The Cleveland Orchestra April 26-28 Concerts

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Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto APRIL 26–28, 2024

Expect the Extraordinary

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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

Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto Friday, April 26, 2024, at 7:30 PM Saturday, April 27, 2024, at 8 PM Sunday, April 28, 2024, at 3 PM

David Afkham, conductor Unsuk Chin (b. 1961)

subito con forza

5 minutes

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873–1943)

Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18

30 minutes

I. Moderato II. Adagio sostenuto III. Allegro scherzando Beatrice Rana, piano

Béla Bartók (1881–1945)

I N TERMIS SI ON

20 minutes

Concerto for Orchestra

35 minutes

I.

Introduzione: Andante non troppo — Allegro vivace II. Giuoco delle coppie: Allegretto scherzando III. Elegia: Andante non troppo IV. Intermezzo interrotto: Allegretto V. Finale: Pesante — Presto Total approximate running time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Thank you for silencing your electronic devices.

COVER: PHOTO BY SIMON FOWLER

This week’s guest artist is supported by a generous gift from the Hershey Foundation.

Friday evening’s performance is dedicated to Mrs. Norma Lerner in recognition of her generous support of music.

Saturday evening’s performance is dedicated to Dr. Hiroyuki and Mrs. Mikiko Fujita in recognition of their generous support of music.

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I N TRO DUC TI O N

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THE THREE WORKS ON THIS WEEK’S CONCERT PROGRAM are brilliant showcases for

the virtuoso ensemble. Each is demanding to play, yet direct and appealing; each demonstrates the subtlety and brilliance a modern orchestra can produce. Yet paradoxically, one common thread that runs through all three works is human frailty, vulnerability, and perseverance in the face of adversity.

In the case of subito con forza, the challenge that gave rise to the piece was not faced by composer Unsuk Chin, but to her inspiration: the iconic composer Ludwig van Beethoven, whose struggle with hearing loss led to deafness at age 44. Chin’s piece resulted from a unique commission that tasked several composers with responding to Beethoven’s “conversation books,” notebooks in which he communicated with friends and visitors. Her piece is fragmentary and stormy, yet also conveys nobility through recognizable citations of Beethoven’s works that surface within its fiery whorls.

Sergei Rachmaninoff Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto is one of his most popular works — and among his most widely recognized, thanks to the three popular songs derived from each of its three movements: “I Think of You,” “All by Myself,” and “Full Moon and Empty Arms.” But the genesis of the work emerged from the pain and humiliation the young composer felt after the disastrous premiere of his First Symphony four years earlier: a setback that necessitated therapy and recovery from alcohol abuse. Premiered with Rachmaninoff at the piano (above) in 1901, the concerto was greeted fervently — a response that continues today.

Béla Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra came at a similarly challenging point in its composer’s life, though not at the start but near the end. A committed anti-fascist, Bartók ran afoul of the Hungarian government after World War II started and emigrated to the US in 1940. Estranged from his homeland, financially challenged, and afflicted with leukemia, Bartók might have ceased composing had conductor Serge Koussevitzky not commissioned him to create a work for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The result was Bartók’s most successful symphonic work, and an enduring highlight of the concert-music canon. — Steve Smith clevelandorchestra.com

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TH E MUSI C

subito con forza

by Unsuk Chin BORN : July 14, 1961, in Seoul

▶ COMPOSED: 2020 ▶ WORLD PREMIERE: September 24, 2020, with Klaus Mäkelä conducting the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra ▶ This weekend’s performances mark the first presentations of Unsuk Chin’s subito con forza by The Cleveland Orchestra. ▶ ORCHESTRATION: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, percussion (vibraphone, xylophone, marimba, crotales, tubular bells, cymbals, tam-tam, triangle, 3 snare drums, tambourine, whip, güiro, 2 pitched gongs), piano, and strings ▶ DURATION: about 5 minutes

ON HEARING THE FIRST TWO CHORDS

of subito con forza, a brief concert opener composed by Unsuk Chin in 2020, you might be seized by the thought, “Why does that sound so familiar?” — unless, of course, you recognize them instantly as the start of Beethoven’s Overture to Coriolan. But what immediately follows — a frenetic outburst of jangling percussion and piano — is wholly Chin: the shattering response that might logically follow Beethoven’s hammer-blow gesture.

The portentous motto that opens Beethoven’s overture, composed in 1807 for a staging of Heinrich Joseph von Collin’s 1804 tragedy Coriolan, foreshadows the tragic fate of a possibly apocryphal ancient Roman general also immortalized by Shakespeare. For Chin, it sets the stage for a compact, high-intensity homage to Beethoven for the 6 | 2023/2024 SEASON

250th anniversary of his birth. Snatches of other Beethoven works, including his Fifth Symphony and “Emperor” Concerto, flash past in a fiery tumult of fleeting impressions.

The notion of something heard without registering clearly is important: subito con forza was commissioned by BBC Radio 3, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and the Kölner Philharmonie — the last as part of “the non bthvn projekt,” an idiosyncratic tribute in which contemporary composers were tasked with responding to Beethoven’s conversation books. Those notebooks, which Beethoven utilized from 1818 to 1827, facilitated daily interactions after he lost his hearing. For Chin, one line in particular stood out: “Dur und Moll.

Ich bin ein Gewinner” (Major and minor.

I am a winner).

PHOTO BY RUI CAMILO

Beethoven’s ceaseless innovation, an unquenchable thirst for the new, fired Chin’s imagination. “He was the first consciously modern composer, in the sense that every piece asked for original solutions, even if this meant breaking through existing forms,” she stated in a 2020 interview. “What particularly appeals to me are the enormous contrasts: from volcanic eruptions to extreme serenity.”

Those same qualities pertain not just to subito con forza, but also to the whole of Chin’s oeuvre. Born in Seoul, South Korea, in 1961, Chin grew up in a household of modest means: “We had a piano at home, but no records,” she reminisced.

She taught herself to play the instrument, then augmented the family income by performing at weddings.

After starting her musical education in Korea, Chin moved to Germany in 1985. She studied with the prominent modernist composer György Ligeti in Hamburg, and then settled in Berlin.

Her body of work is notable for its enviable balance of intensity and rigor with communicativeness and instant appeal: the music never sounds simple, but neither is it forbidding. Chin’s ability to fashion subtly complex tones and timbres, through application of unique instrumental techniques and combinations, goes hand-in-hand with her penchant for surrealism and madcap humor. In all that she does, a listener senses a composer intent on breaking boundaries, shrugging off limitations imposed by tools and techniques. clevelandorchestra.com

Korean-born composer Unsuk Chin writes dizzyingly complex music that revels in wondrous and ear-catching sound combinations.

“I’m attracted by virtuosity,” Chin said in a 2014 New York Times profile. “This enthusiasm and virtuosity of a player trying to go beyond his or her boundaries: I like that. It’s a situation that I experience all the time as a composer: pushing the limits of your possibilities, not knowing whether you can do it — and then somehow succeeding.” That’s something Chin shares in common with Beethoven: an affinity underscored directly and dazzlingly in subito con forza.

— Steve Smith Steve Smith is a journalist, critic, and editor based in New York City. He has written about music for The New York Times and The New Yorker, and served as an editor for the Boston Globe, Time Out New York, and NPR.

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THE MUS I C

Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18

by Sergei Rachmaninoff BORN : April 1, 1873, in Semyonovo, Russia DIED: March 28, 1943, in Beverly Hills, California

▶ COMPOSED: 1900 – 01 ▶ WORLD PREMIERE: October 14, 1901, featuring the composer as soloist and Alexander Siloti conducting the orchestra of the Moscow Philharmonic Society ▶ CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA PREMIERE: February 17, 1921, with pianist Ossip Gabrilowitsch, led by Music Director Nikolai Sokoloff ▶ ORCHESTRATION: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, percussion (cymbals, bass drum), and strings, plus solo piano ▶ DURATION: about 30 minutes

ON MORE THAN ONE OCCASION , Sergei Rachmaninoff described himself as a man chasing three hares, and not sure of having captured even one of them. The “three hares” were the three sides of Rachmaninoff s musical career — composing, piano-playing, and conducting.

During his life, there were indeed periods when he had to give up one of these activities for another. But his gifts as a creative artist and a performer were really only different aspects of the same musical personality.

He was surpassed by few pianists in the first half of the 20th century, but his repertoire was comparatively small and he was at his best when he played his own music. Conversely, he wrote most of his works with himself as a performer in

8 | 2023/2024 SEASON

mind. A piano work by Rachmaninoff is therefore a personal communication coming from an artist who summed up his artistic creed in these words: “A composer’s music should express the country of his birth, his love affairs, his religion, the books that have influenced him, the pictures he loves. It should be the sum total of his experiences.”

Rachmaninoff wrote his Second Piano Concerto in 1900–01, shortly after what seemed to be the greatest trauma in his life.

Three years earlier, his First Symphony was met with a disastrous reception at the St. Petersburg premiere. The fiasco was caused largely by the poor performance and the prejudices prevalent in St. Petersburg towards young people from Moscow, like Rachmaninoff, and

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Rachmaninoff was one of most celebrated pianists of the 20th century, boasting a massive hand span (see page 3) that could easily stretch across 13 white keys on the piano.

was therefore in no way the composer’s fault. Yet Rachmaninoff fell prey to a state of mental depression and became totally unable to write music. In his despair, he turned to psychiatrist Dr. Nikolai Dahl, who used the relatively new technique of hypnosis to restore Rachmaninoff ’s faith in his creative powers. When Rachmaninoff was finally cured and able to finish the concerto he had long been trying to write, he expressed his gratitude by dedicating the score to Dr. Dahl.

As so often with Rachmaninoff, the principal vehicle to convey his “personal communication” is his own highly individual melodic writing. Rachmaninoff makes the piano “sing” with the passion of an operatic hero, though at the same time he also has it perform the most dazzling musical acrobatics with fiendish arpeggios (broken chords) and other types clevelandorchestra.com

of virtuoso passagework. The piano is the protagonist throughout, but the orchestra is equally important and there are many prominent solos. There are times when the pianistic fireworks merely serve as accompaniment to the melody that is presented by the orchestra.

Each of the concerto’s three movements contains numerous tempo changes in accordance with the evolution of the musical characters. But the unity of the work is ensured by the thematic recapitulations prescribed by Classical rules. Rachmaninoff counterbalanced his effusive, hyper-Romantic melodic writing by an almost academic adherence to traditional musical craft with regard to matters of form. He scored the secondmovement Adagio sostenuto in E major, a tonality far removed from C minor, the concerto’s home key; but he bridged the gap between these two keys by modulating passages that open both the first and the second movements. Both Beethoven in his Third Piano Concerto and Brahms in his First Symphony used this C-minor/ E-major relationship between the first and second movements; but in both cases, one may hear the jump between the two unrelated tonalities. Not so in Rachmaninoff. His “bridges” between movements exemplify something he strove to do throughout the concerto, namely to eliminate all “rough edges” and create a flow of great melodies unimpeded by breaks or jolts in the continuous unfolding of events.

— Peter Laki Peter Laki is a musicologist and frequent lecturer on classical music. He is a visiting associate professor of music at Bard College.

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THE MUS I C

Concerto for Orchestra

by Béla Bartók BORN : March 25, 1881, in Nagyszentmiklós, Hungary (now Sânnicolau Mare, Romania) DIED: September 26, 1945, in New York City

▶ COMPOSED: 1943 ▶ WORLD PREMIERE: December 1, 1944, at Carnegie Hall in New York, by the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Serge Koussevitzky ▶ CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA PREMIERE: January 3, 1946, led by Music Director George Szell ▶ ORCHESTRATION: 3 flutes (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 (side drum, bass drum, tam-tam, cymbals, triangle), 2 harps, and strings ▶ DURATION: about 35 minutes

BÉLA BARTÓK WAS 59 YEARS OLD when he immigrated to the United States with his second wife and former pupil, Ditta Pâsztory-Bartók. His adjustment to the new environment was made difficult, even traumatic, by several factors.

Bartók, who had been the foremost musical celebrity in his native Hungary, became an émigré composer who, although not entirely unknown in the Western Hemisphere, was far from being a household name and had to practically relaunch his career.

But Bartók was ill-equipped for such a struggle. He was not interested in university positions and concertized little as a pianist. He did receive a grant to transcribe a collection of recordings from Yugoslavia, preserved at Columbia

10 | 2023/2024 SEASON

University, but the grant ran out before Bartók could finish the project. It was also at this time — late in 1942 — that Bartók’s health first began to deteriorate, with fevers, pain, and weakness, but with no immediate diagnosis (these were the first signs of the leukemia that would claim his life in 1945).

The situation was grave indeed when one day Bartók, lying in a New York hospital, received an unexpected visit from Serge Koussevitzky, the conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Koussevitzky commissioned a new orchestral work in memory of his wife Béla Bartók found a new lease on life in writing the Concerto for Orchestra, an ensemble showpiece that presents his characteristic mixture of modernist and folk-like elements.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

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and left a check for half the amount of the commission on the composer’s bedside table. This commission quite literally gave Bartók, who had composed virtually nothing for the previous two years, a new lease on life. As Agatha Fassett, a close personal friend, recalled, “It seemed as if the obstructed forces within him were released at last, and the entire center of his being had been restored and reawakened, even though he was still lying limp on his bed, hardly any stronger than he was before he went to the hospital.”

Work on the score proceeded rapidly, thanks in part to the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), which arranged for Bartók to spend the summer months of 1943 at a private sanatorium at Lake Saranac, New York. Bartók’s health improved and the full score of the Concerto for Orchestra was completed by October 8.

Bartók wrote an “Explanation” for the first performance, in which he stated: “The title of this symphony-like instrumental work is explained by its tendency to treat the single instrument groups in a ‘concertant’ or soloistic manner. … The general mood of the work represents — apart from the jesting second movement — a gradual transition from the sternness of the first movement and the lugubrious death-song of the third, to the life-assertion of the last one.”

The first movement opens with a slow introduction played by cellos and basses, which creates the impression of a world 12 | 2023/2024 SEASON

being born out of primeval chaos.

The first “concertant” solo, for flute, still has something indecisive to it, but the second, for three trumpets, is a fully formed idea that borrows its formal structure (though not its actual melody) from Hungarian folk song.

The tempo gradually increases and reaches Allegro vivace; this energetic music is only temporarily interrupted by a lyrical interlude in which the oboe and the harp seem to carry on an intimate conversation.

The second movement, “Giuoco delle coppie” (Game of Pairs), opens and closes with a brief side drum solo. Five pairs of wind instruments play their themes in parallel intervals; we hear, in turn, two bassoons in sixths, two oboes in thirds, two clarinets in sevenths, two flutes in fifths, and finally, two muted trumpets in major seconds. A lyrical “trio” section for brass follows, after which the five wind themes are repeated — with some slight variances — before the movement’s close.

The third-movement Elegy opens with ascending motifs that clearly allude to the first movement’s slow introduction. Throughout this mysterious music, glissandos on the harp and the soft woodwind figurations recall a moment in Bartók’s opera Bluebeard’s Castle, when the opera’s heroine, Judith, sees the Lake of Tears behind the sixth door of the castle. The middle section is based on the same quasi-folk song we heard in the introduction to the first movement.

Played this time by the full orchestra,

1070030_Cleveland Orchestra_Week 21_single_sw

THE MUS I C

it sounds much more tragic than before.

The movement ends with a haunting piccolo solo, after which the boisterous string unisons of the fourth movement come as quite a jolt.

Bartók told his pupil, pianist György Sándor, a little story he associated in his mind with the fourth-movement “Intermezzo interrotto” (Interrupted Intermezzo): “A young man serenades his sweetheart. He is surprised by a gang of drunkards who smash his instrument.

symphony and objected to what seemed endless repetitions of the same theme.)

But Bartók’s theme also bears striking similarity to the song “Da geh’ ich zu Maxim” (You’ll find me at Maxim’s) from Franz Lehar’s operetta The Merry Widow (a resemblance probably not intended by either Bartók or Shostakovich).

Whatever its true intention, its function in Shostakovich’s symphony was to “interrupt” peaceful life, just as its Bartókian parody interrupts a peaceful serenade.

The general mood of the work represents ... a gradual transition from the sternness of the first movement and the lugubrious death-song of the third, to the life-assertion of the last one.

— Béla Bartók

Despite the pain he feels, he continues his serenade.” There are some clues in the movement, however, that reveal a meaning running deeper than this story might suggest.

Many people agree that the beautiful cantabile melody played by the violas is a modified version of a popular Hungarian operetta melody, though the musical “interruption” in this movement has caused a great deal of commentary. Bartók appeared to be quoting and parodying a prominent passage from Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony (“Leningrad”), which had recently created a major sensation in the United States. (Bartók’s son Peter tells the story of how his father listened to the radio broadcast of Shostakovich’s clevelandorchestra.com

The fifth-movement Finale belongs to the type of last movements inspired by the spirit of folk dance that Bartók used at the end of many of his major works. After the opening horn fanfare, the violins start a perpetual motion in rapid sixteenth-notes that runs through almost the entire movement. In the central section, a large-scale fugato (a section based on imitative counterpoint) unfolds. After a recapitulation, which includes a brief lyrical episode in a slower tempo, the work ends with a powerful climax.

— Peter Laki Peter Laki is a musicologist and frequent lecturer on classical music. He is a visiting associate professor of music at Bard College.

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TH E CO N DU C TOR

PHOTO BY GISELA SCHENKER

David Afkham Known for his impeccable technique and compelling artistry, David Afkham has received worldwide acclaim and is one of the most sought-after conductors of his generation. Afkham is chief conductor and artistic director of the Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España, a position he has held since September 2019. Prior to this, Afkham enjoyed a highly successful tenure as the orchestra’s principal conductor since 2014.

Afkham’s impressive career has been marked by a series of critically acclaimed performances and collaborations with some of the world’s leading orchestras, including the Concertgebouw Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, Seoul Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra, and Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Recent successes in the opera pit include performances of Richard Strauss’s Arabella at the Semperoper Dresden and a new production of the work at the Teatro Real. Afkham has also conducted productions at the Frankfurt Opera, Staatsoper Stuttgart, and Glyndebourne Festival.

Highlights of the 2023–24 season include debuts with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and Detroit Symphony Orchestra, as well as a return to the Minnesota Orchestra, among others.

Afkham’s symphonic projects with the Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España clevelandorchestra.com

this season encompass a diverse repertoire, including Beethoven’s Missa solemnis, Bruckner’s Symphony No. 8, Rachmaninnoff’s The Bells, Schmidt’s Symphony No. 4, and Zemlinsky’s Lyric Symphony.

Born in Freiburg, Germany, Afkham studied piano, music theory, and conducting at the Freiburg Music University, before continuing his studies at the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt in Weimar.

Afkham was the first recipient of the Bernard Haitink Fund for Young Talent and assisted Haitink on several major projects, including complete symphonic cycles with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Concertgebouw Orchestra, and London Symphony Orchestra. From 2009–12 he was assistant conductor of the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester.

Afkham won first prize at the Donatella Flick Conducting Competition in London in 2008 and was the inaugural recipient of the Nestlé and Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Award in 2010. | 19

Severance Music Center PRESENTS

Terence Blanchard & Friends A Celebration of Wayne Shorter

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Blossom Summer Soirée Sunday, July 21 Blossom Music Center

Join us for a magical evening to benefit The Cleveland Orchestra’s summer home. You’ll enjoy a festive dinner party complete with seasonal summer cocktails and friends in Knight Grove. Then you’ll be treated to a concert by Leslie Odom, Jr., and your Cleveland Orchestra.

Learn more and reserve your tickets at clevelandorchestra.com/soiree

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TH E ARTIST

Beatrice Rana

PHOTO BY SIMON FOWLER – WARNER CLASSICS

piano

Beatrice Rana has been shaking up the classical music world, arousing admiration from concert presenters, conductors, critics, and audiences around the world.

In the 2023–24 season, Rana tours Europe with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and Antonio Pappano, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, and the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg. She debuts with the Berlin Philharmonic and The Cleveland Orchestra, and will return to the New York Philharmonic with Manfred Honeck.

Rana’s 2017 recording of J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations was praised by reviewers worldwide, received Gramophone’s Young Artist of the Year award, and was named “Discovery of the Year” at the Edison Awards. Rana’s 2019 album of works by Stravinsky and Ravel was also awarded several prizes including Diapason d’Or de l’Année and Choc de l’Année Classica in France.

In 2023 she released her fifth album featuring Clara and Robert Schumann’s concertos with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

Rana’s latest album was released in March 2024, featuring works by Beethoven and Chopin.

In 2017, Rana started her own chamber music festival, Classiche Forme, in her native town of Lecce, Puglia. The festival has become one of Italy’s major summer clevelandorchestra.com

events. She became artistic director of the Orchestra Filarmonica di Benevento in 2020.

Rana won second prize and the Audience Award at the prestigious Van Cliburn Competition in 2013. She attracted international attention in 2011, at age 18, when she won first prize at the Montreal International Competition.

In June 2018, she was chosen as Female Artist of the Year at the Classic BRIT Awards at the Royal Albert Hall for her recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations.

Born to a family of musicians, Rana began her musical studies at age 4 and made her orchestral debut at age 9. She received her piano degree at the Nino Rota Conservatory of Music under the guidance of Benedetto Lupo. Rana later studied with Arie Vardi in Hannover and again with Lupo at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. She is based in Rome.

Ms. Rana records exclusively for Warner Classics.

More information on Beatrice Rana can be found at beatriceranapiano.com. Management for Beatrice Rana: Primo Artists, New York, NY (primoartists.com)

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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.

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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

24 | 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.

| 25

THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA’S DIGITAL STREAMING SERVICE & APP Experience The Cleveland Orchestra’s digital platform with new & improved features.

NEW Concert Experiences Experience on-demand concerts with exclusive interviews and behind-the-scenes features!

Now available: In the Moment featuring Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 6.

NEW Educational Content Access videos and learning resources for children, students, and teachers.

Visit stream.adella.live/premium or scan the QR code to secure your subscription today!

NEW Livestreamed Concerts Enjoy six concerts broadcast live from Severance throughout the 2024–25 season.

COMING SOON Archival Audio Recordings By popular demand, stream exclusive recordings from The Cleveland Orchestra’s audio archives.

Questions? Email adellahelp@clevelandorchestra.com or call 216-231-7300

CALE N DAR TH E 2023/2024 SEAS ON

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

CALE N DAR SPRING MAY 15–26

Pre-concert in Reinberger Chamber Hall & HUMANITIES 2024 MANDEL OPERA APR 18 – 20 lectures are held one hour prior to the performance.

THE RITE OF SPRING FESTIVAL Klaus Mäkelä, conductor Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano

Last performances MILHAUD Le Bœuf sur le toit SPRING GERSHWIN Concerto in F of this year’s STRAVINSKY APR 18 – 20The Rite of Spring Spring season!

Pre-concert lecture Caroline Oltmanns THE RITE OFbySPRING

MAY 15–26 2024 MANDEL OPERA & HUMANITIES FESTIVAL

Klaus Mäkelä, conductor

APR 26 Thibaudet, – 28 Jean-Yves piano RACHMANINOFF’S MILHAUD Le Bœuf sur le toit SECOND PIANO GERSHWIN Concerto in F STRAVINSKY The Rite of Spring CONCERTO Pre-concert lectureconductor

by Caroline Oltmanns David Afkham,

Beatrice Rana, piano

APR 26CHIN – 28subito con forza UNSUK RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto RACHMANINOFF’S No. 2 SECOND PIANO BARTÓK Concerto for Orchestra CONCERTO

For more information on festival events visit:

Pre-concert lecture by James O’Leary

clevelandorchestra.com/festival

MAY 2 – 4 UNSUK CHIN subito con forza LANG LANG PLAYS RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto SAINT-SAËNS No. 2

MOZART’S MAGIC FLUTEon festival TERENCEevents BLANCHARD For more information visit: &

David Afkham, conductor Beatrice Rana, piano

BARTÓK Concerto for Orchestra conductor Franz Welser-Möst, Pre-concert Lang Lang,lecture piano by * James O’Leary

SAINT-SAËNS Piano Concerto

MAY No. 2 *2 – 4 BERLIOZLANG Symphonie fantastique LANG PLAYS Pre-concert lecture by Caroline SAINT-SAËNS

Oltmanns

*Franz Not performed on theconductor Welser-Möst, Friday matinee concert Lang Lang, piano * *SAINT-SAËNS Not performed on the Concerto Piano Friday matinee concert No. 2 * BERLIOZ Symphonie fantastique Pre-concert lecture by Caroline Oltmanns

MAY 16, 18, 24 & 26 Franz Welser-Möst, conductor

FRIENDS: A CELEBRATION

Nikolaus Habjan, director OF WAYNE SHORTER clevelandorchestra.com/festival

Julian Prégardien, tenor Ludwig Mittelhammer, baritone Pre-concert lecture

by Caroline Christina MAY 16,Landshamer, 18, 24 & soprano 26 Oltmanns The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus

MOZART’S MAGIC FLUTE MOZART The Magic Flute Franz Welser-Möst, MAY 16, 18, sung 24 conductor & 26 Staged production in German Nikolaus Habjan, director with projected supertitles MOZART’S MAGIC FLUTE Julian Prégardien, tenor Franz Welser-Möst, conductor Ludwig Mittelhammer, baritone

MAY 17Habjan, Nikolaus director Christina Landshamer, soprano Julian Prégardien, tenor CONRAD TAO IN Chorus The Cleveland Orchestra Ludwig Mittelhammer, baritone RECITAL: MOZART ThePOWER Magic Flute AND Christina Landshamer, soprano INFLUENCE Staged production sung in German The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus

* Not performed on the Friday matinee concert

MAY 21

with projected supertitles Conrad Tao, piano

MOZART The Magic Dane Johansen, cello Flute

Staged production sung in German MAY 17 with projected supertitles CONRAD TAO IN RECITAL: POWER AND MAY 17 INFLUENCE CONRAD TAO IN

Terence Blanchard, trumpet Featuring the E-Collective and

ConradIsland Tao, piano MAY 21 Turtle Quartet Dane Johansen, cello TERENCE BLANCHARD & MAY 23 & A 25CELEBRATION FRIENDS: MAY 21 MOZART’S GRAN OF WAYNE SHORTER TERENCE BLANCHARD & PARTITA Terence Blanchard, trumpet FRIENDS: A CELEBRATION Featuring the E-Collective and Franz Welser-Möst, conductor OF SHORTER Turtle Island Quartet LeilaWAYNE Josefowicz, violin Terence Blanchard, trumpet WAGNER Prelude and Liebestod

Featuring MAY 23the & E-Collective 25 Isolde and from Tristan und Turtle Quartet BERG Island Violin Concerto MOZART’S GRAN MOZART Serenade No. 10, “Gran PARTITA MAY 23 & 25 Partita” Franz Welser-Möst, conductor Leila Josefowicz, violin

Pre-concert lecture GRAN

by Michael Strasser MOZART’S

PARTITA WAGNER Prelude and Liebestod Franz conductor from Welser-Möst, Tristan und Isolde Leila violin BERGJosefowicz, Violin Concerto

RECITAL: POWER AND For tickets & more information visit: INFLUENCE Conrad Tao, piano Dane Johansen, cello

WAGNER Prelude and MOZART Serenade No.Liebestod 10, “Gran from Tristan und Isolde Partita” BERG Violin Concerto Pre-concert lecture

by Michael Strasser MOZART Serenade No. 10, “Gran Partita”

clevelandorchestra.com Pre-concert lecture by Michael Strasser

For tickets & more information visit:

clevelandorchestra.com 1069641_Cleveland Orchestra_Week 20_single_sw

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

28 | 2023/2024 SEASON

clevelandorchestra.com

FRO M TH E PRESID E N T & CEO

“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