Now in his 24th season, Franz Welser-Möst continues to shape an unmistakable sound culture as Music Director of The Cleveland Orchestra. Under his leadership, the Orchestra has earned repeated international acclaim for its musical excellence, reaffirmed its strong commitment to new music, and brought opera back to the stage of Severance Music Center. In recent years, the Orchestra also launched its own streaming platform, Adella.live, and a recording label. Today, it boasts one of the youngest audiences in the United States.

In addition to residencies in the US and Europe, Welser-Möst and the Orchestra perform regularly at the world’s leading international festivals. Welser-Möst will remain Music Director until 2027, making him the longest-serving music director of The Cleveland Orchestra.

Welser-Möst enjoys a particularly close and productive artistic partnership with the Vienna Philharmonic. He regularly conducts the orchestra in subscription concerts at the Vienna Musikverein, at the Salzburg Festival, and on tour in Europe, Japan, China, and the US, and has appeared three times on the podium for their celebrated New Year’s Concert (2011, 2013, and 2023). At the Salzburg Festival, Welser- Möst has set new standards in interpretation as an opera conductor, with a special focus on the operas of Richard Strauss.

Among Welser-Möst’s many honors and awards, he was named an Honorary Member of the Vienna Philharmonic in 2024, one of the orchestra’s highest distinctions.

Violinist Liyuan Xie is a recent graduate of the New England Conservatory (NEC), where he studied with Miriam Fried. He holds a bachelor’s degree from NEC and previously studied with Binyou Zhou at the middle school affiliated with the Shanghai Conservatory.

Since his solo orchestral debut at age 11, Xie has collaborated regularly with the Shanghai Philharmonic, Shanghai Opera Orchestra, Shanghai Chamber Orchestra, Qingdao Symphony, Nanjing Philharmonic Orchestra, and many others. Recent concert engagements include performances of the Beethoven and Mendelssohn violin concertos with the Nanjing Philharmonic Orchestra, Bruch’s First Violin Concerto with the Brookline Symphony Orchestra, and the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto and J.S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos with the Apollo Ensemble of Boston.

Xie has participated in numerous prestigious festivals including the Verbier Festival, Tanglewood Music Festival, Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, and the New York String Orchestra’s 50th Anniversary. He has performed as a guest violinist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at the Tanglewood Music Festival and as guest assistant principal second violin with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. As concertmaster, he has performed with the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, Verbier Festival Academy Orchestra, Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra, National Youth Orchestra of China, as well as NEC’s Symphony, Philharmonia, and Chamber Orchestra.

Internationally renowned conductor Tugan Sokhiev divides his time between the symphonic and operatic repertoire, guest conducting the most prestigious orchestras around the world.

Sokhiev enjoys close relationships with orchestras such as the Vienna, Berlin, and Munich philharmonics, the orchestras of the Dresden and Berlin Staatskapelle, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Gewand­hausorchester Leipzig. Outside Europe, he is invited to conduct the finest US orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Boston and Chicago symphony orchestras, and spends several weeks each season with the NHK Symphony Orchestra. As music director of the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse from 2008 to 2022, Sokhiev led numerous successful concert seasons, including several world premieres and numerous tours abroad, propelling the orchestra to international prominence.

Sokhiev began the 2025–26 season conducting the Vienna Philharmonic, with concerts in Vienna, Bratislava, Hamburg, and Luxembourg, and rejoined the orchestra in October for their gala concert on the occasion of the 200th birthday of Johann Strauss, Jr. Further highlights of the season include concerts with the Berlin Philharmonic, his debut with The Cleveland Orchestra, a new production of Tannhäuser at the Zurich Opera, and returns to the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Luxembourg Philharmonic, and the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.

Sokhiev’s discography includes recordings with the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse on Naïve and Warner Classics, winning the Diapason d’Or in 2020. His recordings with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, where he was principal conductor from 2012 to 2016, are available on Sony Classical.

One of the last students of legendary teacher Ilya Musin at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, Sokhiev is eager to share his expertise with future generations of musicians, leading him in 2016 to found the International Conducting Academy in Toulouse. He also works with the young musicians of the Angelika Prokopp Summer Academy of the Vienna Philharmonic and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra Academy. He is honored to be a patron of the Philharmonic Brass Education Program and was extremely proud to collaborate with the Philhar­monic Brass on their first CD.

Now in his 24th season, Franz Welser-Möst continues to shape an unmistakable sound culture as Music Director of The Cleveland Orchestra. Under his leadership, the Orchestra has earned repeated international acclaim for its musical excellence, reaffirmed its strong commitment to new music, and brought opera back to the stage of Severance Music Center. In recent years, the Orchestra also launched its own streaming platform, Adella.live, and a recording label. Today, it boasts one of the youngest audiences in the United States.

In addition to residencies in the US and Europe, Welser-Möst and the Orchestra perform regularly at the world’s leading international festivals. Welser-Möst will remain Music Director until 2027, making him the longest-serving music director of The Cleveland Orchestra.

Welser-Möst enjoys a particularly close and productive artistic partnership with the Vienna Philharmonic. He regularly conducts the orchestra in subscription concerts at the Vienna Musikverein, at the Salzburg Festival, and on tour in Europe, Japan, China, and the US, and has appeared three times on the podium for their celebrated New Year’s Concert (2011, 2013, and 2023). At the Salzburg Festival, Welser- Möst has set new standards in interpretation as an opera conductor, with a special focus on the operas of Richard Strauss.

Among Welser-Möst’s many honors and awards, he was named an Honorary Member of the Vienna Philharmonic in 2024, one of the orchestra’s highest distinctions.

Violinist Liyuan Xie is a recent graduate of the New England Conservatory (NEC), where he studied with Miriam Fried. He holds a bachelor’s degree from NEC and previously studied with Binyou Zhou at the middle school affiliated with the Shanghai Conservatory.

Since his solo orchestral debut at age 11, Xie has collaborated regularly with the Shanghai Philharmonic, Shanghai Opera Orchestra, Shanghai Chamber Orchestra, Qingdao Symphony, Nanjing Philharmonic Orchestra, and many others. Recent concert engagements include performances of the Beethoven and Mendelssohn violin concertos with the Nanjing Philharmonic Orchestra, Bruch’s First Violin Concerto with the Brookline Symphony Orchestra, and the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto and J.S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos with the Apollo Ensemble of Boston.

Xie has participated in numerous prestigious festivals including the Verbier Festival, Tanglewood Music Festival, Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, and the New York String Orchestra’s 50th Anniversary. He has performed as a guest violinist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at the Tanglewood Music Festival and as guest assistant principal second violin with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. As concertmaster, he has performed with the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, Verbier Festival Academy Orchestra, Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra, National Youth Orchestra of China, as well as NEC’s Symphony, Philharmonia, and Chamber Orchestra.

Internationally renowned conductor Tugan Sokhiev divides his time between the symphonic and operatic repertoire, guest conducting the most prestigious orchestras around the world.

Sokhiev enjoys close relationships with orchestras such as the Vienna, Berlin, and Munich philharmonics, the orchestras of the Dresden and Berlin Staatskapelle, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Gewand­hausorchester Leipzig. Outside Europe, he is invited to conduct the finest US orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Boston and Chicago symphony orchestras, and spends several weeks each season with the NHK Symphony Orchestra. As music director of the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse from 2008 to 2022, Sokhiev led numerous successful concert seasons, including several world premieres and numerous tours abroad, propelling the orchestra to international prominence.

Sokhiev began the 2025–26 season conducting the Vienna Philharmonic, with concerts in Vienna, Bratislava, Hamburg, and Luxembourg, and rejoined the orchestra in October for their gala concert on the occasion of the 200th birthday of Johann Strauss, Jr. Further highlights of the season include concerts with the Berlin Philharmonic, his debut with The Cleveland Orchestra, a new production of Tannhäuser at the Zurich Opera, and returns to the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Luxembourg Philharmonic, and the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.

Sokhiev’s discography includes recordings with the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse on Naïve and Warner Classics, winning the Diapason d’Or in 2020. His recordings with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, where he was principal conductor from 2012 to 2016, are available on Sony Classical.

One of the last students of legendary teacher Ilya Musin at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, Sokhiev is eager to share his expertise with future generations of musicians, leading him in 2016 to found the International Conducting Academy in Toulouse. He also works with the young musicians of the Angelika Prokopp Summer Academy of the Vienna Philharmonic and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra Academy. He is honored to be a patron of the Philharmonic Brass Education Program and was extremely proud to collaborate with the Philhar­monic Brass on their first CD.