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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.
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Petr Popelka’s 2025–26 season is underscored by the Wiener Symphoniker’s 125th anniversary celebration, with a gala concert followed by tours throughout Europe and Asia. In addition to various performances at the Wiener Konzerthaus and Musikverein, Popelka and the Symphoniker will launch the second edition of their “Primavera da Vienna” festival in Trieste, following its success last season.
Further highlights of the season include Popelka’s debuts with the Berlin Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, and Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, as well as his returns to The Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. With the Czech Philharmonic, he will embark on a summer festival tour to Grafenegg and the George Enescu Festival.
As an acclaimed opera conductor, Popelka will lead a new production of Strauss, Jr.’s Die Fledermaus with the Wiener Symphoniker at the Theater an der Wien. Furthermore, he will conduct Tosca at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin and return to the Bayerische Staatsoper for Rusalka during the 2026 Munich Opera Festival.
Previous debuts have taken Popelka to the Staatskapelle Berlin, Staatskapelle Dresden, Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, and the NHK Symphony Orchestra, among others. Last season, he appeared in prestigious televised concerts such as the Czech Philharmonic’s Velvet Revolution concert and the 2024 Nobel Prize Concert with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. In the opera pit, he made guest appearances at the Zurich Opera House (Mozart’s Don Giovanni), Bayerische Staatsoper (Janáček’s Káťa Kabanová), Deutsche Oper Berlin (Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde), Semperoper Dresden (Shostakovich’s The Nose), and Theater an der Wien (Weinberger’s Schwanda the Bagpiper).
Popelka began his conducting career during the 2019–20 season after serving as deputy principal double bassist at the Staatskapelle Dresden from 2010 to 2019. Shortly after, he was appointed chief conductor at the Norwegian Radio Orchestra in Oslo (2020–23). He received his musical training in his hometown of Prague and in Freiburg.
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