Part of the 2026
100 Points
May 16
May 21
May 24
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.
Music Director
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 annual opera productions 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.
soprano
Sara Jakubiak is renowned for her ability to bring complex characters to life, blending musical understanding with dramatic instincts. Her 2025–26 season is a season of firsts. She makes her La Scala debut in the opening-night production of Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, sings her first Isolde with the London Symphony Orchestra, and opens the Norwegian National Opera season with her role debut as Rusalka.
Recent orchestral highlights include Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Britten’s War Requiem with the Dresden Philharmoniker, and Schoenberg’s Erwartung with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.
Jakubiak also has a significant discography, including the 2020 Opus Klassik Award–winning production of Korngold’s Das Wunder der Heliane with Deutsche Oper Berlin.
Jakubiak hails from Bay City, Michigan and received her university training at Yale and the Cleveland Institute of Music
tenor
David Butt Philip is one of Britain’s most exciting tenors and quickly becoming a firm favorite on major international stages. A graduate of the Jette Parker Young Artist Program at the Royal Opera House, he has earned major critical and public acclaim at the Wiener Staatsoper, Edinburgh International Festival, Bayerische Staatsoper, and Deutsche Oper Berlin, among others.
Highlights of the 2025–26 season include his company and role debut as Siegmund in Die Walküre at Teatro alla Scala, a return to the Wiener Staatsoper as Florestan in Fidelio, Apollo in Daphne with Seattle Opera, The Flying Dutchman and Guerrelieder at the Tokyo Spring Festival, and Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos with the Glyndebourne Festival.
bass-baritone
Polish bass-baritone Tomasz Konieczny regularly appears at the world’s most important opera houses including the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, Teatro Real Madrid, and at the Bayreuth and Salzburg festivals.
Highlights of his 2025–26 season include Arabella and Tristan und Isolde at the Metropolitan, Salome at the Vienna State Opera, and Fidelio at the Bavarian State Opera and with The Cleveland Orchestra.
Konieczny is also a successful concert performer, with a repertoire ranging from J.S. Bach to Penderecki. His discography includes recordings of the Ring cycle and Schubert’s Winterreise, alongside his recent lied CD, From Secession to Distortion.
Konieczny was named Austrian Kammersänger in 2019 and was awarded the Gold Medal for Cultural Merit “Gloria Artis” in 2022.
Bass-baritone Dashon Burton’s 2025–26 season highlights include Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Fidelio with The Cleveland Orchestra. He also sings Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer and Mozart’s Requiem with the New Jersey Symphony, appears with the Bach Choir of Bethlehem, and presents a recital at The Phillips Collection.
Burton received the Grammy Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album in 2021 for Ethyl Smyth’s The Prison with The Experiential Orchestra and has twice won with the vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth, of which he is a founding member. His discography also includes Paul Moravec’s Sanctuary Road and Caroline Shaw’s The Listeners.
Burton holds degrees from Oberlin College and Conservatory and Yale University. He is assistant professor of voice at Vanderbilt University.
Soprano Ashley Emerson is sought after for her effervescent singing and storytelling in repertoire ranging from Vivaldi to Thomas Adès. In the 2025–26 season, Emerson returns to The Cleveland Orchestra for Beethoven’s Fidelio and makes her debut with Anchorage Opera in The Medium and Gianni Schicchi.
Emerson is a veteran of the Metropolitan Opera, where she holds over 220 performance credits. She has also appeared in major roles with Boston Lyric Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Seattle Opera, and Opera National de Bordeaux. In concert, Emerson has appeared with the Tanglewood Festival Orchestra, Brooklyn Art Song Society, Bangor Symphony Orchestra, and ChoralArt of Maine, among others.
Emerson received training at the University of Southern Maine, the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, and the Opera Theatre of St. Louis’s Gerdine Young Artist Program.
Canadian tenor Owen McCausland is increasingly in demand for both operatic and symphonic engagements worldwide.
Recent highlights include Berg’s Wozzeckwith the Canadian Opera Company, Mozart’s Requiem with the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, and Così fan tutte and The Magic Flute with Vancouver Opera. He returns to The Cleveland Orchestra after appearances in Verdi’s Otello and Puccini’s The Girl of the Golden West.
Additional prior engagements include Haydn’s The Creation with the Victoria Symphony, Weill’s The Seven Deadly Sins with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and the world premiere of Matthew Ricketts’s opera Chaakapesh: The Trickster’s Quest with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal under the baton of Kent Nagano.
bass
American bass Raymond Aceto has established a commanding presence among the world’s leading opera companies and symphony orchestras, earning both critical and popular acclaim. Highlights of his 2025–26 season include Dead Man Walking at San Francisco Opera and Dialogues of the Carmelites at The Dallas Opera. Other recent appearances include roles at the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Santa Fe Opera, and Opéra de Montréal.
A graduate of the Metropolitan Opera’s Young Artist Development Program, the Ohio-born bass has appeared frequently with the company since his debut during the 1992–93 season. Among his awards are Richard Tucker Foundation Career Grants and a Sullivan Foundation Award.
baritone
Ronnie Dailey is currently in his fourth season with The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus. He has performed as a soloist in Vaughn Williams’s Dona nobis pacem with the Lorain County Community College Civic Chorale, a soloist in Mozart’s Requiem and Regina coeli, and is a frequent soloist and cantor at Trinity Cathedral in Cleveland and Westminster Presbyterian Church in Akron. In addition, Dailey has served as both vocalist and composer for local ensembles, most recently composing for Singers Company. Dailey studied music education at The University of Akron.
Francisco Prado is in his ninth season with The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus. Previous roles with the Chorus include Peter in J.S. Bach’s St. John Passion, the Steersman in Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, and the wigmaker in Richard Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos. He is also a member of Apollo’s Singers, the chorus for Cleveland’s Grammy Award–winning period-instrument orchestra, Apollo’s Fire. Prado is a graduate of The Cleveland Institute of Music and currently serves as the director of music at St. Rocco Catholic Church.
narrator
Tony F. Sias is the president & CEO of Karamu House, America’s oldest Black producing theater. Under Sias, since 2015, Karamu raised over $14 million for restoration and increased attendance. As a creative, Sias has produced, directed, and performed in over 150 productions. His work has been highlighted nationally in The New York Times, American Theatre Magazine, on NBC’s Today Show with Al Roker, and more.
Sias’s numerous recognitions include the Cleveland Arts Prize (Barbara S. Robinson Prize), Cleveland Magazine’s Community Leader Award, and the Community Leadership Award from the NAACP’s Cleveland Branch. In addition, he serves on the boards of Assembly for the Arts, Cleveland School of the Arts, and the Lake View Cemetery Association.
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
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) was a German composer and pianist whose works revolutionised classical music, bridging the Classical and Romantic eras. His compositions include nine symphonies, numerous concertos, and chamber music that remain cornerstones of Western classical music.
In the gatehouse of a formidable prison, Jaquino, the gatekeeper, tries in vain to win back the affections of the warden’s daughter, Marzelline. She eschews his advances; her heart now belongs to the errand boy, Fidelio. As Marzelline sings of her devotion, Fidelio returns, laden with packages for her father, Rocco. The grateful warden welcomes Fidelio back and reassures him that his extra efforts in pursuit of Marzelline have not gone unnoticed.
Unbeknownst to all, Fidelio is not a lovesick young man, but a woman — Leonore — in disguise, desperate to ingratiate herself with Rocco so that she can find her husband, Florestan. Leonore believes her husband is locked in the prison’s secret cellar, incarcerated two years prior for attempting to expose the crimes of the prison governor, Don Pizarro.
Rocco promises a wedding for Marzelline and Fidelio and dreams of the wealth this union will bring his family. As Fidelio, Leonore plays the eager son-in-law and offers to lighten Rocco’s load by taking on his most harrowing duties. Rocco, however, refuses to discuss the horrific conditions of his most secret prisoner.
Martial music announces the arrival of Don Pizarro and his coterie. Pizarro is shaken to learn that the king’s minister, Don Fernando, is en route to inspect the prison. He knows that Florestan, a good friend of the minister, has not died as the minister believes, because Pizarro himself has been brutally torturing the prisoner for years.
Pizarro resolves to kill Florestan before the visit and enlists Rocco to help weaken the prisoner and dig his grave. Listening in, Leonore is both encouraged to hear that her husband lives and horrified by his impending murder.
On a whim, she asks Rocco to let the prisoners out into the fresh air. He grudgingly agrees, and Marzelline convinces Rocco to distract Pizarro in the meantime. Granted access to the grounds for the first time, the prisoners revel in this fleeting taste of freedom.
In the meantime, Rocco has secured Pizarro’s blessing of Fidelio and Marzelline’s marriage and, with it, a lucrative promotion for Fidelio. With newfound trust in his future son-in-law, Rocco informs Fidelio of Pizarro’s plan to kill and dispose of Florestan.
Pizarro blusters in, having caught wind that the prisoners are in the yard. Rocco makes the necessary excuses, distracting the governor with a reminder of Florestan’s imminent demise. Rocco and Jaquino usher the prisoners back into the dark fortress as Leonore prepares to accompany Rocco down to Florestan’s cell.
Deep in the dark recesses of the prison, Florestan sits alone in his cell, despairing in his fate. A celestial vision of his wife briefly lifts his spirits before he falls asleep.
Rocco and Leonore — still disguised as Fidelio — quietly descend into the dungeon, guided by the dim light of a lantern. Through the dark, Rocco sees Florestan sleeping on the floor of his cell. As the pair begin digging the grave, Leonore casts worried glances at the sleeping figure, unsure whether it is her husband.
As the two continue digging, Florestan wakes. He begins to speak with Rocco, when Leonore is struck by the sudden realization — it is her husband! She composes herself as the men continue their conversation.
Florestan is enraged to hear he is being held captive by Pizarro and begs Rocco to send for Leonore, unaware that she is mere feet away. Rocco rebuffs Florestan’s pleas but agrees to share the last drops of his wine.
Having finished digging, Rocco leaves to alert the governor that everything is ready. Florestan begins to panic as Leonore comforts him. She desperately wants to reveal herself but holds back — the time is not yet right.
Pizarro arrives, gleefully flaunting a dagger, and commands Rocco to dismiss Fidelio and loosen the prisoner’s chains. Meanwhile, the disguised Leonore has slipped into the background, observing the scene from the shadows. As Rocco fumbles with Florestan’s chains, Pizarro mutters to himself that he will also have to dispose of Rocco and Fidelio — there can be no witnesses.
Suddenly, Fidelio leaps from the darkness and reveals her true identity — Leonore, Florestan’s wife. Her dramatic revelation is met with stunned silence. Composing himself, Pizarro raises his dagger to kill Leonore, but she swiftly pulls out a gun and points it at the governor. She is prepared to shoot.
A trumpet call interrupts the commotion, signaling the arrival of the minister, Don Fernando. Freedom is imminent! Jaquino and several soldiers enter to inform the group that the minister is waiting at the gate. Rocco calls upon several soldiers to escort Pizarro up the stairway. The reunited couple is finally alone, and they affirm their profound, abiding love for one another.
Before long, Rocco rushes back in with good news: Don Fernando has ordered the immediate review of all prison sentences and promised to hold Pizarro responsible for his crimes. Overjoyed, Florestan and Leonore embrace as the prisoners begin to sing of their long-awaited freedom. Justice has won the day.
— Kevin McBrien and Ellen Sauer Tanyeri
Kevin McBrien is The Cleveland Orchestra’s Editorial & Publications Manager; Ellen Sauer Tanyeri is The Cleveland Orchestra’s Archives & Editorial Assistant.
Franz Welser-Möst lifts The Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus and an all-star cast of soloists to the life-affirming heights of Beethoven’s only opera, a testament to courage and human resilience. Motivated by a desire for justice during a time of European turmoil, Fidelio decries corruption and sounds a clarion call for freedom in a riveting story that asks the question: How far would you go to save someone you love?
The Cleveland Orchestra’s production of Fidelio is generously sponsored by Jan R. Lewis.
Sara Jakubiak’s performance is generously sponsored by Ms. Cathy Lincoln.
Miloš Repický, Repetituer, is generously sponsored by Dr. Michael Frank and Patricia A.* Snyder.
Ashley Emerson’s performance is generously sponsored by Jane Haylor and Mel Berger.
Owen McCausland’s performance is generously sponsored by James and Marguerite Rigby.
The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus’ performance in Beethoven’s Fidelio is generously sponsored by Michael Hudson in memory of Susan Benningfield Hudson, a former vocal coach and accompanist for the COC under the direction of Robert Page.
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