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9.24.2009

Music Director Franz Welser-Möst conducts The Cleveland Orchestra in program featuring Brahms’s A German Requiem on October 15, 17, and 18

Program includes Cleveland Orchestra premiere of Chor by Jörg Widmann, the Orchestra’s Daniel R. Lewis Young Composer Fellow

CLEVELAND, September 24, 2009 – Music Director Franz Welser-Möst will conduct The Cleveland Orchestra in a program featuring Brahms’s A German Requiem at Severance Hall on Thursday, October 15, and Saturday, October 17, at 8:00 p.m., and on Sunday, October 18, at 3:00 p.m. Vocal soloists will be soprano Nicole Cabell and baritone Russell Braun. Both will be making their Cleveland Orchestra debuts. The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, prepared by Cleveland Orchestra Director of Choruses Robert Porco, will also take part in the performances.

The program begins with Jörg Widmann’s Chor (for orchestra), followed after intermission by Johannes Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem), Opus 45.

About the Soloists
American soprano Nicole Cabell is the 2005 winner of the BBC Singer of the World Competition in Cardiff, Wales. Her solo debut album, Soprano, on the Decca label, was named “Editor’s Choice” by Gramophone magazine and has received critical praise and several prestigious awards, including the 2007 Georg Solti Orphée d’Or from the French Académie du Disque Lyrique and an Echo Klassik Award in Germany.

Canadian baritone Russell Braun regularly appears with major international opera companies, including the Metropolitan Opera, Paris Opera, Royal Opera Covent Garden, and the Vienna State Opera, as well as the Glyndebourne, Salzburg, and Tanglewood festivals. He has been a soloist with the orchestras of Dallas, Montreal, San Francisco, St. Louis, and his native Toronto, in addition to engagements throughout Europe.

About the Composer
German composer Jörg Widmann (born 1973) is the Orchestra’s sixth Daniel R. Lewis Young Composer Fellow, serving for the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons. His work titled Chor is part of a trilogy of works for large orchestra on the transformation of vocal forms for instrumental forces: Lied (2003-2007), Chor (2004), and Messe (2005).

Mr. Widmann is a winner of the Claudio Abbado Composition Award of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Academy. He has been composer-in-residence at the Salzburg Festival, and his music has been performed by the Vienna Philharmonic under the direction of Pierre Boulez and by the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Mariss Jansons.

During his two-season tenure, Mr. Widmann will compose a new piece for the Orchestra and participate in rehearsals, masterclasses, and educational activities. The Young Composers Endowment Fund was established in 1997 by a $1 million gift from Jan R. and Daniel R. Lewis.

Biographical information on Franz Welser-Möst follows at the end of this release. Additional biographical information on Nicole Cabell, Russell Braun, and Jörg Widmann is available on request.

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Nicole Cabell’s appearance with The Cleveland Orchestra is made possible by a gift to the Orchestra’s Guest Artist Fund from The Virginia M. and Newman T. Halvorson Fund.

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The Cleveland Orchestra’s 2009-10 season at Severance Hall is sponsored by UBS. Headquartered in Zurich and Basel, Switzerland, UBS is a global firm providing services to private, corporate and institutional clients. Its strategy is to focus on international wealth management and the Swiss banking business alongside its global expertise in investment banking and asset management. In Switzerland, UBS is the market leader in retail and commercial banking.

UBS is a significant supporter of orchestral music globally. In addition to its season sponsorship of The Cleveland Orchestra, the firm currently sponsors several other outstanding symphony orchestras, such as the Boston Symphony Orchestra and The Philadelphia Orchestra. These partnerships reflect UBS’s dedication to supporting the communities where it operates, as well as a philosophy of working collaboratively with its clients to deliver the customized solutions that help them pursue their goals.

“UBS is proud of our ongoing relationship as Season Sponsor of The Cleveland Orchestra,” said Marten Hoekstra, CEO, UBS Wealth Management Americas. “Supporting the arts is ingrained in our corporate culture and we view our partnership with this internationally renowned orchestra as a reflection of our ongoing commitment to communities where we live and work.”

TICKET PRICES (Add $5 for Saturday): Orchestra: $60, $41; Dress Circle: $82, $47; Balcony: $60, $47, $31.

TICKET SERVICES: The Severance Hall Ticket Office is located in the Smith Lobby. The entrance and 15-minute Ticket Service parking are along East Boulevard. Single tickets for all concerts in the 2009-10 season are now on sale.

Severance Hall Ticket Office Hours: M-F 9-6; Sat. 10-6. Closed Sundays and major holidays, except for those days with performances, when the Ticket Office opens three hours prior to the performance start time. To charge tickets by telephone on American Express, Discover Card, MasterCard, and Visa, call Cleveland Orchestra Ticket Services at (216) 231-1111 (Cleveland) or 800-686-1141 during the regular ticket office hours listed above. Subscriptions and single tickets are also available through The Cleveland Orchestra’s website at clevelandorchestra.com. The website offers secure ticket transactions with any major credit card and provides complete concert listings.

FREE CONCERT PREVIEWS: Concert Previews will be given prior to the October 15, 17, and 18 concerts, beginning one hour before concert time, in the Concert Hall. The Preview speaker will be Hugh Floyd, director of choral activities, Oberlin College Conservatory of Music. Concert Previews are designed to enrich the concert-going experience by providing historical background and critical insight into the music performed at each concert. This series is funded by a generous endowment gift from Dorothy Humel Hovorka and supported by The Reinberger Foundation. The entrance to Reinberger Chamber Hall is located on the ground floor of Severance Hall, off the Smith Lobby. The Smith Lobby is entered via the Rankin Entrance off East Boulevard or the Schey Entrance off Euclid Avenue.

PARKING: For evening and Sunday afternoon subscription concerts at Severance Hall, parking can be purchased for $10 per vehicle, when space permits, in the Campus Center Garage (the underground garage located directly behind Severance Hall). Pre-paid parking for the Campus Center Garage can be purchased in advance through the Ticket Office at the cost of $14 per concert (this includes City of Cleveland parking tax and handling fee). The pre-paid parking ensures patrons a parking space, but availability of these pre-paid parking passes is limited.

For further information, or to order pre-paid parking, patrons should call the Cleveland Orchestra Ticket Office during regular office hours at (216) 231-1111 or 800-686-1141. Pre-paid parking passes are also available through The Cleveland Orchestra’s website at clevelandorchestra.com.

CALENDAR LISTINGS:

Thursday, October 15, at 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, October 17, at 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, October 18, at 3:00 p.m.

Severance Hall

THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA
FRANZ WELSER-MÖST, conductor
NICOLE CABELL, soprano
RUSSELL BRAUN, baritone
CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA CHORUS
Robert Porco, director

WIDMANN – Chor (for orchestra)
BRAHMS – A German Requiem

Ticket Prices: $31-$82 (Add $5 for Sat.) – Call (216) 231-1111 or 800-686-1141, or order online at clevelandorchestra.com

Season Sponsor: UBS
Guest Artist Fund: The Virginia M. and Newman T. Halvorson Fund (Nicole Cabell)

Concert Preview, in the Concert Hall beginning one hour before concert start time, given by Hugh Floyd, director of choral activities, Oberlin College Conservatory of Music

Media Contacts: Jennifer Schlosser, (216) 231-7518 / Email: jschlosser@clevelandorchestra.com; or
Ana Papakhian, Office: (216) 231-7476; Cell phone: (216) 370-2595 / Email: anap@clevelandorchestra.com

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

Franz Welser-Möst is in his eighth year as Music Director of The Cleveland Orchestra. His long-term commitment extends to the Orchestra’s centennial in 2018. Under his direction, the Orchestra holds residencies in the United States and Europe, champions living composers, partners with Northeast Ohio public schools and conservatories, and has re-established itself as an operatic ensemble. Concurrently with his post in Cleveland, Mr. Welser-Möst becomes General Music Director of the Vienna State Opera in the autumn of 2010.

Under Mr. Welser-Möst’s leadership, The Cleveland Orchestra holds ongoing residencies at Vienna’s famed Musikverein hall and Switzerland’s Lucerne Festival, along with an annual Miami Residency. In 2009-10, Mr. Welser-Möst and the Orchestra begin an Indiana University residency, and in 2011, launch a biennial residency at New York’s Lincoln Center Festival, featuring The Cleveland Orchestra in Vienna State Opera productions.

Under Franz Welser-Möst, The Cleveland Orchestra has presented eleven world and fourteen United States premieres. In 2009, Mr. Welser-Möst led a Zurich Opera production of The Marriage of Figaro at Severance Hall. He and The Cleveland Orchestra will continue the Mozart/Da Ponte operas in Cleveland with Mozart’s Così fan tutte in 2009-10 and Don Giovanni in 2010-11.

Recent and upcoming international engagements include a new production of Wagner’s Ring cycle with stage director Sven-Eric Bechtolf at the Vienna State Opera. During the 2009-10 season, Mr. Welser-Möst leads additional Ring performances, as well as Wagner’s Tannhaüser and Parsifal, with the Vienna State Opera. In the summer of 2009, Franz Welser-Möst appeared with the Vienna Philharmonic at the Salzburg Festival, the BBC Proms, and the Lucerne Festival. He also conducted the Berlin Philharmonic at the 2009 Salzburg Easter Festival.

Following his 1989 American debut and prior to his appointment in Cleveland, Mr. Welser-Möst regularly guest-conducted the orchestras of Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles, New York, and Philadelphia. Mr. Welser-Möst was music director of the London Philharmonic from 1990 to 1996. Across his decade-long tenure with the Zurich Opera, culminating in three seasons as General Music Director (2005-08), Mr. Welser-Möst led more than 40 new productions. In the spring of 2010, he leads Strauss’s Die Frau ohne Schatten and Mozart’s Così fan tutte in Zurich.

Mr. Welser-Möst’s recordings and videos have won the Gramophone Award, Diapason d’Or, Japanese Record Academy Award, and two Grammy nominations. Mr. Welser-Möst has led The Cleveland Orchestra in video recordings of live performances of the Bruckner Symphonies Nos. 5, 7, and 9. Mr. Welser-Möst and The Cleveland Orchestra released a recording of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony on Deutsche Grammophon in 2007.

Mr. Welser-Möst has been recognized by the Western Law Center for Disability Rights and is an honorary member of the Vienna Singverein. Musical America named him the 2003 Conductor of the Year.