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
The 2025–26 season continues Santtu-Matias Rouvali’s tenures as principal conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra and honorary conductor of the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, close to his home in Finland.
Throughout the current and previous seasons, he continues his relationships with top-level orchestras and soloists across Europe, including the Berliner Philharmoniker, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. He also returns to North America for concerts with The Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, and The Philadelphia Orchestra.
Continuing their strong touring tradition, Rouvali and the Philharmonia Orchestra toured the United States in October 2025 and were joined by Clara-Yumi Kang for a tour of Korea in December 2025. In January 2026, they embarked on an extensive tour of Europe with concerts in Brussels, Frankfurt, Munich, and Vienna, among others.
The 2024–25 season marked the conclusion of Rouvali’s tenure as chief conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra after a successful eight years. It was marked by a tour to Germany and the Czech Republic, followed by a celebration concert in Gothenburg. He completed his Sibelius symphony cycle recording with Alpha Classics, the previous releases of which have been highly acclaimed, receiving the Gramophone Editor’s Choice Award, Les Chocs de Classica, a prize from the German Record Critics, the prestigious French Diapason d’Or Découverte, and Radio Classique’s TROPHÉE.
Philharmonia Records’s first recording, the double CD album Santtu Conducts Strauss, was released in March 2023 following recent releases of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake and Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony. Santtu Conducts Mahler — the second album from Philharmonia Records, featuring Mahler’s Second Symphony — was released in September 2023 followed by Santtu Conducts Stravinsky on the same label in March 2024. Another prominent recording — featuring Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with Benjamin Grosvenor, Nicola Benedetti, and Sheku Kanneh-Mason — was released on Decca in May 2024.
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