NEWS RELEASE
Cleveland Orchestra to perform 30th annual
Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Concert on January 17
Music Director Franz Welser-Möst to lead free program at Severance Hall featuring the Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Chorus, the Central State University Chorus, and Sphinx Competition prizewinner Tony Rymer
Mayor Frank G. Jackson to participate in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Community Service Award presentation
Pre-concert talk with James Rose to begin at 6:00 p.m.
Concert to be broadcast live on WCLV, WCPN, and WNWV radio stations
CLEVELAND, December 17, 2009 – The Musical Arts Association and Mayor Frank G. Jackson today announced The Cleveland Orchestra’s 30th annual concert in celebration of the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. The concert will take place at Severance Hall on Sunday, January 17, 2010, at 7:00 p.m., under the direction of Franz Welser-Möst. The program will feature selections by Ludwig van Beethoven, Antonín Dvořák, and Aaron Copland, as well as spirituals and gospel songs. Performing as cello soloist in this year’s celebration concert is Sphinx Competition prizewinner Tony Rymer. The Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Chorus and the Central State University Chorus, prepared by William Henry Caldwell, also will participate.
The Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Chorus is a 125-member volunteer chorus from the greater Cleveland community, and the internationally acclaimed Central State University Chorus (directed by William Henry Caldwell) is the official choir of Central State University, located in Wilberforce, Ohio. Cellist Tony Rymer, first-prize winner from the 2009 Sphinx Competition for Black and Latino string players, Senior Division, will make his Cleveland Orchestra debut as soloist in a performance of Dvořák’s Cello Concerto in B minor, Opus 104 (First Movement). The Orchestra’s performance of Bernstein’s “One Hand, One Heart” from West Side Story features two students from John Hay High School: soprano Imaris Rivera and tenor Martin Parries.
Program details are given at the end of this release.
Pre-concert Talk with James Rose
James Rose, vice president, sales and national accounts for OEConnections, will give the pre-concert talk, beginning at 6:00 p.m. in the Concert Hall. The talk is free to ticket holders for the evening’s concert. A native of Detroit, Mr. Rose has served as mentor for Detroit Symphony Youth Orchestra musicians for more than 16 years, played horn with the Detroit Metropolitan Orchestra, and has been involved with the national Sphinx Competition.
Community Service Awards to be Presented at Concert
In cooperation with the City of Cleveland, The Cleveland Orchestra and the Greater Cleveland Partnership will present the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Community Service Awards at the Orchestra’s 2010 Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Concert. Awards will be presented in recognition of the services and achievements of an individual, a business or organization, and a youth who have positively impacted Cleveland in the spirit of the teachings and example of Dr. King.
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The Cleveland Orchestra’s first Martin Luther King Jr. Concerts were performed at Severance Hall, from 1980 through 1986. From 1987 through 1997, the concerts took place at Cleveland’s Cory United Methodist Church. In January 1998, the concert was performed at Severance Hall, and in 1999 it was performed at Cory Church. Beginning with the January 16, 2000, performance, which was part of a six-week series of concerts and other events celebrating the reopening of Severance Hall following a $36.7 million renovation and expansion, the concert has continued to be performed at Severance Hall.
Admission to the concert is free, but tickets are required. Tickets will be available on a first-come, first-served basis beginning Saturday, December 26, 2009, through the Severance Hall Ticket Office. Patrons can stop by the Ticket Office Saturday between 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., Monday through Friday between 9:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., or call the Ticket Office at (216) 231-1111 or 1-800-686-1141. A limited number of tickets will also be available via the Cleveland Orchestra website at clevelandorchestra.com. There is a limit of 2 tickets per person. Beginning at 7:00 p.m., the concert will be broadcast live by radio stations WCLV (104.9 FM), WCPN (90.3 FM), and WNWV (107.3 FM).
The concert is sponsored by KeyBank, a Cleveland Orchestra Partner in Excellence, with additional support from The Cleveland Foundation. The musicians of The Cleveland Orchestra donate their services for this concert as a benefit to the Musical Arts Association Sustaining Fund.
Biographical information on Franz Welser-Möst, Tony Rymer, the Sphinx Competition, and William Henry Caldwell follows.
CALENDAR LISTING
Sunday, January 17, 2010 at 7:00 p.m.
(Pre-Concert Talk by James Rose at 6:00 p.m. in the Concert Hall)
Severance Hall, 11001 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland
Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Concert
THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA
FRANZ WELSER-MÖST, conductor
TONY RYMER, cello
IMARIS RIVERA, soprano
MARTIN PARRIES, baritone
MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. CELEBRATION CHORUS
(prepared by William Henry Caldwell)
CENTRAL STATE UNIVERSITY CHORUS
(William Henry Caldwell, director)
JOHN STAFFORD SMITH – The Star-Spangled Banner
ROLAND CARTER – Lift Every Voice and Sing
AARON COPLAND – Variations on a Shaker Melody from Appalachian Spring
ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK – “Allegro” from Cello Concerto in B minor, Opus 104
TONY RYMER, cello
FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN – Awake the Harp from “The Creation”
LEONARD BERNSTEIN – “One Hand, One Heart” from West Side Story
IMARIS RIVERA, soprano
MARTIN PARRIES, baritone
NIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOV – Slava (“Glory”) for Chorus and Orchestra, Opus 21
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN – “Leonore” Overture No. 3, Opus 72b
STACIE GIBBS – Way Over in Beulah Land
NORMAN LUBOFF – Kyrie from the African Mass
GLEN JONES – Heaven Bound Soldier
UZEE BROWN, JR. – We Shall Overcome
GLENN BURLEIGH – Order My Steps
CHARLES H. GABRIEL – His Eye is on the Sparrow (arr. Neal Gittleman)
ALVIN PARRIS – I’m So Glad I’m Free
Presented by the City of Cleveland, the Greater Cleveland Partnership, and The Cleveland Orchestra. Sponsored by KeyBank, a Cleveland Orchestra Partner in Excellence, with additional support from The Cleveland Foundation.
Admission to the concert is free, but tickets are required. Tickets are available beginning on Saturday, December 26, at the Cleveland Orchestra Ticket Office at (216) 231-1111 and online at clevelandorchestra.com. Beginning at 7:00 p.m., the concert will be broadcast live by radio stations WCLV (104.9 FM), WCPN (90.3 FM), and WNWV (107.3 FM).
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. Concurrent 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. During the 2009-10 season, Mr. Welser-Möst and the Orchestra begin a residency at Indiana University.
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 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’sCosì 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.
Tony Rymer
Cellist Tony Rymer, a native of Boston, began playing cello at age five and is a graduate of the Walnut Hill Arts School in Natick, Massachusetts. He was a prize winner in the Longy School of Music and New England Conservatory preparatory concerto competitions, as well as the New England String Ensemble competition, and was a finalist in the Stulberg International String Competition in 2008.
A laureate numerous times in the Sphinx competition, Tony Rymer won first place in the 2009 senior division. As a Project STEP scholarship student from 1996 to 2007, he was awarded the Kravitz scholarship in 2007. One of the first recipients of the Jack Kent Cooke Award on From the Top, Mr. Rymer performed on the show in June 2005 with the Project STEP String Quartet.
Mr. Rymer has had a private lesson with Yo-Yo Ma in addition to performing in masterclasses for artists including Anner Bylsma, Jaime Laredo, and Pieter Wispelwey. Mr. Rymer attends the New England Conservatory in Boston and studies with Paul Katz as the recipient of the Laurence Lesser Presidential Scholarship.
Mr. Rymer plays a Domenico Degani cello made in 1862, on loan from Gradoux-Matt Rare Violins.
Sphinx Competition
The Sphinx Competition, held every year in Ann Arbor and Detroit, Michigan, is a program of the Sphinx Organization, a national arts organization that focuses on youth and minority involvement in classical music. The competition is open to all junior-high, high-school, and college-age Black and Latino string players residing in the United States. The purpose of the competition is to offer these young musicians an opportunity to compete under the guidance of an internationally renowned panel of judges and to perform with established professional musicians in a competition setting. Its primary goals are to encourage, develop, and recognize classical music talent in the Black and Latino communities.
The Cleveland Orchestra began its association with the Sphinx Organization in the 2001-02 season to support the development of African-American and Latino orchestral musicians. While in Cleveland, the Sphinx Laureates assist the Orchestra’s education and community relations efforts, often by participating in school visits in Cleveland and East Cleveland public schools and presentations at community sites such as libraries, community centers, and bookstores. These presentations are designed to increase interest, awareness, and knowledge of classical music.
More information about the Sphinx Competition is available at www.sphinxmusic.org.
William Henry Caldwell
William Henry Caldwell is associate professor of music and director of vocal and choral activities at Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio. Under his direction, the Central State University Chorus has performed with the Cincinnati May Festival Orchestra, Cincinnati Pops, Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Indianapolis Pops. In addition, the Chorus has performed in major venues throughout the United Kingdom and France. The Chorus and Mr. Caldwell appear on several Telarc recordings, including Amen: A Gospel Celebration, which was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1994.
Mr. Caldwell also regularly performs as a baritone soloist and has appeared in the United Kingdom, Germany, Egypt, and Italy. He has been a soloist with the Blue Ash Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Pops, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Dayton Bach Society Orchestra, and the Dayton Philharmonic in performances of Mozart’s Mass in C minor, K. 427, and “Coronation” Mass, K. 317.
Mr. Caldwell graduated magna cum laude from Stillman College, and has attended the University of Texas at Austin, Ohio State University, and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. His teachers have included James Arthur Williams, Willa Stewart, David Garvey, Walter Ducloux, Andrew White, and William McGraw. Mr. Caldwell is choral director of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Xenia, Ohio.
