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The Cleveland Orchestra, under the leadership of Franz Welser-Möst since 2002, is one of the most sought-after performing ensembles in the world. Year after year, the ensemble exemplifies extraordinary artistic excellence, creative programming, and community engagement. In recent years, The New York Times has called Cleveland “the best in America” for its virtuosity, elegance of sound, variety of color, and chamber-like musical cohesion.
Founded by Adella Prentiss Hughes, the Orchestra performed its inaugural concert in December 1918. By the middle of the century, decades of growth and sustained support had turned the ensemble into one of the most admired around the world.
The past decade has seen an increasing number of young people attending concerts, bringing fresh attention to The Cleveland Orchestra’s legendary sound and committed programming. More recently, the Orchestra launched several bold digital projects, including the streaming platform Adella.live and its own recording label. Together, they have captured the Orchestra’s unique artistry and the musical achievements of the Welser-Möst and Cleveland Orchestra partnership.
The 2025–26 season marks Franz Welser-Möst’s 24th year as Music Director, a period in which The Cleveland Orchestra has earned unprecedented acclaim around the world, including a series of residencies at the Musikverein in Vienna, the first of its kind by an American orchestra, and a number of celebrated opera presentations.
Since 1918, seven music directors — Nikolai Sokoloff, Artur Rodziński, Erich Leinsdorf, George Szell, Lorin Maazel, Christoph von Dohnányi, and Franz Welser-Möst — have guided and shaped the ensemble’s growth and sound. Through concerts at home and on tour, broadcasts, and a catalog of acclaimed recordings, The Cleveland Orchestra is heard today by a growing group of fans around the world.
conductor
Daniel Harding is the music and artistic director of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Previously, he was music director of the Orchestre de Paris (2016–19) and principal guest conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra (2007–17). He is honored with the lifetime title of conductor laureate of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, with whom he has worked for over 20 years. Harding recently took up the position of music director of the Youth Music Culture The Greater Bay Area (YMCG) and also began his tenure as music director of the Orchestra and Chorus of the Academia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.
Harding is a regular visitor to the world’s foremost orchestras, including the Wiener Philharmoniker, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Chicago Symphony Orchestra, among others. He is also closely associated with the Aix-en-Provence Festival, where he has conducted new productions of Don Giovanni, The Turn of the Screw, La traviata, and Eugene Onegin.
Harding’s sizeable discography includes Britten’s Billy Budd with the London Symphony Orchestra (winner of a Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording), works by Lutosławski with Solveig Kringelborn and the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, and Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with Frank Peter Zimmermann and the Berliner Philharmoniker. A regular collaborator with Harmonia Mundi, his latest recordings with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra include The Wagner Project with Matthias Goerne, Mahler’s Fifth and Ninth symphonies, and Brahms’s Ein Deutsches Requiem.
In 2002, Harding was awarded the title Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government and in 2017, was nominated to the position of Officier Arts et Lettres. He was elected a member of The Royal Swedish Academy of Music in 2012 and was awarded a CBE in the 2021 New Year Honours. Additionally, Harding is a qualified airline pilot.
Learn More
Now in its 74th season, The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus is celebrated for its versatility and refined musicianship, appearing regularly with The Cleveland Orchestra at Severance and Blossom Music Center. As one of the few all-volunteer, professionally trained choruses affiliated with a major American orchestra, it received the 2019–20 Distinguished Service Award, recognizing extraordinary service to the Orchestra.
Visit cochorus.com for more information on the Chorus and auditions.
Composer
One of the 20th century’s grandest and most moving calls for peace is taken up by The Cleveland Orchestra, two of TCO’s choruses, and three preeminent vocalists, all under the baton of Daniel Harding. Born from the horrors of two world wars, Britten’s searing War Requiem intersperses the Latin Requiem text with haunting antiwar poems by British poet and soldier Wilfred Owen. It’s a powerfully emotional experience that you will not soon forget.
There will be a concert preview presentation one hour prior to the concert in Mandel Concert Hall with Jamie O'Leary, Frederick R. Selch Associate Professor of Musicology, Oberlin Conservatory.
We offer a variety of concessions before and after the concert, as well as during intermission.
*Donor exclusive lounge areas. Learn more about becoming a donor
Below is a list of the features and services available in at Severance for this concert. You may also request assistance in advance of a concert by calling the Severance Ticket Office at 216-231-1111 or 800-686-1141 or create a request using the button below.
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