NEWS RELEASE
Franz Welser-Möst leads The Cleveland Orchestra
in third “Musically Speaking” concert of the season,
focusing on Mozart’s “Haffner” Serenade,
at Severance Hall on March 7
Actor John de Lancie created the script for the program and serves as narrator
Actors portray Mozart, his father, mother, and sister, and additional roles
CLEVELAND, February 15, 2010 – Music Director Franz Welser-Möst will conduct The Cleveland Orchestra in the third and final concert in its 2009-10 “Musically Speaking” series of Sunday afternoon concerts on March 7 at 3:00 p.m. The program will focus on a single work: Mozart’s Serenade No. 7 in D major, K. 250 (“Haffner”). Actor and director John de Lancie will serve as narrator. Cleveland Orchestra First Associate Concertmaster Peter Otto will be violin soloist in the “Haffner” Serenade. Cleveland Orchestra Principal Keyboard Joela Jones will perform Mozart excerpts to illustrate points being made by Mr. de Lancie, and Austrian tenor Martin Mitterrutzner, who makes his Cleveland Orchestra debut in a Friday Matinee program on Friday, March 5, at 11 a.m. as soloist in arias from three Mozart operas, will appear as well.
At age 20, Mozart composed the Serenade in D major, K. 250, in Salzburg in July 1776. The Serenade was commissioned for the wedding of Marie Elisabeth Haffner, daughter of Salzburg businessman and mayor, Sigmund Haffner (1699-1772). The first performance of the work was given on July 21, 1776, the evening before Marie Elisabeth’s wedding.
The first half of the March 7 program will feature narration and numerous musical excerpts that present the “Haffner” Serenade in the context of Mozart’s early life and work. Actor and director John de Lancie wrote the script for this first portion of the program, and will serve as narrator. Mr. de Lancie previously appeared with The Cleveland Orchestra in September 2007, as narrator in performances of Grieg’s incidental music to Peer Gynt, under the direction of Vladimir Ashkenazy. The other actors appearing in the first half of the program, each making their Cleveland Orchestra debut, are Nicholas Pappone as Wolfgang Amadè Mozart; Mark Blum as his father, Leopold; Marni Mosiman as Mozart’s mother, Anna Maria, his sister, Maria Anna (“Nannerl”), and Marie Elisabeth Haffner; and Steve Vinovich as Sigmund Haffner, among other roles.
After intermission, the Orchestra will perform the “Haffner” Serenade in its entirety, straight through. Listeners are invited to stay after the concert for a question-and-answer session with guest artists and musicians.
Free Prelude Concert
Another aspect of the “Musically Speaking” series is the Prelude Concert of chamber music performances given by members of the Orchestra in Reinberger Chamber Hall beginning at 2:00 p.m. These extremely popular programs highlight interesting connections with the music on the program for that afternoon’s Orchestra concert. The March 7 Prelude Concert features violinist Leon Lazarev and pianist Carolyn Gadiel Warner performing Mozart’s Six Variations in G minor on “Hélas, j’ai perdu mon amant,” K. 360, as well as chamber music by Mozart performed by pianist Joela Jones, violinists Takako Masame and Miho Hashizume, violist Lynne Ramsey, and cellist Ralph Curry.
* * *
Biographical information on Franz Welser-Möst, John de Lancie, Peter Otto, and Martin Mitterrutzner follows at the end of this release. Biographical information on Joela Jones, Nicholas Pappone, Mark Blum, Marni Mosiman, and Steve Vinovich is available on request..
“Musically Speaking” is made possible in part through the generous support of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the William J. and Dorothy K. O’Neill 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.
TICKET PRICES: 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
Monday – Friday 9-6
Saturday 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 and 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 online.
Calendar Listing
Sunday, March 7, at 3:00 p.m.
Severance Hall
THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA
FRANZ WELSER-MÖST, conductor (second half only)
TITO MUÑOZ, conductor (first half only)
JOHN de LANCIE, narrator
PETER OTTO, violin
JOELA JONES, piano
MARTIN MITTERRUTZNER, tenor
NICHOLAS PAPPONE, actor, as Wolfgang Amadè Mozart
MARK BLUM, actor, as Leopold Mozart
STEVE VINOVICH, actor, as Sigmund Haffner, Archbishop Collerado, etc.
MARNI MOSIMAN, actor, as “Nannerl” Mozart, Marie Elisabeth Haffner, etc.
Musically Speaking
MOZART Serenade No. 7 (“Haffner”), K. 250
Ticket Prices: $31-$82 – Call (216) 231-1111 or 800-686-1141, or order online
Season Sponsor: UBS
“Musically Speaking” is made possible in part through the generous support of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the William J. and Dorothy K. O’Neill Foundation.
March 7 “Musically Speaking” Series Prelude Concert by members of The Cleveland Orchestra in Reinberger Chamber Hall, at 2:00 p.m. Leon Lazarev and Carolyn Warner perform Mozart’s Six Variations in G minor on “Hélas, j’ai perdu mon amant,” K. 360, and Joela Jones, Takako Masame, Miho Hashizume, Lynne Ramsey, and Ralph Curry perform additional chamber music by Mozart.
* * *
Contacts: Jennifer Schlosser, (216) 231-7518; Email: jschlosser@clevelandorchestra.com
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 2011, Mr. Welser-Möst and the Orchestra 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.
* * *
John de Lancie
John de Lancie is an accomplished actor, director, writer, and producer. He made his Cleveland Orchestra debut in September 2007 as narrator for performances of Grieg’s incidental music to Peer Gynt that were conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy.
In addition to his work as an actor and director for film and television, John de Lancie has also earned praise in the world of classical music as a narrator and director on the concert stages of the New York Philharmonic (with Kurt Masur and Sir Colin Davis), the Philadelphia Orchestra and Montreal Symphony Orchestra (with Charles Dutoit), The Cleveland Orchestra (Vladimir Ashkenazy), and the Los Angeles Philharmonic (with Esa-Pekka Salonen). Repertoire that he has adapted for the concert stage includes Peter Gynt (Sibelius), Oedipus Rex and The Nightingale (Stravinsky), The Bourgeois Gentleman (Strauss), Lincoln Portrait (Copland), The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra (Britten), Joan of Arc and King David (Honegger), Incidental Music to Egmont (Beethoven), and Peter and the Wolf (Prokofiev).
Mr. de Lancie was, for four years, host of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s “Symphonies for Youth.” He has written and directed ten symphonic “plays” – ninety-minute programs that are fully staged productions for orchestra. Titles include Romeo and Juliet, Midsummer Night’s Dream (music by Korngold), The Bourgeois Gentleman (Strauss), The Abduction from the Seraglio (music by Mozart), and a vaudeville Carnival of the Animals (music by Saint-Saëns). These works were produced with the orchestras of Milwaukee, Los Angeles, St. Paul, Pasadena, and the Ravinia Festival.
Mr. de Lancie also served as writer, director, and host of “First Nights” an adult concert series at Disney Hall with the Los Angeles Philharmonic that explored the life and music of Stravinsky, Beethoven, Mahler, Schumann, and Prokofiev. These were fully integrated, fully staged productions with orchestra that received critical and popular acclaim.
As a stage director in opera, he has also directed productions of Tosca and Cold Sassy Tree for the Atlanta Opera and Madama Butterfly for San Antonio Opera.
Mr. de Lancie’s credits as an actor on film include The Hand that Rocks the Cradle, The Fisher King, Bad Influence, The Onion Field, Taking Care of Business, Fearless, Multiplicity, Women on Top, Nicholas, Good Advice, Patient 14, The Big Time, Tennius, Reign on Me, and, soon to be released, Pathology, Game, and You. On television, he has been a guest on Hill Street Blues, West Wing, Hark, The Closer, Legend, Judging Amy, Picket Fences, Civil Wars, The Practice, Touched by an Angel, and Star Trek (as Q).
Equally acclaimed for his work on the stage, he has been a member of the American Shakespeare Festival, Seattle Repertory Company, South Coast Repertory, Mark Taper Forum, and the Old Globe Theater where he recently performed in Arthur Miller’s Resurrection Blues. Performances for which he has earned particular acclaim include Man and Superman, The Common Pursuit, Childe Byron, Art, and the recent world premiere of Richard Breenburg’s The Naked Lady on the Appian Way.
John de Lancie is a graduate of Kent State University and the Juilliard School.
Peter Otto
First Associate Concertmaster
The Cleveland Orchestra
Peter Otto joined The Cleveland Orchestra as first associate concertmaster in September 2007. Before joining the Orchestra, he was a member of the first violin section of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, where he served as assistant concertmaster for two seasons. Mr. Otto holds a bachelor of music degree from the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Rostock, Germany, and a master of music degree from the Juilliard School. He has studied with Felix Galimir, Christiane Hutcap, Lewis Kaplan, Vera Kramarowa, Igor Ozim, and Samuel Sanders, and participated in masterclasses of Anne-Sophie Mutter, Igor Oistrakh, and Ruggiero Ricci.
Mr. Otto has taken part in summer festivals including the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival; the Mozarteum Summer Academy in Salzburg, Austria; and the Bowdoin Summer Music Festival in Maine. He was second-prize winner in the 1998 Max Rostal International Violin Competition in Berlin and the 1999 Kingsville Young Performers Competition in Texas.
The March 5 and 7 performances of Mozart’s “Haffner” Serenade mark Peter Otto’s debut as a soloist with The Cleveland Orchestra.
At age ten, Martin Mitterrutzner made his first stage appearance, singing the role of the First Boy in Mozart’s The Magic Flute, John Elliot Gardiner conducting. He later made his debut at the Tiroler Landestheater as Ottokar in Johann Strauss’s The Gypsy Baron directed by Brigitte Fassbänder. Following a series of highly successful guest performances there, he became a member of the Tiroler Landestheater in 2006 and has appeared as Alfred in Johann Strauss’s Die Fledermaus, Pepe in Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, the dancing-master inRichard Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos, Luntha in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The King and I, and Tybald in Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet.
In 2004, Mr. Mitterrutzner sang the role of Bastien in Mozart’s Bastien and Bastienne with the Vienna Classical Players at the Vienna Konzerthaus. The next year, he sang in a concert performance of Massenet’s Hérodiade in Munich, followed by January 2006 performances there as Schmid in Massenet’s Werther. In December 2005 Mr. Mitterrutzner made his debut with Helmuth Rilling and the International Bachakademie in Stuttgart. The following season, he was a soloist in Bach’s Magnificat and Mozart’sCoronation Mass with the IBA in Stuttgart and Italy. Other engagements have included Mozart’s Litaniae Lauretanae and Vesperae solennes at the Bodneseefestival in Friedrichshafen with Juliane Banse and the SWR orchestra, and Mozart’s Mass in C minor at the Dresdner Frauenkirche with the MDR Chorus. In June 2007 Mr. Mitterrutzner made his debut with the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, singing the role of the Youth in Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri.
Mr. Mitterrutzner’s concert repertoire, which extends from early music to modern works, includes J.S. Bach’s Passions, Christmas Oratorio, Magnificat, and various cantatas; Mozart’s religious music; Haydn’s The Creation; and Bruckner’s Mass in F minor.
Beside his work as an opera and concert singer, Mr. Mitterrutzner has gained a reputation as a Lieder singer. In June 2007, he appeared in his first Lieder performance with Annette Seiler at the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, performing music by Brahms, Grieg, and Schumann. This was followed by performances at the Tiroler Landesmuseum in February 2008 and at the Tiroler Landestheater in March 2008, with Lieder by Franz Schubert. In July 2008, he made his debut at the Eppaner Liedsommer, whose artistic director is Brigitte Fassbänder.
