News Release
Bertrand de Billy makes his Cleveland Orchestra debut
in program featuring Dvořák’s “New World” Symphony
at Severance Hall on November 27 and 28
Jonathan Biss is soloist in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 9 (“Jeunehomme”)
CLEVELAND, October 28, 2009 – French conductor Bertrand de Billy, music director of the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, will make his debut with The Cleveland Orchestra conducting a program featuring Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9 (“From the New World”) in Thanksgiving weekend concerts at Severance Hall on Friday, November 27, and Saturday, November 28, at 8:00 p.m. (He will also conduct the Orchestra’s Musically Speaking concert on Sunday, November 29, at 3:00 p.m.) For the November 27 and 28 concerts, Jonathan Biss will return to Severance Hall to perform Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 9 (“Jeunehomme”), K. 271, with the Orchestra.
The program for November 27 and 28 begins with Ludwig van Beethoven’s Overture to Egmont, Opus 84, followed by Wolfgang Amadè Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 9 in E-flat major (“Jeunehomme”), K. 271. After intermission, the program concludes with Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Opus 95 (“From the New World”).
Jonathan Biss’s appearance with The Cleveland Orchestra is made possible by a contribution to the Orchestra’s Gust Artist Fund from The Payne 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.”
Biographical information on Bertrand de Billy and Jonathan Biss follows at the end of this release.
TICKET PRICES (Add $5 for Saturday): Orchestra: $66, $44; Dress Circle: $87, $51; Balcony: $66, $51, $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 before the concert.
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.
FREE CONCERT PREVIEWS: Concert Previews will be given prior to the November 27 and 28 concerts, beginning at 7:00 p.m., in Reinberger Chamber Hall. James Feddeck, Cleveland Orchestra assistant conductor, will give the Preview, titled “New Worlds and New Sounds.” 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.
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. 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.
Calendar Listings
Friday, November 27, at 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, November 28, at 8:00 p.m.
Severance Hall
THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA
BERTRAND de BILLY, conductor
JONATHAN BISS, piano
BEETHOVEN – Overture to Egmont
MOZART – Piano Concerto No. 9 (“Jeunehomme”), K. 271
DVOŘÁK – Symphony No. 9 (“From the New World”)
Ticket Prices: $31-$92 – Call (216) 231-1111 or 800-686-1141
Season Sponsor: UBS
Guest Artist Fund: The Payne Fund
Concert Preview, in Reinberger Chamber Hall beginning at 7:00 p.m.: “New Worlds and New Sounds,” given by James Feddeck, Cleveland Orchestra assistant conductor
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
Bertrand de Billy
French conductor Bertrand de Billy, music director of the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, will make his Cleveland Orchestra debut with the concerts of November 27, 28, and 29, 2009. Born in Paris in 1965, Bertrand de Billy studied violin and viola, sang in a boys’ choir, and began his professional career as an orchestra member. In 1986, he began a four-season tenure as conductor of the Orchestre Symphonique des Jeunesse en Ile de France. He subsequently became conductor and deputy music director of the Anhaltisches Theater in Dessau, Germany, and in 1996, the Volksoper Vienna. From 1999 to 2004, Mr. de Billy was music director of the newly re-opened Teatro del Liceu in Barcelona.
Bertrand de Billy has conducted at the state opera houses in Berlin, Hamburg, and Munich; London’s Royal Opera; National Opera in Paris; Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels; and Vienna State Opera; and at the Los Angeles Opera, Metropolitan Opera, and Washington Opera in this country. At the Vienna State Opera, he was responsible for several new productions, including the complete French version of Verdi’s Don Carlos. In 2002, Mr. de Billy made his debut at the Salzburg Festival with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, conducting Mozart’s The Magic Flute. That year he also became principal conductor of the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, with which he has performed many operas at Vienna’s Theater an der Wien.
Mr. de Billy’s extensive discography includes the symphonies of Beethoven and Mahler; French orchestral music; Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte, Don Giovanni, and The Marriage of Figaro; the tone poems of Richard Strauss; and Wagner’s Ring cycle. His recording of Puccini’s La Bohème with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra was used as the soundtrack for the film of the same name.
Bertrand de Billy has conducted nearly all the orchestral works of Dutilleux and Messiaen, as well as world premieres of pieces by Friedrich Cerha and Johannes Maria Staud. Mr. de Billy also regularly leads performances of music by Luciano Berio, HK Gruber, Hans Werner Henze, György Kurtág, Wolfgang Rihm, Jörg Widmann, and Bernd Alois Zimmermann.
For more information, visit www.debilly.com.
Jonathan Biss
American pianist Jonathan Biss is known for his prodigious technique, diverse repertoire, artistic maturity, and versatility. He made his Cleveland Orchestra debut in November 2007.
Jonathan Biss represents the third generation in a family of professional musicians that includes his grandmother, the cellist Raya Garbousova, and his parents, violinist Miriam Fried and violist/violinist Paul Biss. Jonathan Biss began studying piano at age six, and his first musical collaborations were with his parents. He studied at Indiana University with Evelyne Brancart and at the Curtis Institute of Music with Leon Fleisher. In 2000-2001, Mr. Biss made both his New York recital debut and his New York Philharmonic debut.
Mr. Biss has received many honors, including the 2002 Gilmore Young Artist Award, Wolf Trap’s Shouse Debut Artist Award, the Andrew Wolf Memorial Chamber Music Award, Lincoln Center’s Martin E. Segal Award, an Avery Fisher Career Grant, the 2003 Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award, and the Leonard Bernstein Award at the 2005 Schleswig-Holstein Festival.
In repertoire ranging from Beethoven to Schoenberg, as well as new music including commissions from Leon Kirchner and Lewis Spratlan, Jonathan Biss has performed with the orchestras of Detroit, Houston, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh, and on a European tour with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. In recent seasons, he made his debuts with the Bilbao Orkestra Sinfonikoa, London Philharmonic Orchestra, NDR Hamburg, Philharmonia Orchestra, and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. This past summer, he toured Japan with the NHK Orchestra and performed with the Melbourne Symphony.
In the 80th birthday celebrations of Leon Fleisher in October 2008, Mr. Biss joined pianists Yefim Bronfman, Katherine Jacobson Fleisher, and Mr. Fleisher in concerts in New York, Boston, and Baltimore. The pianists played both individually and in piano four-hand combinations.
Mr. Biss has been a member of Chamber Music Society Two at Lincoln Center, a frequent participant at the Marlboro Music Festival, and a collaborator with such ensembles as the Borromeo and Mendelssohn quartets as well as with violinist Midori and cellist Johannes Moser.
Mr. Biss’s recordings for EMI Classics include works by Mozart and Schumann. He received an Edison Award for his disc of Beethoven’s piano sonatas and a Diapason d’Or de l’année for a CD of music by Schumann.
For more information, visit www.jonathanbiss.com.
