The Cleveland Orchestra April 11-13 Concerts

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Elgar’s Cello Concerto APRIL 11 – 13, 2024

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2023/2024 SEASON J A C K , J O S E P H A N D M O RTO N M A N D E L C O N C E RT H A L L AT S E V E R A N C E M U S I C C E N T E R

Elgar’s Cello Concerto Thursday, April 11, 2024, at 7:30 PM Friday, April 12, 2024, at 11 AM Saturday, April 13, 2024, at 8 PM

Klaus Mäkelä, conductor Jimmy López Bellido (b. 1978) Edward Elgar (1857–1934)

William Walton (1902–1983)

COVER: PHOTO BY MARCO BORGGREVE

* William Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast does not appear on Friday’s program, which will be performed without intermission.

Sol Gabetta’s performance is generously sponsored by Mrs. Rebecca F. Dunn.

Thursday’s performance is dedicated to Tony and Diane Wynshaw-Boris in recognition of their generous support of music.

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Perú negro

15 minutes

Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85

30 minutes

I. Adagio — Moderato — II. Lento — Allegro molto III. Adagio — IV. Allegro — Moderato — Allegro, ma non troppo — Poco più lento — Adagio Sol Gabetta, cello I N TERMIS SI ON

20 minutes

Belshazzar’s Feast *

35 minutes

Thus spake Isaiah — By the waters of Babylon — Babylon was a great city — In Babylon Belshazzar the King — Praise ye the God of Gold — Thus in Babylon, the mighty city — And in that same hour — Then sing aloud to God our strength — The trumpeters and pipers — Then sing aloud to God our strength Thomas Hampson, baritone The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus Total approximate running time: 1 hour 40 minutes

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DETAIL FROM BELSHAZZAR’S FEAST (1826) BY JOHN MARTIN / COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART

I N TRO DUC TI O N

EDWARD ELGAR AND WILLIAM WALTON MET ONLY ONCE — in the gentlemen’s restroom during a 1929 concert where, according to Walton, they exchanged nothing more than “gruff pleasantries.” Perhaps such a chilly reception between two of England’s most prominent composers was inevitable, given their lives and music are a study in contrasts.

Elgar was the last of the Edwardian romantics, a provincial composer who didn’t achieve fame until age 42 with his tender-hearted Enigma Variations, while Walton was hailed an enfant terrible at just 21 following the scandalous premiere of his jazz-fueled Façade. On the continuum of English music, the pair represent a major changing of the guard — from impassioned romanticism to riotous modernism — as displayed in their works featured on this weekend’s concerts.

Written in 1918–19 as the final embers of World War I turned to ash, Elgar’s Cello Concerto showcases the composer’s lean, reflective late style, amplified by a monochromatic orchestral palette and a strong vein of melancholy. A far cry from the nostalgia of Elgar’s concerto, Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast, completed in 1931, is set ablaze with cinematic colors, its titanic orchestra and choir evoking the Biblical tale of the doomed Babylonian King with music veering between blistering sorrow and unbridled celebration.

The luminous orchestral details and rhythmic frenzy of Walton’s grand oratorio find contemporary counterparts in Jimmy López Bellido’s Perú negro, a work championed by returning guest conductor Klaus Mäkelä. Inspired by Afro-Peruvian music, Perú negro employs six traditional folk songs as the launching point for a kaleidoscopic journey that, according to López, doesn’t aim to reproduce Peruvian folklore, but instead creates “an invented folklore of sorts, which bears the seal of my musical language.” — Michael Cirigliano II

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TH E MUSI C

Perú negro

by Jimmy López Bellido BORN : October 21, 1978, in Lima, Peru

▶ COMPOSED: 2012 ▶ WORLD PREMIERE: May 17, 2013, with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra conducted by Miguel Harth-Bedoya ▶ This weekend’s performances mark the first presentations of Jimmy López Bellido’s Perú negro by The Cleveland Orchestra. ▶ ORCHESTRATION: 3 flutes (2nd and 3rd doubling piccolo), 3 oboes (3rd doubling English horn), 3 clarinets (3rd doubling bass clarinet), 3 bassoons (3rd doubling contrabassoon), 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion (cajóns, cowbells, ratchet, suspended cymbal, tam-tam, toms, cabasa, jawbone, mark tree, vibraslap, bass drum, temple blocks, thunder sheet, triangles), harp, and strings ▶ DURATION: about 15 minutes

JIMMY LÓPEZ BELLIDO has an origin many

of us no doubt can relate to: the reluctant young piano student. Then, at age 11, he had a momentous encounter with the music of J.S. Bach. “His Two-Part Invention No. 13 struck me like lightning!” the Lima, Peru-born composer said in a 2023 interview for the Birdsong podcast.

“Through him, I discovered the world of classical music, which elicited something in me akin to religious ecstasy,” López recalled. “I have strived to produce that same kind of response [in] my listeners ever since.”

With considerable success, one hastens to add. While his best-known work is likely Bel Canto, his 2015 opera based on the Ann Patchett 6 | 2023/2024 SEASON

novel, López’s intelligently designed, viscerally thrilling orchestral works have secured his global stature. And among his burgeoning canon of symphonic music, Perú negro has emerged as a breakout success.

Composed in 2012, the 15-minute piece was commissioned by López’s countryman and comrade, conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya, for the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra’s centennial season. López embedded the initials of the conductor’s full name into the opening horn motto: “E, B, B flat, and G, which correspond to Miguel (Mi = E) Harth (H = B natural) Bedoya (B = B flat) Gonzáles (G),” he wrote in a detailed composer’s note.

PHOTO COURTESY OF JIMMY LÓPEZ BELLIDO / © ASHKAN IMAGE

Composer Jimmy López Bellido paid homage to his homeland in Perú negro, which contains references six traditional Peruvian songs.

Describing Perú negro in a video posted on TikTok ahead of its 2023 UK premiere, López explained that the work has roots in a dark chapter of his homeland’s history. “This piece pays homage to Afro-Peruvian music, which actually has its origins when people from Africa were taken as slaves to Peru by the Spaniards,” he said.

“They did not have much to make music with, so they took whatever objects they found, like a cajón, which is basically a box, or the jawbone” — the latter literally a bone rattle made from a mule’s jaw. Using those modest implements, he explained, “they were able to create this music that speaks of their trials and tribulations.” But those songs also celebrated life, with joyous, infectious dance music rich in rhythmic Strings come to the fore in the variety and drive.

Weaving elements from six traditional swirling, animated “Ingá,” picking up force and urgency en route to the songs into a sequence that grows driven “Le dije a papá” with its brilliant inexorably more vivacious and powerful, percussion interludes and increasingly López fashioned a work he likens to an Afro-Peruvian take on Ravel’s 1920 orche- wild flourishes. After a dramatic break, “Pregón II,” an altered version of the stral work La valse — “it’s a progression introduction, clears the way for a that intensifies with every single number,” he said in the video. “Pregón I,” callback to “Toro Mata” and, finally, “Son de los Diablos,” a fast-paced finale the opening section, echoes the calls that builds once again from a murmur of Peruvian vendors plying their trade to a roar. in the streets of Lima. The second part, — Steve Smith “Toro Mata,” adapts a traditional ballad that opens with the same E and B heard Steve Smith is a journalist, critic, and editor based in New York City. He has written about music for The New York at the work’s start: an ascending perfect Times and The New Yorker, and served as an editor for the fifth established as a structural device.

Boston Globe, Time Out New York, and NPR. clevelandorchestra.com

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THE MUS I C

Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85

by Edward Elgar BORN : June 2, 1857, in Broadheath, England DIED: February 23, 1934, in Worcester, England

▶ COMPOSED: 1918–19 ▶ WORLD PREMIERE: October 26, 1919, featuring cellist Felix Salmond and the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by the composer ▶ CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA PREMIERE: February 24, 1967, with soloist Jacqueline du Pré and conductor Louis Lane ▶ ORCHESTRATION: 2 flutes (2nd doubling piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, and strings ▶ DURATION: about 30 minutes

ONLY FOR 20 of his 76 years did Edward Elgar enjoy the simultaneous benefits of fame and creative abundance.

He achieved that fame at age 42 with the premiere of his immensely popular Enigma Variations. The work that closed this two-decade period of high creativity was the Cello Concerto, completed in summer 1919. A year later, with the death of his beloved wife, Alice, Elgar withdrew more and more from public life and wrote no more masterpieces.

Elgar did not match the English people’s notion of a typical composer — expected in those days to be urbane, an aesthete, someone who clearly recognized and understood the beauty of art and could expound about it in the manner of Oscar Wilde. Elgar was largely self-taught and grew up far

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from the cultural hub of London. Until the success of Enigma Variations, he was regarded as a provincial composer, which indeed he was, composing mostly for regional festivals that flourished across the countryside in late Victorian England. Then the great works appeared in steady succession — The Dream of Gerontius, Sea Pictures, the Pomp and Circumstance marches, the First Symphony, the Violin Concerto, the list goes on.

In 1917, Elgars moved to Brinkwells, a house in Sussex, which brought him respite from the constant anxieties of World War I and is readily associated with the leaner, more reflective musical style encompassed by the Cello Concerto. A letter written at this time describes his routine:

PHOTO BY HERBERT LAMBERT / COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

“I rise about 7 work till 8:15 — then dress, breakfast — pipe (I smoke again all day!) work till 12:30 lunch (pipe) — rest an hour — work till tea (pipe) — then work till 7:30 — change, dinner at 8. Bed at 10 — every day practically goes thus … We go for lovely walks … the woods are full of flowers, wonderful …”

On September 26, 1918, with the war still raging, Alice Elgar’s diary recorded “wonderful new music, real wood sounds & other lament [which should] be in a war symphony.” But this was to be a concerto, not a symphony, and as it neared completion the following summer, Elgar described it as “a real large work & I think good & alive.” clevelandorchestra.com

By the time this photograph was taken in 1931, Edward Elgar had achieved notoriety for numerous compositions, including his Cello Concerto.

The Cello Concerto was completed in July 1919 and premiered on October 26 in the Queen’s Hall, London, with Felix Salmond as the soloist and Elgar conducting the London Symphony Orchestra. (In the cello section of the orchestra was future conductor John Barbirolli, then age 19, who would conduct a historic recording of the work with Jacqueline du Pré.) That first night was marred by too little rehearsal time.

Music critic Ernest Newman reported that the orchestra “made a lamentable | 9

THE MUS I C

public exhibition of itself.” The work later came to be recognized as one of the supreme concertos for cello.

A sentiment of resignation and even of despair in the Cello Concerto may be generated both internally by a strong vein of melancholy that is an inescapable element of Elgar’s music and externally by the desolating impact of the Great War. But the work is not an elegy, nor even, so far as we can tell, a deliberately planned swan song. It is reflective, playful, tearful, and energetic by turns, like all Elgar’s best music.

[The] work is not an elegy. ... It is reflective, playful, tearful, and energetic by turns, like all Elgar’s best music.

Unlike a traditional concerto, this one has four movements, not three. The movements are all concise, and the two central movements, a scherzo and a slow movement, offer a complete contrast in momentum and temper. The declamatory opening of the work recurs, though truncated, at the beginning of the scherzo and in full, with marvelously valedictory effect, in the finale. After a dramatic entrance for the soloist, the first movement’s gentle lilt is far removed from any pomp or circumstance. Over the meandering first theme Elgar wrote 10 | 2023/2024 SEASON

in his sketchbook: “very full, sweet and sonorous,” and although the whole orchestra tries to give it breadth, it ends as it began, bleak and bare.

The scherzo second movement that follows is in 4/4 time with bustling sixteenth notes reminiscent of Elgar’s Introduction and Allegro for strings of many years earlier. There is a brief expressive phrase offered here and there in contrast, but lightness prevails.

For the work’s third, slow movement, Elgar indulges unashamedly in the yearning phrases and sliding harmony that breathe nostalgia and tranquility.

This is not a lament but a private world of sweetness so direct and complete that it requires no development or expansion. For all its heartrending beauty, the movement is short, and its halfclose leads directly into the finale fourth movement.

Here, after another declamatory start, the music settles into a sturdy rhythm that proceeds in a businesslike and oddly impersonal fashion right through to the closing pages. Then, as if yielding to some fatal destiny, Elgar adds an epilogue in slow tempo as passionate as anything he ever wrote. There is asperity too, in the harmony, and the music slides inevitably into a brief memory of the slow movement, followed by the work’s opening statement and a brief energetic (and surely ironic in intention) close.

—Hugh Macdonald Hugh Macdonald is Avis H. Blewett Professor Emeritus of Music at Washington University in St. Louis. He has written books on Beethoven, Berlioz, Bizet, and Scriabin, as well as Music in 1853: The Biography of a Year.

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THE MUS I C

Belshazzar’s Feast

by William Walton BORN : March 29, 1902, in Oldham, England DIED: March 8, 1983, in Ischia, Italy

▶ COMPOSED: 1930–31 the London Symphony Orchestra, the Leeds Festival Chorus, and Malcolm Sargent conducting ▶ CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA PREMIERE: December 14, 1961, conducted by Robert Shaw and featuring baritone Ara Berberian and The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus ▶ ORCHESTRATION: 2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, 3 clarinets, alto saxophone, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion (xylophone, glockenspiel, triangle, castanets, tambourine, gong, field drum, tenor drum, woodblock, cymbals, bass drum, whip, anvil), 2 harps, piano, organ, and strings, plus 2 brass bands, baritone, and chorus ▶ DURATION: about 35 minutes

See page 16 for the sung texts.

WHEN THE BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION (BBC) commissioned a

new choral work from William Walton in 1929, the programmer provided specific parameters to accommodate the intimacy of the BBC studios. The composition was to employ a small choir, one vocal soloist, and no more than 15 orchestral musicians — modest guidelines the young English composer obliterated in epic fashion.

The completed score Walton submitted for Belshazzar’s Feast revealed a sprawling oratorio for baritone soloist, double choir, and a massive orchestra requiring two brass bands, a convoy 12 | 2023/2024 SEASON

of colorful percussion, military band instruments such as alto saxophone, and both piano and organ. The new work proved so expansive that its 1931 premiere was transferred to the Leeds Festival, where the London Symphony Orchestra and the festival’s large amateur choir filled the vast environs of the 1,500-seat Leeds Town Hall.

Delivering an unconventional work that ignored established guidelines was the latest display of cheek from the precocious Walton, who by the time Alongside Benjamin Britten, William Walton was part of a generation of British composers who solidified their country’s place on the musical map in the 20th century.

1069167_Cleveland Orchestra_Week 19_single_sw

▶ WORLD PREMIERE: October 8, 1931, in Leeds, with baritone Dennis Noble,

PHOTO COURTESY OF PICTORIAL PRESS LTD/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

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THE MUS I C

of the BBC commission had been considered the enfant terrible of English music in the decade following World War I. He achieved notoriety in 1923 for his cabaret-style collaboration with the writer Edith Sitwell, Façade: An Entertainment, and his 1929 Viola Concerto, which displayed Walton’s avant-garde approach to working with classical forms.

Not yet 30, Walton now had the chance to make his mark on the English choral tradition — one he knew well from his chorister days as a teenager

holy golden vessels plundered from the First Temple in Jerusalem to praise his pagan gods. As 1,000 guests drink from these sacred cups, a mysterious hand writes a message on the palace wall foretelling doom for the king.

Belshazzar, refusing to repent for his actions, is killed that night, and the enslaved Israelites celebrate their newfound freedom.

Composing a work of this vast scale and musical complexity — one teeming with constant meter changes, dissonant

[In Belshazzar’s Feast], Walton walked a path inspired by his two primary influences: the kaleidoscopic orchestral writing of Stravinsky, Debussy, and Ravel — and the driving, jagged pulse of jazz. at Oxford’s Christ Church Cathedral School, where he sang the oratorios of Handel, J.S. Bach, and Mendelssohn.

But the composer’s first major choral work didn’t use any of those revered works as a blueprint. Instead, Walton walked a path inspired by his two primary influences: the kaleidoscopic orchestral writing of Stravinsky, Debussy, and Ravel — and the driving, jagged pulse of jazz.

For the oratorio’s text, Walton used a libretto Edith Sitwell’s brother Osbert had assembled for the occasion — a collection of passages drawn from the Old Testament depicting a lavish feast of the Babylonian King Belshazzar, who blasphemes during the event by using 14 | 2023/2024 SEASON

harmonies, and shocking syncopations — was a monumental undertaking for Walton, whose perfectionism often got in the way of his becoming a more prolific composer. (When sketching the section in which the king and his subjects extol their gods, Walton spent seven months frozen in place, obsessing over how to set the word “gold.”)

Adding to these challenges was the fact that Belshazzar’s Feast forced Walton to break new ground in his vocal writing.

Although he had previously set to music Edith Sitwell’s abstract poetry in Façade, those words were recited through a megaphone from behind a decorative screen, a performance technique more akin to the radical theater of Bertolt

their pagan gods, each one evoked in a Brecht than the sacred reverence of dazzling feat of Walton’s orchestration: Bach’s passions.

Despite needing to apply a more tradi- The metallic twinkling of glockenspiel, flutes, and piccolo praise the God of tional approach to text setting, Walton Silver; anvil strikes pay tribute to the engineers an innovative architecture for God of Iron; and in honor of the God his oratorio. Rather than advancing the of Brass, the brass bands volley a series storytelling through a series of distinct of pompous military fanfares. The movements alternating among solo cataclysm of sound intensifies througharias, orchestral interludes, and large out the roll call of praise, reaching its choral numbers, as composers of peak as the chorus erupts over ominous earlier centuries had done, Walton casts chords from brass and organ: “O King, Belshazzar’s Feast in three major sections live forever!” united as one continuous movement Then — silence. Against a spineof sweeping music that offers a cinemattingling assortment of hushed cymbal ic realization of the Biblical scene. strokes, trembling strings, and the death A blast of trombones establishes the rattle of castanets, the baritone recounts opening’s mournful mood, as a chorus the surreal sight of a floating hand of exiled Israelites lament their impriswriting on the palace wall behind the onment and loss of their homeland. king. “Mene, mene, tekel upharsin” A shadowy theme emerges in the depths (Thou art weighed in the balance and of the orchestra and icy dissonances found wanting), the message reveals abound as the choir sings of their weeping by the shores of Babylon, asking before the soloist announces Belshazzar’s death, punctuated by a thunderclap “How shall we sing the Lord’s song in from the chorus with the shouted word a strange land?” The solo baritone enters, and in declamatory style portrays “Slain!” Babylon has fallen, and the Israelites celebrate freedom in a final the decadence of Babylon through the chorale of unquenchable joy. The music “merchandise” in which the city trades — races forward with relentless fervor from precious stones and marble to fine into a series of high-voltage climaxes linens, gold, and most chillingly, “the as the choir invites one and all to “Make souls of men.” a joyful noise to the God of Jacob …

Spiky, angular themes begin darting Alleluia!” across the orchestra like lightning — Michael Cirigliano II bolts as Walton plunges us directly into Belshazzar’s bacchanal. The choir Michael Cirigliano II is a freelance writer who has worked with The Cleveland Orchestra, Oregon Symphony, Los recounts the opulent celebration, during Angeles Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, Lincoln Center, which the king calls for the golden and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. His newsletter, Shades of Blue, explores the human stories behind classical vessels of Jerusalem so that his princes, music’s most melancholy moments as a means to cultivate wives, and concubines can celebrate calm, connection, and healing. clevelandorchestra.com

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TH E S U NG TE XT

Belshazzar’s Feast

by William Walton Words selected from Biblical sources by Osbert Sitwell and reprinted by permission of Oxford University Press CHORUS

CHORUS

Thus spake Isaiah: Thy sons that thou shalt beget, they shall be taken away and be eunuchs in the palace of the King of Babylon.

Howl ye, howl ye, therefore: For the day of the Lord is at hand!

By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down: yea, we wept.

By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down: yea, we wept and hanged our harps upon the willows.

For they that wasted us required of us mirth; they that carried us away captive required of us a song.

“Sing us one of the songs of Zion.”

How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?

BARITONE AND CHORUS

If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.

If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; yea, if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.

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O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed, happy shall he be that taketh thy children and dasheth them against a stone.

For with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.

BARITONE

Babylon was a great city, her merchandise was of gold and silver, of precious stones, of pearls, of fine linen, of purple, silk and scarlet, all manner vessels of ivory, all manner vessels of most precious wood, of brass, iron and marble, cinnamon, odors and ointments, of frankincense, wine and oil, fine flour, wheat and beasts, sheep, horses, chariots, slaves, and the souls of men.

CHORUS

BARITONE AND CHORUS

In Babylon Belshazzar the King made a great feast, made a feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand.

“Praise ye the God of Gold.

Praise ye the God of Silver.

Praise ye the God of Iron.

Praise ye the God of Wood.

Praise ye the God of Stone.

Praise ye the God of Brass.

Praise ye the Gods!”

Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded us to bring the gold and silver vessels: Yea! the golden vessels, which his father, Nebuchadnezzar, had taken out of the temple that was in Jerusalem.

He commanded us to bring the golden vessels of the temple of the house of God, that the King, his Princes, his wives, and his concubines might drink therein.

Then the King commanded us: “Bring ye the cornet, flute, sackbut, psaltery, and all kinds of music.”

They drank wine again, Yea! drank from the sacred vessels.

And then spake the King:

CHORUS

Thus in Babylon, the mighty city, Belshazzar the King made a great feast, made a feast to a thousand of his lords and drank wine before the thousand.

Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded us to bring the gold and silver vessels that his Princes, his wives and his concubines might rejoice and drink therein.

After they had praised their strange gods, the idols and devils, false gods who can neither see nor hear, called they for the timbrel and the pleasant harp to extol the glory of the King.

Then they pledged the King before the people, crying, “Thou, O King, art King of Kings: O King, live forever.”

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

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THE SU NG TE X T CONTINUED

▶▶▶

BARITONE

CHORUS

And in that same hour, as they feasted, came forth fingers of a man’s hand and the King saw the part of the hand that wrote.

Then sing aloud to God our strength: Make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob.

Take a psalm, bring hither the timbrel.

Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, blow up the trumpet in Zion, for Babylon the Great is fallen.

Alleluia!

And this was the writing that was written: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. CHORUS

THOU ART WEIGHED IN THE BALANCE AND FOUND WANTING. BARITONE

In that night was Belshazzar the King slain, CHORUS

Slain!

BARITONE

Then sing aloud to God our strength: Make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob, while the Kings of the Earth lament and the merchants of the Earth weep, wail and rend their raiment.

They cry, “Alas, Alas, that great city, in one hour is her judgment come.”

The trumpeters and pipers are silent, and the harpers have ceased to harp, and the light of a candle shall shine no more.

and his kingdom divided.

Then sing aloud to God our strength: Make a joyful noise to the God of Jacob.

For Babylon the Great is fallen.

Alleluia!

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Klaus Mäkelä Klaus Mäkelä has held the position of chief conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic since 2020 and music director of the Orchestre de Paris since 2021. As artistic partner to the Concertgebouworkest since 2022, he will assume the title of chief conductor in 2027. An exclusive Decca Classics artist, he recorded the Sibelius symphonies with the Oslo Philharmonic and Stravinsky’s The Firebird and The Rite of Spring with the Orchestre de Paris.

Following residencies with the Oslo Philharmonic at the Edinburgh and Lucerne festivals, Mäkelä opened his fourth season as chief conductor with Thomas Larcher’s Symphony No. 2 and Mahler’s Symphony No. 4. The 2023–24 season includes 17 concerts at home in Norway, a three-week tour of Asia, and guest performances in Hamburg, Amsterdam, Paris, and Vienna.

With the Orchestre de Paris, Mäkelä performed Stravinsky’s Ballet Russes at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence in collaboration with three filmmakers and recorded Stravinsky’s Petrushka and works by Debussy for Decca Classics. Additional highlights include world premieres by Unsuk Chin and Anna Thorvaldsdottir and appearances by several pianists including Bertrand Chamayou, Leif Ove Andsnes, and Daniil Trifonov.

Mäkelä often compares programming concerts to curating exhibitions. He takes this literally with one of the programs he leads in his second season as artistic clevelandorchestra.com

partner to the Concertgebouworkest, pairing Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition with Falla’s Nights in the Gardens of Spain and Hawar Tawfiq’s M.C. Escher’s Imagination. Additional programs pair Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto with works by Betsy Jolas and Thomas Larcher, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 with music by Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn. Mäkelä also leads the orchestra in Bruckner’s Symphony No. 5 as part of a complete cycle celebrating the 200th anniversary of the composer’s birth.

Mäkelä guest conducts three orchestras in the 2023–24 season, returning to the US to lead The Cleveland Orchestra and Chicago Symphony Orchestra and to Germany for three performances with the Munich Philharmonic.

As a cellist, Mäkelä partners with members of the Oslo Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, and Concertgebouworkest for occasional programs and each summer performs at the Verbier Festival in chamber music concerts with fellow artists. | 21

Sol Gabetta

cello

Following her residencies with the Staatskapelle Dresden and Bamberg Symphony, cellist Sol Gabetta opened the 2023–24 season with a tour of Germany and Austria with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and Mikko Franck.

Other season highlights include a tour with with Paavo Järvi and the Estonian Festival Orchestra, appearances with the Wiener Philharmoniker at Mozartwoche Salzburg, and performances with The Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Gewandhausorchester, and violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja.

A respected advocate of new compositions for her instrument, Gabetta gave the world premiere at Radio France of Francisco Coll’s Cello Concerto, created especially for her. Gabetta reprises this concerto at the BBC Proms with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Elim Chan.

Gabetta was Artiste étoile at the Lucerne 22 | 2023/2024 SEASON

Festival and continues drawing inspiration from a wide circle of collaborators at the Solsberg Festival, which flourishes under her committed artistic direction.

Chamber music is at the core of Gabetta’s work. Past chamber music performances have led her to venues such as Lincoln Center, Wigmore Hall, and the Verbier and Salzburg festivals.

Recent recitals include a tour with her longtime recital partner, pianist Bertrand Chamayou, through Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, Spain, and Italy.

In recognition of her exceptional artistic achievements, Gabetta was honored with the European Culture Prize in 2022.

She also received the Herbert von Karajan Prize in 2018 and the first OPUS Klassik Award for Instrumentalist of the Year in 2019. A Grammy Award nominee, she also received Gramophone’s Young Artist of the Year Award in 2010 and commendations at Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Competition.

Gabetta continues to build her extensive discography with Sony Classical, the most recent releases being a recording of late works by Robert Schumann and cello concertos by Elgar and Martinů with the Berliner Philharmoniker.

Gabetta performs on several instruments from the early 18th century, including a cello by Matteo Goffriller from 1730, provided to her by Atelier Cels Paris, and since 2020, the famous “Bonamy Dobree-Suggia” by Antonio Stradivarius from 1717, on generous loan from the Stradivari Foundation Habisreutinger. She has taught at the Basel Music Academy since 2005.

PHOTO BY JULIA WESELY

TH E ARTISTS

Thomas Hampson

PHOTO BY MARSHALL LIGHT STUDIO

baritone

Long recognized as one of the most innovative musicians of our time, American baritone Thomas Hampson has received countless international honors for his singular artistry and cultural leadership. His operatic repertoire is comprised of more than 80 roles, and his discography includes more than 170 albums, with multiple nominations and winners of the Grammy Award, Edison Award, and the Grand Prix du Disque.

Hampson’s 2023–24 season includes Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast with The Cleveland Orchestra, Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with the Stuttgarter Philharmoniker, the New Year’s Eve Gala at the Wiener Konzerthaus, and a European tour with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Fabio Luisi. He also performs recitals in Kronberg, Krün, and Heidelberg, and returns for the sixth edition of Schubert Week at the Pierre Boulez Saal.

Last season, Hampson made his highly anticipated debut as Richard Nixon in John Adams’s Nixon in China at the Opéra national de Paris, led by Gustavo Dudamel. Hampson also starred as Creonte in a concert version of Haydn’s L’anima del filosofo, ossia Orfeo ed Euridice at the Salzburg Festival.

In addition, he appeared with the New Century Chamber Orchestra, joined Martha Argerich at the KKL Luzern, and performed with Klaus Mäkelä and clevelandorchestra.com

the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the BBC Proms.

Hampson led several masterclasses throughout the season, including the third edition of the Internationale Opernwerkstatt Waiblingen, Heidelberger Frühling’s 2023 Liedfestival, and at the second edition of Opera for Peace’s 2023 Academy in Paris.

Hampson is an honorary professor of philosophy at the University of Heidelberg and an honorary member of London’s Royal Academy of Music. In addition to several honorary doctorates, he is the Kammersänger of the Wiener Staatsoper and Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of the Republic of France. In 2017 he received the Hugo Wolf Medal, together with Wolfram Rieger. He is the co-founder and artistic director of the Lied Academy Heidelberg and, in 2003, he founded the Hampsong Foundation, which uses the art of song to promote intercultural dialog and understanding. Additionally, he serves as an advisor for Opera for Peace.

| 23

Now in its 72nd season, The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus is one of the few professionally trained, all-volunteer choruses sponsored by a major American orchestra.

Since its founding in 1952 at the request of George Szell, nearly 3,000 singers, chosen through audition, have joined the Chorus. The group has appeared in over 1,300 concerts with The Cleveland Orchestra, including 27 appearances at New York’s Carnegie Hall, along with tour performances in Miami, Puerto Rico, and across Europe. They have been heard on hundreds of radio broadcasts, appeared in at least a dozen television programs, and participated in more than 30 commercial recordings with The Cleveland Orchestra. More recently, the Chorus has created 11 Christmas albums with The Cleveland Orchestra, proceeds from which help defray the cost of touring and operating the Chorus.

Current Chorus members hail from nearly 50 Northeast Ohio communities (and one Pennsylvania community). Together, the group’s 130 members volunteer more than 30,000 hours annually in rehearsals and performances. They also raise money for their tours through a variety of projects and events. Current members have service tenures ranging from 6 months to 50 years, with a combined 1,261 years of service to the ensemble.

On March 5, 2020, The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus was awarded The Cleveland Orchestra’s Distinguished Service Award. The annual award was established in 1996 by the Orchestra’s Board of Trustees to recognize ongoing and exceptional commitment and service to the Orchestra. The Chorus was recognized first as individuals, for their extraordinary commitment and dedication as volunteers, and second, for the collective and polished artistry they achieve each season as a group.

Auditions are currently being scheduled for the 2024–25 season.

Visit cochorus.com for details.

24 | 2023/2024 SEASON

PHOTO BY ROGER MASTROIANNI

TH E CLEV EL A N D ORCHESTR A CHORUS

SERVICE RECOGNITION

Victoria Peacock

Ina Stanek-Michaelis ♦ ♦

Mark Hermann

Elizabeth Phillips

Melanie Tabak

Kurtis B. Hoffman ♦

♦ 15–24 years of service

Grace Prentice

Shawna Taylor

Taral K. Jella

♦♦ 25–34 years of service

Jylian Purtee

Rachel Thibo

Robert L. Jenkins III

Lisa M. Ramsey

Kristen Tobey

James Johnston

Cara Rovella

Martha Cochran Truby ♦

Kevin Kutz

Emma Russell

Laure Wasserbauer ♦ ♦

Jason Levy ♦

Martell Savage

Hannah Wells^

Jacob J. Liptow

Katie Schick

Caroline Willoughby

Tyler Mason

Anya Smith^

Leah Wilson

Robert Mitchell

Ellie Smith

Jennifer R. Woda

Megan Tettau

Debra Yasinow ♦ ♦

Tremaine Oatman ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ 50 years!

Angel Victoria Tyler

Lynne Leutenberg Yulish

♦♦♦ 35–44 years of service ♦♦♦♦ 45+ years of service

SOPRANOS Amy Foster Babinski ♦ Claudia Barriga Yu Ching Ruby Chen Amanda Cobes Susan Cucuzza ♦ Caitlin DiFranco Maddie Dirrim Emily Engle Molly Falasco Lisa Fedorovich Arianna Fouch Samantha Garner AJ Gauger* Jennifer Gilles Sarah Gould ♦ Julia Halamek Rebecca S. Hall ♦ Sarah Henley Lisa Hrusovsky ♦ ♦ Rachel Imhoff Amber Jackson Shannon R. Jakubczak Katie Kitchen* Hope Klassen-Kay ♦ EvaCecilia Koh Adrienne Leska Kate Macy ♦ ♦ Gracie Mino^ Clare Mitchell Julie Myers-Pruchenski S. Mikhaila Noble-Pace Jennifer Heinert O’Leary ♦ Katie Paskey

clevelandorchestra.com

Glenn Obergefell Trevor Pollack

Meagan Ulery Cassie Utt

TENORS

Francisco Prado

Liz Wakelin

Richard Hall

Brandon Randall

Sharilee Walker ♦ ♦

John-Joseph Haney*

Connor Smith^

Daniel M. Katz ♦ ♦

Charlie Smrekar

ALTOS

Peter Kvidera ♦

Charles Tobias ♦ ♦

Emily Austin ♦ ♦

Adam Landry

Matt Turell

Laurel Babcock

Ben Low^

Patrick Wickliffe

Debbie Bates

Christian L. Maric

Paul Zito^

Riley Beistel

David McCallum

Carla Cashman

Matthew Rizer ♦

Annie Cohen

Ted Rodenborn

Bridget Corcoran

Jacob Rumelfanger

Carolyn Dessin ♦ ♦

Nathan A. Russell

Amber Dimoff

John Sabol ♦

Brooke Emmel

Julio Santana

Megan Fought

Andrew Stamp

Karen S. Hunt ♦

Allen White

Sarah Hutchins

Ethan Yoder*

Maggie Keverline Rebecca King

BASSES

Kristi Krueger

Craig Astler

Zoe Kuhn

Jack Blazey ♦

Ada Lapham^

Ronnie Boscarello

Elise Leitzel

Matthew Britton

Taylor Mills Logan

Sean Michael Cahill

Danielle S. McDonald ♦

Nick Connavino

Karla McMullen

Tyler Coy

Holly Miller

Kyle Crowley

Bri Mosley^

Tom Cucuzza

Peggy A. Norman ♦ ♦

Christopher Dewald

Dawn Ostrowski

Jeffrey Duber ♦

Ellie Petro

Andrew Fowler

Andrea Pintabona

Jeffrey D. Gershman

Daniel Singer, Assistant Director Daniel Overly, Collaborative Pianist Jill Harbaugh, Director Choral Operations Lisa Fedorovich, Chair The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus Operating Committee

* Shari Bierman Singer Fellow ^ Member of The College of Wooster Chorus

| 25

THE CLE V EL AN D ORCH ESTR A CH O RUS

Lisa Wong, Director of Choruses FRANCES P. AND CHESTER C. BOLTON CHAIR

26 | 2023/2024 SEASON

PHOTO BY ROGER MASTROIANNI

Lisa Wong was appointed director of choruses for The Cleveland Orchestra in May 2018 after serving as acting director throughout the 2017–18 season.

She joined the choral staff of The Cleveland Orchestra as assistant director of choruses at the start of the 2010–11 season. In 2012, she took on added responsibilities as director of The Cleveland Orchestra Youth Chorus.

In addition to her duties at Severance, she is a faculty member at The College of Wooster. Choirs under her direction have performed at the Central Division conference of the American Choral Directors Association and the state

conference of the Ohio Music Education Association. An advocate for the music of under-represented composers, Wong serves as the Repertoire and Resource Chair for World Music and Cultures for the Ohio Choral Directors Association, as well as on the editorial board regarding culturally responsive pedagogy for the Ohio Music Education Association. Her previous academic posts include positions in public and private schools in New York, Pennsylvania, and Indiana.

Active as a clinician, guest conductor, and adjudicator, she serves as a music panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts. Recent international accolades have included work at Kenyatta University in Nairobi, Kenya, as a part of Tunaweza Kimuziki, and as a conductor for “Conducting 21C: Musical Leadership for a New Century” in Stockholm, Sweden. Wong holds a Bachelor of Science degree in music education from West Chester University, as well as Master of Music and Doctor of Music degrees in choral conducting from Indiana University.

PHOTO BY YEVHEN GULENKO/HUMAN ARTIST

AB OU T THE CLE VEL AN D ORC HESTR A NOW IN ITS SECOND CENTURY , The Cleveland Orchestra, under the leadership of Music Director Franz Welser-Möst since 2002, is one of the most sought-after performing ensembles in the world. Year after year, the ensemble exemplifies extraordinary artistic excellence, creative programming, and community engagement. The New York Times has called Cleveland “the best in America” for its virtuosity, elegance of sound, variety of color, and chamber-like musical cohesion.

Founded by Adella Prentiss Hughes, the Orchestra performed its inaugural concert in December 1918. By the middle of the century, decades of growth and sustained support had turned it into one of the most admired globally.

The past decade has seen an increasing number of young people attending concerts, bringing fresh attention to The Cleveland Orchestra’s legendary sound and committed programming. More recently, the Orchestra launched several bold digital projects, including the streaming platform Adella, the podcast On a Personal Note, and its own recording label, a new chapter in the Orchestra’s long and distinguished recording and broadcast history. Together, they have captured the Orchestra’s unique artistry and the musical achievements of the Welser-Möst and Cleveland Orchestra partnership.

The 2023–24 season marks Franz Welser-Möst’s 22nd year as music director, a period in which The Cleveland Orchestra earned unprecedented acclaim around the world, including a series of residencies at the Musikverein in Vienna, the first of its kind by an American orchestra, and a number of acclaimed opera presentations.

Since 1918, seven music directors — Nikolai Sokoloff, Artur Rodziński, Erich Leinsdorf, George Szell, Lorin Maazel, Christoph von Dohnányi, and Franz Welser-Möst — have guided and shaped the ensemble’s growth and sound. Through concerts at home and on tour, broadcasts, and a catalog of acclaimed recordings, The Cleveland Orchestra is heard today by a growing group of fans around the world.

@ClevelandOrchestra

clevelandorchestra.com

@Cleveorch

@CleveOrchestra

@clevelandorchestra

| 27

TH E CLEV EL A N D ORCHESTR A

Franz Welser-Möst, Music Director KELVIN SMITH FAMILY CHAIR FIRST VIOLINS Jung-Min Amy Lee ASSOCIATE CONCERTMASTER

Gretchen D. and Ward Smith Chair

Jessica Lee ASSISTANT CONCERTMASTER

Clara G. and George P. Bickford Chair

Stephen Tavani ASSISTANT CONCERTMASTER

Dr. Ronald H. Krasney Chair

Wei-Fang Gu Drs. Paul M. and Renate H. Duchesneau Chair Kim Gomez Elizabeth and Leslie Kondorossy Chair Chul-In Park Harriet T. and David L. Simon Chair Miho Hashizume Theodore Rautenberg Chair Jeanne Preucil Rose Larry J.B. and Barbara S. Robinson Chair Alicia Koelz Oswald and Phyllis Lerner Gilroy Chair Yu Yuan Patty and John Collinson Chair

Eli Matthews1 Patricia M. Kozerefski and Richard J. Bogomolny Chair

Ralph Curry

ENGLISH HORN

Brian Thornton William P. Blair III Chair

Sonja Braaten Molloy

David Alan Harrell

Robert Walters Samuel C. and Bernette K. Jaffe Chair

Carolyn Gadiel Warner

Martha Baldwin

Elayna Duitman

Dane Johansen

Ioana Missits

Paul Kushious

Jeffrey Zehngut Sae Shiragami

BASSES

Kathleen Collins

Maximilian Dimoff* Clarence T. Reinberger Chair

Beth Woodside Emma Shook Dr. Jeanette Grasselli Brown and Dr. Glenn R. Brown Chair Yun-Ting Lee Jiah Chung Chapdelaine Liyuan Xie

VIOLAS

Derek Zadinsky2 Charles Paul1 Mary E. and F. Joseph Callahan Chair Mark Atherton Thomas Sperl Henry Peyrebrune Charles Barr Memorial Chair

CLARINETS Afendi Yusuf* Robert Marcellus Chair Robert Woolfrey Victoire G. and Alfred M. Rankin, Jr. Chair Daniel McKelway2 Robert R. and Vilma L. Kohn Chair Amy Zoloto

E-FLAT CLARINET Daniel McKelway Stanley L. and Eloise M. Morgan Chair

Wesley Collins* Chaillé H. and Richard B. Tullis Chair

Charles Carleton

BASS CLARINET

Scott Dixon

Amy Zoloto Myrna and James Spira Chair

Stanley Konopka2

HARP

Mark Jackobs Jean Wall Bennett Chair

Trina Struble* Alice Chalifoux Chair

Lisa Boyko Richard and Nancy Sneed Chair Richard Waugh Lembi Veskimets The Morgan Sisters Chair

BASSOONS John Clouser* Louise Harkness Ingalls Chair

FLUTES

Gareth Thomas

Joshua Smith* Elizabeth M. and William C. Treuhaft Chair

Barrick Stees2 Sandra L. Haslinger Chair

Saeran St. Christopher

Jonathan Sherwin

Jessica Sindell Austin B. and Ellen W. Chinn Chair

CONTRABASSOON

Mary Kay Fink

HORNS

William Bender

PICCOLO

Gareth Zehngut

Nathaniel Silberschlag* George Szell Memorial Chair Michael Mayhew§ Knight Foundation Chair

Isabel Trautwein Trevor and Jennie Jones Chair

Eliesha Nelson Anthony and Diane Wynshaw-Boris Chair

Katherine Bormann

Joanna Patterson Zakany

Analisé Denise Kukelhan Gladys B. Goetz Chair

2

Jonathan Sherwin

Youngji Kim

CELLOS

Mary Kay Fink Anne M. and M. Roger Clapp Chair

Genevieve Smelser

Mark Kosower* Louis D. Beaumont Chair

OBOES

SECOND VIOLINS

Richard Weiss1 The GAR Foundation Chair

Frank Rosenwein* Edith S. Taplin Chair

Hans Clebsch

Charles Bernard2 Helen Weil Ross Chair

Corbin Stair Sharon and Yoash Wiener Chair

Meghan Guegold Hege

Zhan Shu

Stephen Rose* Alfred M. and Clara T. Rankin Chair Jason Yu James and Donna Reid Chair 2

Bryan Dumm Muriel and Noah Butkin Chair Tanya Ell Thomas J. and Judith Fay Gruber Chair

28 | 2023/2024 SEASON

Jeffrey Rathbun2 Everett D. and Eugenia S. McCurdy Chair Robert Walters

Jesse McCormick Robert B. Benyo Chair Richard King

TRUMPETS

BASS TROMBONE

LIBRARIANS

CONDUCTORS

Michael Sachs* Robert and Eunice Podis Weiskopf Chair

Luke Sieve

Michael Ferraguto Joe and Marlene Toot Chair

Christoph von Dohnányi

EUPHONIUM & BASS TRUMPET

Donald Miller

Daniel Reith

Gabrielle Petek

ASSISTANT CONDUCTOR

Jack Sutte Lyle Steelman James P. and Dolores D. Storer Chair

Richard Stout

Michael Miller

Yasuhito Sugiyama* Nathalie C. Spence and Nathalie S. Boswell Chair

2

CORNETS

PHOTO BY YEVHEN GULENKO/HUMAN ARTIST

Michael Sachs* Mary Elizabeth and G. Robert Klein Chair

TUBA

TIMPANI

ENDOWED CHAIRS CURRENTLY UNOCCUPIED Elizabeth Ring and William Gwinn Mather Chair Virginia M. Linsdseth, PhD, Chair

Michael Miller

PERCUSSION

Paul and Lucille Jones Chair

TROMBONES

Marc Damoulakis* Margaret Allen Ireland Chair

Richard Stout Alexander and Marianna C. McAfee Chair Shachar Israel2

clevelandorchestra.com

Thomas Sherwood Tanner Tanyeri

KEYBOARD INSTRUMENTS Carolyn Gadiel Warner Marjory and Marc L. Swartzbaugh Chair

Sidney and Doris Dworkin Chair

Lisa Wong DIRECTOR OF CHORUSES

Frances P. and Chester C. Bolton Chair

Blossom-Lee Chair

vacant

Brian Wendel* Gilbert W. and Louise I. Humphrey Chair

MUSIC DIRECTOR LAUREATE

Charles M. and Janet G. Kimball Chair

* Principal § Associate Principal 1 First Assistant Principal 2 Assistant Principal

Sunshine Chair Otto G. and Corinne T. Voss Chair Mr. and Mrs. Richard K. Smucker Chair Rudolf Serkin Chair

This roster lists full-time members of The Cleveland Orchestra. The number and seating of musicians onstage varies depending on the piece being performed. Seating within the string sections rotates on a periodic basis.

| 29

I Music Lovers: You are the magic behind every powerful performance. With this season approaching its finale, the Orchestra needs donations from friends like you to finish the year strong! Your help makes all the difference.

Be a champion for music with your donation today! clevelandorchestra.com/give 216-456-8400

TH E 2023/2024 SEAS ON

CALE N DAR

* Not performed on the Friday matinee concert

Pre-concert lectures are held in Reinberger Chamber Hall one hour prior to the performance.

SPRING APR 14 RECITAL

Schumann & Brahms

MAY 15–26 2024 MANDEL OPERA & HUMANITIES FESTIVAL

Evgeny Kissin, piano Matthias Goerne, baritone R . SCHUMANN Dichterliebe BRAHMS Four Ballades, Op. 10 BRAHMS Selected Songs

APR 18 – 20 THE RITE OF SPRING Klaus Mäkelä, conductor Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano MILHAUD Le Bœuf sur le toit GERSHWIN Concerto in F STRAVINSKY The Rite of Spring Pre-concert lecture by Caroline Oltmanns

APR 26 – 28 RACHMANINOFF’S SECOND PIANO CONCERTO David Afkham, conductor Beatrice Rana, piano UNSUK CHIN subito con forza RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No. 2 BARTÓK Concerto for Orchestra Pre-concert lecture by James O’Leary

MAY 2 – 4 LANG LANG PLAYS SAINT-SAËNS Franz Welser-Möst, conductor Lang Lang, piano *

For more information on festival events visit:

clevelandorchestra.com/festival MAY 16, 18, 24 & 26 MOZART’S MAGIC FLUTE Franz Welser-Möst, conductor Nikolaus Habjan, director Julian Prégardien, tenor Ludwig Mittelhammer, baritone Christina Landshamer, soprano The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus MOZART The Magic Flute Staged production sung in German with projected supertitles

SAINT-SAËNS Piano Concerto No. 2 * BERLIOZ Symphonie fantastique

MAY 17 CONRAD TAO IN RECITAL: POWER AND INFLUENCE

Pre-concert lecture by Caroline Oltmanns

Conrad Tao, piano Dane Johansen, cello

MAY 21 TERENCE BLANCHARD & FRIENDS: A CELEBRATION OF WAYNE SHORTER Terence Blanchard, trumpet Featuring the E-Collective and Turtle Island Quartet

MAY 23 & 25 MOZART’S GRAN PARTITA Franz Welser-Möst, conductor Leila Josefowicz, violin WAGNER Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde BERG Violin Concerto MOZART Serenade No. 10, “Gran Partita” Pre-concert lecture by Michael Strasser

For tickets & more information visit:

clevelandorchestra.com

YOU R V IS IT HEALTH & SAFETY The Cleveland Orchestra is committed to creating a comfortable, enjoyable, and safe environment for all guests at Severance Music Center. While mask and COVID-19 vaccination are recommended they are not required. Protocols are reviewed regularly with the assistance of our Cleveland Clinic partners; for up-to-date information, visit: clevelandorchestra. com/attend/health-safety

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

PAGERS, CELL PHONES & WRISTWATCH ALARMS

IN THE EVENT OF AN EMERGENCY

As a courtesy to others, please silence all devices prior to the start of the concert.

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.

PHOTOGRAPHY, VIDEOGRAPHY & RECORDING Audio recording, photography, and videography are prohibited during performances at Severance.

Photographs can only be taken when the performance is not in progress.

HEARING AIDS & OTHER HEALTH-ASSISTIVE DEVICES For the comfort of those around you, please reduce the volume on hearing aids and other devices that may produce a noise that would detract from the program. For Infrared Assistive-Listening Devices, please see the House Manager or Head Usher for more details.

FREE MOBILE APP

TICKET WALLET Download today for instant, secure, and paperless access to your concert tickets.

For more information and direct links to download, visit clevelandorchestra.com/ticketwallet or scan the code with your smartphone camera to download the app for iPhone or Android.

Available for iOS and Android on Google Play and at the Apple App Store.

AGE RESTRICTIONS Regardless of age, each person must have a ticket and be able to sit quietly in a seat throughout the performance. Classical Season subscription concerts are not recommended for children under the age of 8. However, there are several age-appropriate series designed specifically for children and youth, including Music Explorers (for 3 to 6 years old) and Family Concerts (for ages 7 and older).

The Cleveland Orchestra is grateful to the following organizations for their ongoing generous support of The Cleveland Orchestra: the State of Ohio and Ohio Arts Council and to the residents of Cuyahoga County through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture.

The Cleveland Orchestra is proud of its long-term partnership with Kent State University, made possible in part through generous funding from the State of Ohio.

The Cleveland Orchestra is proud to have its home, Severance Music Center, located on the campus of Case Western Reserve University, with whom it has a long history of collaboration and partnership.

©2024 The Cleveland Orchestra and the Musical Arts Association Program books for Cleveland Orchestra concerts are produced by The Cleveland Orchestra and are distributed free to attending audience members.

EDI TORI AL

Cleveland Orchestra performances are broadcast as part of regular programming on ideastream/WCLV Classical 90.3 FM, Saturdays at 8 PM and Sundays at 4 PM.

Kevin McBrien, Publications Manager The Cleveland Orchestra kmcbrien@clevelandorchestra.com DE SIG N

Elizabeth Eddins, Eddinsdesign eddinsdesign@gmail.com ADV ERT ISI NG

Live Publishing Company, 216-721-1800

32 | 2023/2024 SEASON

clevelandorchestra.com

FRO M TH E PRESID E N T & CEO

1069167_Cleveland Orchestra_Week 19_single_sw

“We are paving a path for our next chapter by establishing connections now. We can keep enjoying our wonderful skyline views and musical activities, knowing our plan is in place.”

Max Bunker and Tony Bianchi / Bratenahl

Membership

is Music to Our Ears!

As a Judson at Home member, you’ll have access to an engaging community, cultural programs, wellness activities and an array of dining venues. Most of all, you have all the services and amenities of a retirement community at your fingertips while living in your own home.

PHOTO CREDITS XXXX

Become a Member Today!

(216) 791-2436 judsonsmartliving.org Read more about Max and Tony’s experience at judsonsmartliving.org/blog. clevelandorchestra.com

| iii

Tri-C Creative Arts Dance Academy

SETTING THE STAGE

for Success

We believe that all Cleveland youth should have access to high-quality arts education. Through the generosity of our donors, we have invested more than $12.6 million since 2016 to scale up neighborhood-based programs that serve thousands of youth year-round in music, dance, theater, photography, literary arts and curatorial mastery. That’s setting the stage for success. Find your passion, and partner with the Cleveland Foundation to make your greatest charitable impact.

(877) 554-5054 www.ClevelandFoundation.org/Success