Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Cleveland

Suk's five-movement "dance of death" gets a rare Cleveland outing under guest conductor Jakub Hrůša after Sergey Khachatryan performed Brahms' Violin Concerto.

Jory Vinikour was the soloist for Poulenc’s rarely heard Concert champêtre. A performance of Rachmaninov's Symphony no. 2, in which thrilling excess ruled, completed the program.

A rousing Dvořák Symphony no. 8 and that composer’s The Water Sprite filled out a highly satisfying performance.

In his first Cleveland Orchestra engagement since 2006, MTT offered a powerful Russian evening of Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky and a Prokofiev concerto with Daniil Trifonov.

Nikolaj Znaider led The Cleveland Orchestra in two works that shared a key but were otherwise quite disparate: Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto with Yefim Bronfman, and Elgar’s Second Symphony.

Jean-Yves Thibaudet was the soloist for a stylish account of Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the left hand, and the complete music for Daphnis et Chloé filled out the program.

Guest conductor Bernard Labadie introduced Henri-Joseph Rigel’s music to Cleveland, as well as leading Mozart’s Symphony no. 40, K550.

Mitsuko Uchida returned to Cleveland for elegant performances of Mozart’s first and last piano concertos, with selections from Handel’s Water Music interjected between.

Illness caused two baritones to bow out, plus an indisposed tenor on the night of the first performance. But soprano Golda Schultz, the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus and Orchestra, led by Franz Welser-Möst, ultimately revelled in Haydn’s late masterpiece.

Music director Franz Welser-Möst returned to conduct a recent work of Johannes Maria Staud that fit remarkably well with Mahler’s final completed symphony.

Mikko Franck’s Cleveland debut showed the conductor in fine form with a recent work of Julian Anderson, a Brahms symphony, and a Mozart piano concerto with Richard Goode.

Fabio Luisi led The Cleveland Orchestra in Bruckner’s mighty Fourth Symphony, prefaced by a recently composed piano concerto by Sciarrino with Jonathan Biss.

The Thanksgiving weekend concert conducted by Giancarlo Guerrero, also included a dramatic reading of Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony and Copland’s El Salón México.

Nicholas McGegan led The Cleveland Orchestra in spirited performances of a Mozart symphony and concerto, the latter with Marc-André Hamelin, and the program was rounded off with suites of music by Rameau and Gluck.

One had the opportunity to see The Cleveland Orchestra function as a true chamber ensemble without conductor as a program of Vivaldi, Haydn and Mendelssohn was led by concertmaster William Preucil.

The former principal guest conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra made his first appearance in seven years to lead graceful performances of Elgar and Beethoven. 

Martha Argerich made her highly-anticipated Cleveland debut in a stunning recital with Sergei Babayan, notably featuring the latter’s ingenious Prokofiev transcriptions for two pianos.

For The Cleveland Orchestra’s gala concert, music director Franz Welser-Möst offered a crowd-pleasing program of works inspired by Italy.

Conductor and virtuoso orchestra never lingered, and the audience was riveted by this taut performance.

The Cleveland Orchestra’s 100th anniversary season officially opened with a stunning program that also featured Franz Welser-Möst’s own transcription of Beethoven’s Op.132 string quartet.

The Cleveland Orchestra’s centennial season was off to an auspicious start with an encore presentation of Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen.

Juho Pohjonen tackles the Prokofiev First Piano Concerto with real aplomb, but big thrills also come from a "French trio" of compositions by Debussy, Ravel and Florent Schmitt.

Baroque specialist Patrick Dupré Quigley shows impressive mastery of a large, modern ensemble in a smart performance of a period masterpiece.

Gustavo Gimeno conducted the Cleveland Orchestra in a colorful program inclusive of a pair of Spanish works, Stravinsky’s Firebird, and the Lalo Cello Concerto with soloist Johannes Moser.

Pianist David Fray was equally impressive as soloist in a subtly played Mozart Concerto no. 24.

Susanna Mälkki was guest conductor for The Cleveland Orchestra’s Summers@Severance concert, which also included Schumann’s “Rhenish” Symphony.

The Cleveland Orchestra’s first evening of the season at the Blossom Music Center also included a performance of Beethoven’s Second Symphony that was both sparkling and appropriately dramatic.

Franz Welser-Möst conducted the concert, which also included the world première of Anthony Cheung's Topos and two Haydn symphonies.

Franz Welser-Möst led a radiant performance of Debussy’s operatic masterpiece directed by Yuval Sharon, starring Elliot Madore, Martina Janková, and Hanno Müller-Brachmann.

Sir Andrew Davis also led superb performances of Delius’ Brigg Fair and Strauss’ Don Quixote, with Mark Kosower and Wesley Collins as soloists.

Guest conductor Harry Bicket transformed the chameleon-like Cleveland Orchestra for this program of Handel, Rameau, and Purcell.

Franz Welser-Möst leads a compelling performance of the seldom-heard Threni.

A high-minded approach to Bach's masterpiece is undercut by an uneven performance.

Cédric Tiberghien was the astonishing soloist in Saint-Saëns’s “Egyptian” Concerto, with works by Pintscher, Schoenberg and Debussy’s La Mer filling out the program.

Katia and Marielle Labèque were memorable in Mozart’s Concerto for two pianos, K.365.

  Michelle DeYoung and Paul Groves were the soloists in Mahler’s late “symphony with solo voices.” The concert opened with a classically balanced reading of Schubert’s “Unfinished” symphony.

Yefim Bronfman was the astonishing piano soloist for the Cleveland premiere of of Jörg Widmann's Trauermarsch. Franz Welser-Möst then led a transporting performance of Bruckner's Seventh Symphony.

This unusual program had the unlikely pairing of Schoenberg's Piano Concerto and Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, for which Kirill Gerstein was a brilliant soloist. 

D'Orazio proved in a program that included Berio's Sequenza VIII why he is a leading exponent of contemporary violin composition.

Paired with the Britten’s early Sinfonia da Requiem, Beethoven’s “Fateful Fifth” sounded unexpectedly fresh. 

In this all-Prokofiev concert James Ehnes was a refined, precise soloist in the Violin Concerto no. 1.

The program also included Martinů’s undeservedly neglected Parables and restrained, lyrical Brahms.

Colorful works by Mussorgsky, Dutilleux, and Ravel surround Shostakovich’s gray Soviet-era Violin Concerto no. 2.

An elegant performance of Beethoven’s Eighth Symphony opened an oddly-proportioned concert.

Paul Jacobs was a brilliant soloist in Copland’s unjustly neglected Symphony for Organ and Orchestra.

A strong thunderstorm delayed the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra’s Blossom Music Center debut, but despite their fine playing, the venue proved too large.

Guest conductor Nicholas McGegan also led pleasing performances of Haydn’s Symphony no. 99 and Mendelssohn’s “Scottish” Symphony. 

Pinchas Zukerman celebrated the 45th anniversary of his Cleveland Orchestra debut with Mozart’s “Turkish” concerto.

Jean-Yves Thibaudet was a stylish soloist in Grieg’s Piano Concerto. Guest conductor Jahja Ling also led precise, elegant performances of Stravinsky’s Four Norwegian Moods.

For his only appearance this season at The Cleveland Orchestra's summer home, Franz Welser-Möst led scintillating performances of scandalous Adès, Bartók's Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, and Beethoven's "Eroica" Symphony.