The Cleveland Orchestra

Home > Press Room > Press Releases

9.28.2009

Cleveland Orchestra debuts Fridays@7 series at Severance Hall on October 9

CLEVELAND, September 28, 2009 – Music Director Franz Welser-Möst will conduct The Cleveland Orchestra in its first Fridays@7 concert at Severance Hall on Friday, October 9, at 7:00 p.m. The program features Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Opus 67, preceded by his Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Opus 58, with Mitsuko Uchida as soloist.

The new Fridays@7 series offers early-evening programs that are about 75 minutes long, performed straight through, followed by informal performances of music curated by Cleveland percussionist Jamey Haddad. Doors open at 5:30 p.m., with bars open to serve drinks and light food. Each concert begins at 7 p.m. and runs without intermission. After the concert, audience members can move to the Bogomolny-Kozerefski Grand Foyer just outside the Concert Hall and sample interesting cuisine, enjoy cocktails, and mingle with musicians while listening to world music.

On October 9, the featured group performing after the concert is Cyro Baptista’s Beat the Donkey, an eight-person world-beat group that takes its name from the Brazilian expression “Pau Na Mula,” meaning “Let’s go, let’s do it!”

Additional Fridays@7 programs this season:
November 20: Cello and Space with Alisa Weilerstein and guest conductor Jonathan Nott

January 8, 2010: Tragedy to Triumph, with guest conductor Jaap van Zweden leading Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4

February 19, 2010: Musical Obsession, with Music Director Franz Welser-Möst conducting orchestral excerpts of music by Richard Wagner

April 30, 2010: Royal Drums & Trumpets, with baroque specialist Bernard Labadie guest-conducting Handel’s Water Music

* * *
The Corporate Sponsor of this concert is Thompson Hine LLP. The Foundation Sponsor of the concert is The Cleveland Foundation.

* * *
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.”

Biographical information on Franz Welser-Möst and Mitsuko Uchida follows at the end of this release.

TICKET PRICES: Orchestra: $71, $47; Dress Circle: $93, $55; Balcony: $71, $55, $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.

PARKING: For evening 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 LISTING:

Friday, October 9, at 7:00 p.m.

Severance Hall

Fridays@7 Concert
New Fridays@7 concerts are performed without intermission, last approximately 75 minutes, and are followed by food, drinks, mingling with musicians, and live performances of world music.

THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA
FRANZ WELSER-MÖST, conductor
MITSUKO UCHIDA, piano

BEETHOVEN – Piano Concerto No. 4
BEETHOVEN – Symphony No. 5

Ticket Prices: $31-$93 – Call (216) 231-1111 or 800-686-1141, or order online at clevelandorchestra.com

Season Sponsor: UBS
Corporate Sponsor: Thomson Hine LLP
Foundation Sponsor: The Cleveland Foundation

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.

Mitsuko Uchida
Mitsuko Uchida’s interpretations of a wide range of repertoire have gained her a formidable reputation as a pianist who brings intellectual acuity and musical insight to her performances. She is particularly noted for her interpretations of Mozart and Schubert, both in the concert hall and on CD, and also has illuminated the music of Berg, Schoenberg, Webern, and Boulez.

Ms. Uchida made her Cleveland Orchestra debut in February 1990, and has since performed with the Orchestra at Severance Hall, at the Blossom Festival, and on tour to Europe and Japan. In October, she will join the Orchestra during its European Tour for performances of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 in Luxembourg and Vienna. Ms. Uchida made her Cleveland Orchestra conducting debut in March 1998. From 2002 to 2007, she served as artist-in-residence with the Orchestra, and performed a cycle of Mozart’s piano concertos, conducting from the keyboard. Her most recent appearances with the Orchestra were in performances of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 25, under the direction of Colin Davis, at Severance Hall in April 2009. Ms. Uchida’s recording with The Cleveland Orchestra, as solo pianist and conductor of the Mozart Piano Concertos Nos. 23 and 24, recorded live in concert at Severance Hall in December 2008, has just been released.

During recent seasons, Mitsuko Uchida has been giving performances of Beethoven’s last three piano sonatas, and Opus numbers 101 and 106 (“Hammerklavier”), including a critically acclaimed performance at Royal Festival Hall in London.

Mitsuko Uchida performs throughout the world with many different musical partners. In March 2009, she toured Europe with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Esa-Pekka Salonen, as soloist in the Schoenberg Piano Concerto. In addition to appearing as a regular guest artist at both the Salzburg Mozartwoche and the Salzburg Festival, she gave concerts this year with the Vienna Philharmonic and the Hagen Quartet and performed in recital with soprano Magdalena Kožená. This season, Ms. Uchida continues her focus on Beethoven, performing all five of his piano concertos with Simon Rattle during a month’s residency with the Berlin Philharmonic in February 2010. She will also be participating in a European concert tour with the London Philharmonic Orchestra; giving solo recitals in Paris, New York, and Tokyo; returning to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra; and appearing at the Vienna Festival with Pierre Boulez and the Ensemble Intercontemporain performing Berg’s Chamber Concerto with violinist Christian Tetzlaff. She will also embark on a recording project of solo piano works by Schumann.

Mitsuko Uchida records exclusively for Decca, and her recordings include the complete Mozart piano sonatas and piano concertos; the complete Schubert piano sonatas; Debussy’s Etudes; the five Beethoven piano concertos with Kurt Sanderling; a CD of Mozart Sonatas for Piano and Violin with Mark Steinberg, Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin with Ian Bostridge for EMI; the final five Beethoven piano sonatas; and the 2008 recording of Berg’s Chamber Concerto with the Ensemble Intercontemporain, Pierre Boulez, and Christian Tetzlaff. Ms. Uchida’s 2001 recording of the Schoenberg Piano Concerto with Pierre Boulez and The Cleveland Orchestra won four awards, including one from Gramophone for “best concerto recording.” In April 2008, BBC Music Magazine presented its Instrumentalist of the Year and Disc of the Year awards to Ms. Uchida, for her recording of Beethoven’s Sonatas Opus 101 and 106.

Mitsuko Uchida has demonstrated a long-standing commitment to aiding the development of young musicians and is a trustee of the Borletti-Buitoni Trust. She is also co-director, with Richard Goode, of the Marlboro Music Festival. In June 2009, she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.