John Adams returned to Cleveland to lead two of his own works – including the local première of Scheherazade.2 – framing Copland’s Quiet City and Appalachian Spring.
Jakub Hrůša returned to Cleveland to conduct a rarity by Kabeláč and a warhorse by Shostakovich while joining forces with Emanuel Ax for an interlude of Stravinsky.
The orchestra’s principal flute Joshua Smith was soloist for the local première of Matthias Pintscher’s Transir. Three Ravel favorites completed the program.
Gustavo Gimeno conducts a program anchored by Scheherazade as well as a cello concerto by Ginastera, featuring Cleveland Orchestra principal Mark Kosower.
This weekend’s performance of the Symphony no. 2 in C minor had innumerable beautifully detailed moments, with two excellent soloists and an immaculately prepared chorus.
Franz Welser-Möst selected a Viennese-inspired program for The Cleveland Orchestra’s annual gala, with works of Strauss (both Richard and Johann II) and Ravel following a Mozart piano concerto.
Yefim Bronfman was the powerful soloist in Bartók’s Second Piano Concerto. Welser-Möst’s expressionistic reading of Prokofiev’s Third Symphony evoked nightmares of tormented souls.
Pantheon, by Cleveland Orchestra oboist Jeffrey Rathbun, and Hans Abrahamsen’s Left, alone with pianist Alexandre Tharaud in his TCO debut showed the ensemble’s strengths.
A fresh and compelling performance of Carl Orff’s classic. Aaron Copland’s rarely-performed Statements filled out the orchestra’s last concert performance at the Blossom Music Festival for 2018.
Jonathan Cohen led The Cleveland Orchestra in sparkling performances of works by Handel and Mozart, with pianist Kristian Bezuidenhout as a brilliant soloist in Haydn.
Excellent performances by James Gaffigan and The Cleveland Orchestra of music by Barber, Mendelssohn, and Sibelius made for an enjoyable summer evening at the Blossom Music Festival. Stephen Hough was an outstanding piano soloist.
Under the baton of John Storgårds, Vilde Frang made her Cleveland Orchestra debut in Britten's Violin Concerto, with works of Antheil and Schumann rounding out a diverse selection.
A line-up of well-matched vocal soloists and a chorus in top form, along with passionate conducting by Franz Welser-Möst made for a memorable closing concert of this important milestone season.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 led a radiant performance of Debussy’s operatic masterpiece directed by Yuval Sharon, starring Elliot Madore, Martina Janková, and Hanno Müller-Brachmann.
