Welser-Möst An Extraordinary Concert Evening to Benefit The Cleveland Orchestra’s Education and Community Programs throughout Northeast Ohio

Norma Lerner

Beth Mooney

Gala Chair

Corporate Chair

Nancy W. McCann Co-Chair

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THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA OCTOBER 1

THANK YOU

October 1, 2016 This evening stands as testament to a powerful reality that I did not fully comprehend until I moved to Cleveland and experienced it myself — just how very deeply Northeast Ohio is invested in The Cleveland Orchestra, and how deeply the Orchestra is invested in Northeast Ohio.

In giving thanks for the success of tonight’s gala, let me begin by extending the gratitude of everyone here to gala chairs Norma Lerner, Beth Mooney, and Nancy McCann. Their efforts have once again brought together a wonderful evening of music, fellowship, and support. On behalf of the entire Cleveland Orchestra family, thank you.

Thanks also go to our Board of Trustees. The overwhelming support and passion we see on display here tonight is fueled in large part by their efforts under the unflagging leadership of President Dennis LaBarre and Chairman Dick Bogomolny. Their work alongside the Gala chairs and our Orchestra staff exemplify the community spirit that engendered The Cleveland Orchestra — and to which we are all dedicated. And to each and every staff member, thank you for all of your hard work day and night.

For tonight’s wonderful soloist, Emanuel Ax, and our acclaimed music director, Franz Welser-Möst, I offer profound appreciation for the wonderful performance we have the privilege of enjoying, and also for sharing their devotion to the important mission bringing us together tonight. In their work promoting the value of music education and welcoming audiences in engaging new ways they are an inspiration to us all.

Finally, I know that you join me in extending our heartfelt gratitude to the musicians of The Cleveland Orchestra. Their extraordinary artistic collaboration is a wonder to behold and an honor to help make possible.

Thank you, and enjoy the concert.

André Gremillet Executive Director

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From the Executive Director

WELCOME

Gala2O16 THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA

Dear Friends, Welcome to this special gala evening featuring acclaimed pianist Emanuel Ax performing with The Cleveland Orchestra led by our visionary music director, Franz Welser-Möst.

We extend our heartfelt gratitude to everyone who has made this wonderful evening such a success, not only tonight but year after year. With your support, the Orchestra continues to serve our community as a source of pride, musical excellence, and inspiration to all. With your generosity, The Cleveland Orchestra continues to make a difference — through education, musical performances, and community involvement, engagement, and participation — for today’s audiences and future generations.

Funds raised this evening support The Cleveland Orchestra’s many invaluable education and community programs, which each year inspire tens of thousands — young and old alike — across Northeast Ohio. We are honored to celebrate tonight with Franz Welser-Möst, whose passionate, longstanding commitment to music education is creating a profound and lasting impact on lives throughout our community.

Thank you for joining us for this special occasion. We are so pleased to see familiar smiling faces, as well as new friends of The Cleveland Orchestra, and to be including once again members of The Circle, the Orchestra’s young professionals group, and their guests. With extra thanks to executive chef Doug Katz for yet another exceptional dining experience, and to the volunteers, Orchestra staff, servers, ushers, and everyone involved for their tireless efforts and creativity in bringing this evening’s resplendent gala to life. Enjoy!

Sincerely,

Norma Lerner Gala Chair

Beth Mooney Corporate Chair

From the Gala Chairs

Nancy W. McCann Gala Co-Chair

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C O N D U C TO R S P O N S O R S The Lerner Foundation KeyBank Milton and Tamar Maltz Audrey and Albert Ratner

THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA

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O C TO B E R 1

CONCERTMASTER SPONSORS Anonymous BakerHostetler Richard J. Bogomolny and Patricia M. Kozerefski Sally and Sandy Cutler Forest City Realty Trust Hyster-Yale Materials Handling, Inc. Mr. and Mrs. Dennis W. LaBarre Nancy W. McCann Medical Mutual Mr. and Mrs. Richard K. Smucker

P R I N C I PA L S P O N S O R S Case Western Reserve University Thompson Hine LLP The Payne Fund

A S S I S TA N T P R I N C I PA L S P O N S O R S Anonymous Mr. Yuval Brisker Cleveland State University Robert Conrad (WCLV) Dollar Bank Jones Day Betsy Juliano / Jim and Myrna Spira Stewart and Donna Kohl David and Inez Myers Foundation Julia and Larry Pollock Quality Electrodynamics (QED) Barbara S. Robinson University Hospitals

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BOARD SUPPORT SPONSORS Irad and Rebecca Carmi The LWH Family Foundation Kent State University Virginia M. and Jon A. Lindseth John C. Morley Ambassador and Mrs. John Doyle Ong Mr. and Mrs. Alfred M. Rankin, Jr. James and Donna Reid Paul and Suzanne Westlake

D I S T I N G U I S H ED PAT R O N S Gay C. and Edward Addicott Mr. and Mrs. Dean C. Barry William P. Blair III Jeanette G. and Glenn R. Brown Matthew and Deborah Crawford Barbara Ann Davis Nicki and Bob Gudbranson Robert K. Gudbranson and Joon-Li Kim T. K. and Faye A. Heston Allan V. Johnson Walter and Jean Kalberer Nancy and Joe Keithley Mr. and Mrs. Douglas A. Kern

Giuliana and John D. Koch Chrisie and Larry Levey Loretta J. Mester and George J. Mailath William J. and Katherine T. O’Neill Clara T. Rankin Michael and Zoya Reyzis Dr. and Mrs. Ronald Ross Steven and Ellen Ross Mrs. David Seidenfeld R. Thomas and Meg Harris Stanton Steinway Piano Gallery Cleveland Denise and Norm Wells Tony and Diane Wynshaw-Boris

PAT R O N S

Dr. Ronald H. Bell Ben and Julia Brouhard Frank and Leslie Buck Mr. William Compton Mrs. Barbara Cook Dr. and Mrs. Avrum I. Froimson Lilli and Seth Harris Iris and Tom Harvie Elisabeth A. Hugh Mrs. Marguerite B. Humphrey Dianne and David Hunt Andrew and Katherine Kartalis Dr. and Mrs. Richard A. Katzman

Ms. Donna Krohn Heather and Irwin Lowenstein Alex and Carol Machaskee Marjorie and Bert Moyar Deborah L. Neale Linda and John Olejko Dr. and Mrs. Guilherme Oliveira Larry J. Santon John Schambach Lorraine S. Szabo Joe and Marlene Toot Tom and Shirley Waltermire Max and Beverly Zupon listings as of September 28, 2016

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its Centennial Season in 2017-18, The Cleveland Orch­ estra continues refining its mission, praised as one of the very best orchestras in the world and noted for its devotion and service to the community it calls home. The 2016-17 season marks the ensemble’s fifteenth year under the direction of Franz Welser-Möst, one of the world’s most renowned musical leaders. Looking toward the future, the Orchestra and its board of trustees, staff, volunteers, and hometown are working together on a set of enhanced goals for the 21st century — to continue the Orchestra’s legendary command of musical excellence, to fully focus on serving its hometown community (through outstanding concerts, vibrant musical engagement, and strong music education programs), to develop the youngest audience of any orchestra, and to move forward into the Orchestra’s next century with an unshakeable commitment to innovation and a fearless pursuit of success.

The Cleveland Orchestra divides its time each year across concert seasons at home in Cleveland’s Severance Hall and each summer at Blossom Music Center.

Additional portions of the year are devoted to touring and to a series of innovative and intensive performance residencies.

These include an annual set of concert presentations and community partnerships in Miami, Florida, a recurring residency at Vienna’s Musikverein, and regular appearances at Switzerland’s Lucerne Festival, at New York’s Lincoln Center Festival, and at Indiana University.

Musical Excellence. The Cleveland Orchestra has long been commitAS IT APPROACHES

ted to the pursuit of musical excellence in everything that it does. The Orchestra’s ongoing collaboration with Welser-Möst is widely-acknow­ledged among the best orchestra-conductor partnerships of today. Performances of standard repertoire and new works are unrivalled at home, in residencies around the globe, on tour across North America and Europe, and through recordings, telecasts, and radio and internet broadcasts. Its longstanding championship of new composers and commissioning of new works helps audiences experience music as a living language that grows and evolves with each new generation. Performances with Baroque specialists, recording projects of varying repertoire and in different locations, fruitful re-examinations and juxtapositions of the standard repertoire, and acclaimed collaborations in 20th- and 21st-century masterworks together enable The Cleveland Orchestra the ability to give musical performances second to none in the world.

Serving the Community. Programs for students and community engagement activities have long been part of the Orchestra’s commitment to serving Cleveland and surrounding communities, and have more recently been extended to touring cities and residencies. All are being created to connect people to music in the concert hall, in classrooms, and in everyday lives. Recent seasons have seen the launch of a unique “At Home” neighborhood residency program, designed to bring the Orchestra and the citizens of Northeast Ohio together in new ways.

Additionally, a Make Music! initiative championed by Franz Welser-Möst advo-

About The Cleveland Orchestra

7

cates the benefits of direct participation in making music for people of all ages.

Future Audiences. Standing on the shoulders of more than nine decades of presenting quality music education programs, the Orchestra made national and international headlines through the creation of its Center for Future Audiences in 2010. Established with a significant endowment gift from the Maltz Family Foundation, the Center is designed to provide ongoing funding for the Orchestra’s continuing work to develop interest in classical music among young people. The flagship “Under 18s Free” program has seen unparalleled success in increasing attendance and interest — with 20% of attendees now comprised of concertgoers age 25 and under.

Innovative Programming. The Cleveland Orchestra was among the first American orchestras heard on a regular series of radio broadcasts, and its Severance Hall home was one of the first concert halls in the world built with recording and broadcasting capabilities. Today, Cleveland Orchestra concerts are presented in a variety of formats for a variety of audiences — including ballet and opera, and standard repertoire juxtaposed in meaningful contexts with new and older works. Franz Wel­ser-Möst’s creative vision has given the Orchestra an unequaled opportunity to explore music as a universal language of communication and understanding.

An Enduring Tradition of Community Support. The Cleveland Orchestra was born in Cleveland, created by a group of visionary citizens who believed in the power of music and aspired to having the best performances of great orchestral music possible anywhere. Generations of Clevelanders have supported this vision

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and enjoyed the Orchestra’s performances as some of the best such concert experiences anywhere in the world. Hundreds of thousands have learned to love music through its education programs and have celebrated important events with its music.

While strong ticket sales cover just under half of each season’s costs, it is the generosity of thousands each year that drives the Orchestra forward and sustains its extraordinary tradition of excellence onstage, in the classroom, and for the community.

Evolving Greatness. The Cleveland Orchestra was founded in 1918. Over the ensuing decades, the Orch­estra quickly grew from a fine regional organization to being one of the most admired symphony orchestras in the world. The opening in 1931 of Severance Hall as the Orchestra’s permanent home brought a special pride to the ensemble and its hometown. With acoustic refinements under Szell’s guidance and a building-wide restoration and expansion in 1998-2000, Severance Hall continues to provide the Orchestra an enviable and intimate acoustic environment in which to perfect the ensemble’s artistry. Touring performances throughout the United States and, beginning in 1957, to Europe and across the globe have confirmed Cleveland’s place among the world’s top orchestras. Year-round performances became a reality in 1968 with the opening of Blossom Music Center, one of the most beautiful and acoustically admired outdoor concert facilities in the United States.

Today, concert performances, community presentations, touring residencies, broadcasts, and recordings provide access to the Orchestra’s acclaimed artistry to an enthusiastic, generous, and broad constituency around the world.

About The Cleveland Orchestra

1918

Seven music directors have led the Orchestra, including George Szell, Christoph von Dohnányi, and Franz Welser-Möst.

15th

1l1l 11l1 1l1I

The 2016-17 season marks Franz Welser-Möst’s 15th year as music director.

SEVERANCE HALL, “America’s most beautiful concert hall,” opened in 1931 as the Orchestra’s permanent home.

40,000

each year

Over 40,000 young people attend Cleveland Orch­estra concerts each year via programs funded by the Center for Future Audiences, through student programs and Under 18s Free ticketing — making up 20% of audiences.

52%

Over half of The Cleveland Orchestra’s funding each year comes from thousands of generous donors and sponsors, who together make possible our concert presentations, community programs, and education initiatives.

4million

Likes on Facebook (as of Sept 2016)

The Cleveland Orchestra has introduced over 4.1 million children in Northeast Ohio to symphonic music through concerts for children since 1918.

126,787

1931

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concerts each year.

The Orchestra was founded in 1918 and performed its first concert on December 11.

The Cleveland Orchestra performs over

THE CLEVEL AND ORCHESTRA

BY THE NUMBERS

Serving Northeast Ohio . . .

Catalyst. Convener. Collaborator. Community. Whether celebrating the birth of our country with the Orchestra’s annual concert downtown, honoring the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. through the annual MLK Concert and Community Open House, or making new friends and building community through our “At Home” neighborhood residency program, The Cleveland Orchestra draws people together through the transformative power of music.

The Cleveland Orchestra is devoted to the citizens of Northeast Ohio, serving the region with quality education programs for learners of all ages, innovative artistic collaborations, and strong community partnerships, all delivered with the excellence for which this Orchestra is renowned. The Cleveland Orchestra is proud to serve as this region’s most prominent international ambassador, but its most important work happens here at home, in service to the community.

It is our firm belief that a child’s education is not complete without the arts. This is true for all students, and especially for disadvantaged students, who often have the least access to, and the most to gain from, arts education. The Cleveland Orchestra is one of the few orchestras in the country with an in-depth early childhood program, engaging very young children in music and learning right from the start, and building both school-readiness skills and a love of music in the process. Elementary school students are Learning Through Music with arts-integrated lessons presented by Cleveland Orchestra musicians alongside K-5 teachers. Education Concerts continue to bring tens of thousands of students on fieldtrips to Severance Hall. And, in recent years, Franz Welser-Möst has taken the entire Orchestra back to schools, performing in school gyms and auditoriums from John Adams and John Hay high schools to Shaker Heights High School and Saint Joseph Academy to Patrick Henry School in Glenville.

The arts are not a frill or an extra. They are a core subject of learning, vital to realizing a child’s full potential. And active music-making (e.g., chorus, band, and orchestra) is an especially important part of a complete music education. With their expertise and passion, Orch­estra musicians support in-school and after-school music programs, and coach the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra, passing down the hallmark artistic excellence of The Cleveland Orchestra to future generations.

The Cleveland Orchestra is committed to developing future generations of audiences for symphonic music. Discounted ticket offerings (subsidized through donor contributions) are attracting more young people to Severance Hall and Blossom than ever before. Varied programming, including world premieres, masterpieces and lesser-known works, movies, holiday music, family, and opera and ballet, are attracting new audiences and providing new energy for the future.

Our goal is to create a culture of music lovers and to celebrate music-makers, creative thinkers, and joyful citizens who are engaged in and value the arts.

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Education and Community

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THE

CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA FRANZ WELSER-MÖST

M U S I C D I R E C TO R

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Severance Hall Saturday evening, October 1, 2016, at 7:00 p.m.

Franz Welser-Möst, conductor

ludwig van beethoven

Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Opus 19

(1770-1827)

1. Allegro con brio 2. Adagio 3. Rondo: Molto allegro

Emanuel Ax, piano

john harbison

aaron copland

Remembering Gatsby Foxtrot for Orchestra

(b. 1938)

(1900-1990)

Suite from Billy the Kid

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

The Open Prairie — Street in a Frontier Town — Mexican Dance and Finale Prairie Night (Card Game) — Gun Battle — Celebration (after Billy’s Capture) — Billy’s Death — The Open Prairie Again —

Special thanks for generous ongoing support from:

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C L E V E L A N D

T H E

FRANZ WELSER-MÖST

MUSIC

DIRECTOR

Kelvin Smith Family Chair

SECOND VIOLINS Stephen Rose *

FIRST VIOLINS William Preucil

Alfred M. and Clara T. Rankin Chair

CONCERTMASTER

Blossom-Lee Chair

Jung-Min Amy Lee

ASSOCIATE CONCERTMASTER

Gretchen D. and Ward Smith Chair

Eli Matthews 1

Bryan Dumm

James and Donna Reid Chair

Chul-In Park

Miho Hashizume

VIOLAS Wesley Collins*

Jessica Lee

ASSISTANT CONCERTMASTER

Clara G. and George P. Bickford Chair

Takako Masame

Paul and Lucille Jones Chair

Wei-Fang Gu

Drs. Paul M. and Renate H. Duchesneau Chair

Kim Gomez

Elizabeth and Leslie Kondorossy Chair Harriet T. and David L. Simon Chair Theodore Rautenberg Chair

Jeanne Preucil Rose

Dr. Larry J.B. and Barbara S. Robinson Chair

Alicia Koelz

Oswald and Phyllis Lerner Gilroy Chair

Yu Yuan

Patty and John Collinson Chair

Isabel Trautwein

Trevor and Jennie Jones Chair

Mark Dumm

Gladys B. Goetz Chair

Alexandra Preucil Katherine Bormann Analisé Denise Kukelhan

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The GAR Foundation Chair

Charles Bernard 2

Sonja Braaten Molloy Carolyn Gadiel Warner Elayna Duitman Ioana Missits Jeffrey Zehngut Vladimir Deninzon Sae Shiragami Scott Weber Kathleen Collins Beth Woodside Emma Shook Yun-Ting Lee

FIRST ASSOCIATE CONCERTMASTER

Louis D. Beaumont Chair

Richard Weiss 1

Emilio Llinás 2

Patricia M. Kozerefski and Richard J. Bogomolny Chair

Peter Otto

CELLOS Mark Kosower*

Chaillé H. and Richard B. Tullis Chair

Lynne Ramsey 1

Charles M. and Janet G. Kimball Chair

Stanley Konopka 2 Mark Jackobs

Jean Wall Bennett Chair

Arthur Klima Richard Waugh Lisa Boyko Lembi Veskimets Eliesha Nelson Joanna Patterson Zakany Patrick Connolly

The Orchestra

Helen Weil Ross Chair Muriel and Noah Butkin Chair

Tanya Ell

Thomas J. and Judith Fay Gruber Chair

Ralph Curry Brian Thornton

William P. Blair III Chair

David Alan Harrell Martha Baldwin Dane Johansen Paul Kushious BASSES Maximilian Dimoff *

Clarence T. Reinberger Chair

Kevin Switalski 2 Scott Haigh 1

Mary E. and F. Joseph Callahan Chair

Mark Atherton Thomas Sperl Henry Peyrebrune

Charles Barr Memorial Chair

Charles Carleton Scott Dixon Derek Zadinsky HARP Trina Struble *

Alice Chalifoux Chair

This roster lists the fulltime members of The Cleveland Orchestra.

The number and seating of musicians onstage varies depending on the piece being performed.

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S E A S O N

O R C H E S T R A FLUTES Joshua Smith *

Elizabeth M. and William C. Treuhaft Chair

Saeran St. Christopher Marisela Sager 2

Austin B. and Ellen W. Chinn Chair

Mary Kay Fink PICCOLO Mary Kay Fink

Anne M. and M. Roger Clapp Chair

OBOES Frank Rosenwein * Edith S. Taplin Chair

Corbin Stair Jeffrey Rathbun 2

Everett D. and Eugenia S. McCurdy Chair

Robert Walters ENGLISH HORN Robert Walters

Samuel C. and Bernette K. Jaffe Chair

CLARINETS Robert Woolfrey Daniel McKelway 2 Robert R. and Vilma L. Kohn Chair

E-FLAT CLARINET Daniel McKelway

Stanley L. and Eloise M. Morgan Chair

BASSOONS John Clouser *

Louise Harkness Ingalls Chair

Gareth Thomas Barrick Stees 2

Sandra L. Haslinger Chair

Jonathan Sherwin CONTRABASSOON Jonathan Sherwin

HORNS Michael Mayhew §

Knight Foundation Chair

Jesse McCormick

Robert B. Benyo Chair

Hans Clebsch Richard King Alan DeMattia

PERCUSSION Marc Damoulakis*

Margaret Allen Ireland Chair

Donald Miller Tom Freer * Thomas Sherwood KEYBOARD INSTRUMENTS Joela Jones * Rudolf Serkin Chair

TRUMPETS Michael Sachs *

Carolyn Gadiel Warner

Jack Sutte Lyle Steelman2

LIBRARIANS Robert O’Brien

Robert and Eunice Podis Weiskopf Chair

James P. and Dolores D. Storer Chair

Marjory and Marc L. Swartzbaugh Chair

Joe and Marlene Toot Chair

Donald Miller

Michael Miller CORNETS Michael Sachs *

Mary Elizabeth and G. Robert Klein Chair

Michael Miller TROMBONES Massimo La Rosa*

Gilbert W. and Louise I. Humphrey Chair

Richard Stout

Alexander and Marianna C. McAfee Chair

Shachar Israel 2

BASS TROMBONE Thomas Klaber EUPHONIUM AND BASS TRUMPET Richard Stout TUBA Yasuhito Sugiyama* Nathalie C. Spence and Nathalie S. Boswell Chair

TIMPANI Paul Yancich *

ENDOWED CHAIRS CURRENTLY UNOCCUPIED Sidney and Doris Dworkin Chair Dr. Jeanette Grasselli Brown and Dr. Glenn R. Brown Chair Sunshine Chair Robert Marcellus Chair George Szell Memorial Chair

* Principal § Associate Principal 1

First Assistant Principal Assistant Principal

on sabbatical leave

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*

CONDUCTORS Christoph von Dohnányi MUSIC DIRECTOR LAUREATE

Brett Mitchell

ASSOCIATE CONDUCTOR

Elizabeth Ring and William Gwinn Mather Chair

Robert Porco

DIRECTOR OF CHORUSES

Frances P. and Chester C. Bolton Chair

Otto G. and Corinne T. Voss Chair

Tom Freer 2*

Mr. and Mrs. Richard K. Smucker Chair

The Orchestra

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P H OTO BY L I S A MA R I E MA Z Z U CCO

Soloist

Emanuel Ax Pianist Emanuel Ax is among the most renowned and esteemed classical artists on the world stage today. His collaborative performances — as a concerto soloist or as a chamber musician — are universally praised for the depth and breadth of his musical understanding and insight. He first performed with The Cleveland Orchestra in January 1976. He has performed with the Orch­estra regularly in the decades since, most recently in July 2012.

Born in modern day Lvov, Poland, Emanuel Ax moved to Winnipeg, Canada, with his family when he was a young boy. His studies at New York’s Juilliard School were supported by the sponsorship of the Epstein Scholarship Program

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Guest Soloist

of the Boys Clubs of America, and he subsequently won the Young Concert Artists Award. He also attended Columbia University, where he majored in French. Mr. Ax made his New York debut in the Young Concert Artists Series, and captured public attention in 1974 when he won the first Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition in Tel Aviv.

In 1975, he won the Michaels Award of Young Concert Artists, followed four years later by the coveted Avery Fisher Prize.

Always a committed exponent of contemporary composers — with works written for him by John Adams, Christopher Rouse, Krzysztof Penderecki, Bright Sheng, and Melinda Wagner already in his repertoire — the 2016-17 season features two newly-commissioned

works. With the New York Philharmonic conducted by Alan Gilbert, he will play the world premiere of HK Gruber’s Piano Concerto in January, followed in March by the work’s European premiere with the Berlin Philharmonic under Simon Rattle’s baton. In recitals throughout the season, his program features works by Schubert and Chopin, partnered with Impromptus (2015-2016) by Samuel Adams, commissioned by Music Accord and inspired by Schubert. Mr. Ax’s continuing relationship with the Boston Symphony Orchestra includes visits with them to Carnegie Hall, Montreal, and Toronto. As a regular visitor, he returns to play with the orchestras of Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Cincinnati, Toronto, Seattle, Milwaukee, and Detroit.

A Sony Classical exclusive recording artist since 1987, Mr. Ax’s recent releases include Mendelssohn Trios with Yo-Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman, Strauss’s Enoch Arden narrated by Patrick Stewart, and discs of two-piano music by Brahms and Rachmaninoff with Yefim Bronfman.

In 2015, Deutsche Grammophon released a duo recording of Mr. Ax with Itzhak Perlman of sonatas by Fauré and Richard Strauss, which the two artists then presented on tour during the 2015-16 season.

Mr. Ax received Grammy Awards for the second and third volumes of his cycle of Haydn’s piano sonatas. He also made a series of Grammy-winning recordings with cellist Yo-Yo Ma of the Beethoven and Brahms sonatas for cello and piano.

His other recordings include the concertos of Liszt and Schoenberg, three solo Brahms albums, an album of tangos by Astor Piazzolla, and the premiere recording of John Adams’s Century Rolls with The Cleveland Orchestra for Nonesuch.

In 2013, Mr. Ax’s recording Variations received the Echo Klassik Award for “solo recording of the year (19th-century music/piano).”

During the 2004-05 season, Mr. Ax contributed to an International Emmy Award-Winning BBC documentary commemorating the Holocaust, which aired on the sixtieth anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

A frequent and committed partner for chamber music, he has worked regularly with artists including Young Uck Kim, Cho-Liang Lin, Mr. Ma, Edgar Meyer, Peter Serkin, Jaime Laredo, and the late Isaac Stern.

Mr. Ax is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and holds honorary doctorates of music from Yale and Columbia Universities. He resides in New York City with his wife, pianist Yoko Nozaki. They have two children together, Joseph and Sarah.

For more information, please visit www.emanuelax.com.

Guest Soloist

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P H OTO BY M I C H A E L P O E H N

Conductor

Franz Welser-Möst Music Director Kelvin Smith Family Endowed Chair The Cleveland Orchestra

Franz Welser-Möst is among today’s most distinguished conductors. The 2016-17 season marks his fifteenth year as music director of The Cleveland Orch­estra, with the future of this acclaimed partnership now extending into the next decade. Under his direction, the New York Times has declared Cleveland to be the “best American orchestra“ for its virtuosity, elegance of sound, variety of color, and chamber-like musical cohesion. The Cleveland Orchestra has been repeatedly praised for its innovative programming, support for new musical works, and for its recent success in semi-staged and staged opera productions. In addition to an unprecedented annual residency in Miami, Franz Welser-Möst and The Cleveland Orchestra are frequent guests at many prestigious concert halls and festivals, including the Salzburg Festival and the Lucerne Festival. The Cleveland Orchestra has been hugely successful in building up a new and, notably, a young audience through its groundbreaking programs involving students and by working

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closely with universities.

As a guest conductor, Mr. WelserMöst enjoys a close and productive relationship with the Vienna Philharmonic.

His recent performances with the Philharmonic have included critically-acclaimed opera productions at the Salzburg Festival (Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier in 2014, Beethoven’s Fidelio in 2015, and Strauss’s Die Liebe der Danae in 2016), as well as appearances at New York’s Carnegie Hall, at the Lucerne Festival, and in concert at La Scala Milan. He has conducted the Philharmonic’s celebrated annual New Year’s Day concert twice, viewed by millions worldwide. For the 2016-17 season, he leads the Vienna Philharmonic in performances in Vienna and on tour in the United States, including three concerts at Carnegie Hall in February 2017.

Mr. Welser-Möst also maintains relationships with a number of other European orchestras and opera companies. His 2016-17 schedule includes Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro with La Scala Milan. He also leads Mahler’s Ninth Symphony with the Dresden Staatskapelle, including a performance at the Salzburg Easter Festival.

Recent engagements have also featured performances with Munich’s Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Zurich’s Tonhalle Orchestra, as well as his acclaimed debut with Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. In December 2015, he led the Royal Stockholm Phil-harmonic in the Nobel Prize concert in Stockholm.

From 2010 to 2014, Franz WelserMöst served as general music director of the Vienna State Opera. His partnership with the company included an acclaimed

Music Director

new production of Wagner’s Ring cycle and a series of critically-praised new productions, as well as performances of a wide range of other operas, particularly works by Wagner and Richard Strauss.

Prior to his years with the Vienna State Opera, Mr. Welser-Möst led the Zurich Opera across a decade-long tenure, conducting more than forty new productions and culminating in three seasons as general music director (2005-08).

Franz Welser-Möst’s recordings and videos have won major awards, including a Gramophone Award, Diapason d’Or, Japanese Record Academy Award, and two Grammy nominations. The recent Salzburg Festival production he conducted of Der Rosenkavalier was awarded with the Echo Klassik for “best opera recording.“ With The Cleveland Orchestra, his record-

ings include DVD recordings of live performances of five of Bruckner’s symphonies and a multi-DVD set of major works by Brahms, featuring Yefim Bronfman and Julia Fischer as soloists. Brahms’s German Requiem is scheduled for release in 2016.

For his talents and dedication, Mr. Welser-Möst has received honors that include the Vienna Philharmonic’s “Ring of Honor” for his longstanding personal and artistic relationship with the ensemble, as well as recognition from the Western Law Center for Disability Rights, honorary membership in the Vienna Singverein, appointment as an Academician of the European Academy of Yuste, a Decoration of Honor from the Republic of Austria for his artistic achievements, and the Kilenyi Medal from the Bruckner Society of America.

“Franz Welser-Möst, music director of the subtle, responsive Cleveland Orch­ estra — possibly America’s most memorable symphonic ensemble — leads operas with airy, catlike grace. His style may well prove a natural fit with Debussy’s enigmatic masterpiece Pelléas and Mélisande, staged by the imaginative Yuval Sharon. May 2, 4, 6, 2017.”

—New York Times “Franz Welser-Möst has managed something radical with The Cleveland Orch­estra — making them play as one seamless unit. . . . The music flickered with a very delicate beauty that makes the Clevelanders sound like no other orchestra.”

—London Times “There were times when the sheer splendor of the orchestra’s playing made you sit upright in awestruck appreciation. . . . The music was a miracle of expressive grandeur, which Welser-Möst paced with weight and fluidity.”

—San Francisco Chronicle

Music Director

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About the Music Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Opus 19

by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

While we most often think of Beethoven as a composer — and a great one, at that — in his youth he was primarily known as a pianist — and a very good one, too. Yes, he always wanted to compose, but his ticket to fame was playing the keyboard. The fact that he composed and played was a common combination of the day, ensuring himself a unique supply of new and original works with which to dazzle audiences. Mozart had done much the same thing during his decade in Vienna, though, like Beethoven later on, composing became more and more of a fulltime occupation, leaving less and less time to practice and perform. Eventually, Beethoven’s vanishing hearing quietly ended his performing career, with the premiere of his Fourth Piano Concerto in 1806 among his final public appearances. (By the time of the Fifth Piano Concerto, his uncooperative ears simply could not provide enough coordination with an orchestra surrounding him — leaving him to choose his pupil Friedrich Schneider to premiere that work.)

What we know as Beethoven’s Second Piano Concerto is actually his first (not counting half a concerto written when he was just 13). The reverse numbering of Nos. 2 and 1 came about at the time of their publication, in 1801. Normal practice of the day numbered pieces in the order of publication. No one, in fact, really thought much about chronology in those days — or what it might later tell us about artistic growth and change. All that said, the origins of both concertos (Nos. 1 and 2) are somewhat tangled together, and intertwined by revisions or whole reworkings that Beethoven made in the mid-1790s.

Modern chemical analysis of the manuscripts, examined in the latter half of the 20th century, has helped sort some, but not all, of the timeline for Concerto No. 2.

Beethoven created it initially in 1788 or 1789, but left it unfinished (maybe) and unperformed (probably). He dusted it off and revised some portions during the year he studied with Haydn, in 1793-94, including a completely new third movement, which he subsequently revised three years later. It was most likely first performed, with the composer at the keyboard, in March 1795. Revised in 1798, it was finally published in 1801.

Concerto No. 2 remains an excellent vehicle for an accomplished soloist and orchestra. The pianist is called upon to show virtuosic skill and emotional nuance. If the back-and-forth statements between soloist and the orchestral ensemble sound more like Haydn and Mozart than Beethoven’s own later masterpieces, that should be expected. And, for a young man, Beethoven is extraordinarily artful in working within that older style — and even daring a moment or three beyond the expectations of audiences of his day. The beautiful slow movement bridges between outer movements of more agitation and sparkle. The concerto’s finale brings us home with fun and musical intrigue, smiling at the composer’s clear abilities — and those of all the musicians onstage, too!

Performance Time: about 30 minutes

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About the Music

Remembering Gatsby: Foxtrot for Orchestra

by John Harbison (b. 1938)

The American composer John Harbison is a musician of many styles. For him, the message in a piece of music is always more important than the medium.

Through studies and schooling, he became intimately well-versed in and adept with multiple kinds of music — and has utilized aspects of all of them in his long and eclectic list of mature works. His skills as a pianist range from jazz to classical. Like a chef able to prepare meals in many cuisines, he offers much to differing audiences.

His pieces sound differently on purpose, each built with extreme care and talent.

Interestingly, his Remembering Gatsby: Foxtrot for Orchestra is one of two such “foxtrots” written in 1985, by two different composers. Each had its origin in sketches for an opera project. John Adams’s The Chairman Dances: Foxtrot for Orchestra is the other. Adams was in the early stages of his work when he fashioned his foxtrot, and the opera itself, Nixon in China, premiered onstage in 1987.

Harbison, on a different trajectory, had mostly given up on ever “finding” his opera amidst his many thoughts and sketches, and wrote his foxtrot as, he thought, some kind of closure. Distraction with other works later gave him renewed vision, however, and his opera The Great Gatsby came about and was premiered by the Metropolitan Opera in 1999. Both works were based on legends of the 20th century, one from the reality of modern world politics, the other from the literary world of the Jazz Age and the Roaring Twenties.

At the time of the premiere of Remembering Gatsby in 1986, Harbison wrote about his foxtrot: “For some years I made sketches for an opera on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby. . . . Eventually I brought a few of these sketches together in an orchestral foxtrot. The piece, which runs about eight minutes, begins with a cantabile passage for full orchestra, a representation of Gatsby’s vision of the green light on Daisy’s dock. Then the foxtrot itself begins, first with a kind of call to order, then a 1920s tune I had written for one of the opera’s party scenes, led by a concertino led by soprano saxophone. . . . A brief coda combines some of the motifs and refers fleetingly to the telephone bell and the automobile horns, instruments of Gatsby’s fate. My father, who would later become an historian, was a young showtune composer in the 1920s, and this piece may . . . have been a chance to for me to see him in his tuxedo again.”

Performance Time: just under 10 minutes

About the Music

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Suite from Billy the Kid

by Aaron Copland (1900-1990)

Aaron Copland showed many sides as a composer. The richly tonal, wholesome Americana idiom of his great ballet scores and symphonic works — what most of us think of as the quintessential Copland style — was a voice developed in his thirties, after returning to the United States from studies in Europe. There he had taken in and learned the dashing rhythms and complex meters of modern composers such as Igor Stravinsky. But his angular youthful creations slowly gave way to a more lucid style of music, focused on clearer harmonies and elongated phrasings, often with beautiful melodic underpinnings. His understanding (and enjoyment) of strong rhythms did not fade, however, but merely found its rightful place as contrast and argument within his much-admired later scores.

Copland’s ballet score Billy the Kid was written at the invitation of impresario Lincoln Kirstein. His request for a “cowboy ballet” was an avant-garde idea at the time, in a decade — the 1930s — filled with great experimentation across all the arts (and economic struggles around the world). “When I suggested to him that, as a composer born in Brooklyn, I knew nothing about the Wild West,” Copland later recalled, “Lincoln informed me that the scenario for Billy the Kid was based on the real life story of William Bonney, a notorious cowboy who had been born in New York. Lincoln was persuasive, and it did not take long to convince me that if I could work with Mexican tunes in El Salón México, I might try homegrown ones for a ballet.”

In addition to the storyline, Kirstein also handed Copland two collections of cowboy songs. From these, he lifted a series of tunes to infuse his score with authenticity and proper folk-rhythmic style. The finished ballet opened in Chicago in October 1938, quickly garnering praise for its vigor and vitality — and for the clear “American” qualities of its score.

The full ballet runs just over 30 minutes. The composer later fashioned a suite of 20 minutes, which retains most of the central elements from the overall storyline, shortened without losing the best musical grit, grime, and glory. The action follows directly in line with the movement titles, introducing the setting on the prairie, then Billy himself, his exploits of card games and gun battles, and, ultimately, Billy’s death, followed by a strong sense in the music of how the legend of Billy the Kid the gunfighter grew and continues to shine bright.

Performance Time: about 20 minutes —program notes by Eric Sellen © 2016

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About the Music

T H E M U SI C AL ARTS ASSOCIATION

as of September 2016

operating The Cleveland Orchestra, Severance Hall, and Blossom Music Festival

O F F I C ER S A ND EXEC UT I VE C O MMIT T EE Dennis W. LaBarre, President Richard J. Bogomolny, Chairman The Honorable John D. Ong, Vice President

Norma Lerner, Honorary Chair Hewitt B. Shaw, Secretary Beth E. Mooney, Treasurer

Jeanette Grasselli Brown Matthew V. Crawford Alexander M. Cutler David J. Hooker Michael J. Horvitz

Douglas A. Kern Virginia M. Lindseth Alex Machaskee Nancy W. McCann John C. Morley

Larry Pollock Alfred M. Rankin, Jr. Audrey Gilbert Ratner Barbara S. Robinson

R E S I D ENT TR U S TEES George N. Aronoff Dr. Ronald H. Bell Richard J. Bogomolny Charles P. Bolton Yuval Brisker Jeanette Grasselli Brown Helen Rankin Butler Irad Carmi Paul G. Clark Robert D. Conrad Matthew V. Crawford Alexander M. Cutler Hiroyuki Fujita Paul G. Greig Robert K. Gudbranson Iris Harvie Jeffrey A. Healy Stephen H. Hoffman David J. Hooker Michael J. Horvitz Marguerite B. Humphrey David P. Hunt Betsy Juliano

Jean C. Kalberer Nancy F. Keithley Christopher M. Kelly Douglas A. Kern John D. Koch S. Lee Kohrman Dennis W. LaBarre Norma Lerner Virginia M. Lindseth Alex Machaskee Milton S. Maltz Nancy W. McCann Thomas F. McKee Loretta J. Mester Beth E. Mooney John C. Morley Donald W. Morrison Meg Fulton Mueller Katherine T. O’Neill The Honorable John D. Ong Rich Paul Larry Pollock Alfred M. Rankin, Jr.

Clara T. Rankin Audrey Gilbert Ratner Charles A. Ratner Zoya Reyzis Barbara S. Robinson Paul Rose Steven M. Ross Raymond T. Sawyer Luci Schey Hewitt B. Shaw Richard K. Smucker James C. Spira R. Thomas Stanton Joseph F. Toot, Jr. Daniel P. Walsh Thomas A. Waltermire Geraldine B. Warner Jeffery J. Weaver Meredith Smith Weil Jeffrey M. Weiss Norman E. Wells Paul E. Westlake Jr. David A. Wolfort

N O N- R ES I D ENT TR US T EE S Virginia Nord Barbato (NY) Wolfgang C. Berndt (Austria)

Laurel Blossom (SC) Richard C. Gridley (SC)

Loren W. Hershey (DC) Herbert Kloiber (Germany)

T R U S TEES EX- O F F IC IO Faye A. Heston, President, Volunteer Council of The Cleveland Orchestra Dr. Patricia Moore Smith, President, Women’s Committee of The Cleveland Orchestra Elisabeth Hugh, President, Blossom Friends of The Cleveland Orchestra T R U S TEES EM E R I TI Charlotte R. Kramer Gary A. Oatey

PA S T PR ES I D ENT S D. Z. Norton 1915-21 John L. Severance 1921-36 Dudley S. Blossom 1936-38 Thomas L. Sidlo 1939-53

Carolyn Dessin, Chair, Cleveland Orchestra Chorus Operating Committee Beverly J. Warren, President, Kent State University Barbara R. Snyder, President, Case Western Reserve University

H O N O RARY T RUS T EES FOR LIFE Robert P. Madison Gay Cull Addicott Robert F. Meyerson Allen H. Ford James S. Reid, Jr. Robert W. Gillespie Dorothy Humel Hovorka Percy W. Brown 1953-55 Frank E. Taplin, Jr. 1955-57 Frank E. Joseph 1957-68 Alfred M. Rankin 1968-83

Ward Smith 1983-95 Richard J. Bogomolny 1995-2002, 2008-09 James D. Ireland III 2002-08

THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA Franz Welser-Möst, Music Director

André Gremillet, Executive Director

Board of Trustees

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11001 Euclid Avenue Cleveland, Ohio 44106

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CLEVELANDORCHESTRA.COM

the world’s most beautiful concert halls, Severance Hall has been home to The Cleveland Orchestra since its opening on February 5, 1931. After that first concert, a Cleveland newspaper editorial stated: “We believe that Mr. Severance intended to build a temple to music, and not a temple to wealth; and we believe it is his intention that all music lovers should be welcome there.” John Long Severance (president of the Musical Arts Association, 1921-1936) and his wife, Elisabeth, donated most of the funds necessary to erect this magnificent building. Designed by Walker & Weeks, its elegant HAILED AS ONE OF

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Georgian exterior was constructed to harmonize with the classical architecture of other prominent buildings in the University Circle area. The interior of the building reflects a combination of design styles, including Art Deco, Egyptian Revival, Classicism, and Modernism.

An extensive renovation, restoration, and expansion of the facility was completed in January 2000. In addition to serving as the home of The Cleveland Orchestra for concerts and rehearsals, the building is rented by a wide variety of local organizations and private citizens for performances, meetings, and special events each year.

Severance Hall

Special Thanks ...

Grateful thanks are extended to:

Executive Chef Douglas Katz Fire Food & Drink Aable Rents Brand Bake Shop Cleveland Music Group Consolidated Solutions DC Rental EventSource HeatherLily L’Nique Luna Bakery Marigold Catering Nanette Bedway Studio NOW Valet Oliver Printing Co. Reynard Pope Calligraphy Vincent Lighting Cleveland Orchestra photography by Roger Mastroianni.

And with special thanks to the musicians of The Cleveland Orchestra, who are donating their services for this Gala Evening concert.

LATE SEATING As a courtesy to the audience members and musicians in the hall, late-arriving patrons are asked to wait quietly until the first convenient break in the program, when ushers will help you to your seats.

These seating breaks are at the discretion of the House Manager in consultation with the conductor and performing artists.

PHOTOGRAPHY AND RECORDING For the safety of and as a cour­tesy to guests and performers, photography and videography are strictly prohibited during concerts at Severance Hall.

CELLPHONES AND WATCH ALARMS Cellphones and watch alarms should be turned off before the start of the concert.

IN THE EVENT OF AN EMERGENCY Contact an usher or a member of house staff if you require medical assistance.

Emergency exits are clearly marked throughout the building. Ushers and house staff will provide instructions in the event of an emergency.

THE

CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA FRANZ WELSER-MÖST

Severance Hall 11001 Euclid Avenue Cleveland, Ohio clevelandorchestra.com