Jul 15
Subscribers and donors have access to the exclusive presale for this concert starting Wednesday, November 4 at 10am. Tickets go on sale to the public on Thursday, November 5. Unlock presale access by making your donation of $180 or just $15/month. Your exclusive promo code will arrive by email within 30 minutes of completing your donation.
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.
Composer in Association: Paris Philharmonie
Composer-in-Residence: Philadelphia Orchestra
Composer-in-Association: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Composer in Focus (2026): Los Angeles Philharmonic
Composer-in-Residence for the Hollywood Bowl and The Ford (from season 2027/28): Los Angeles Philharmonic
Music Director: Japan Century Symphony Orchestra
“Not Many Composers Can Sell Out Arena. Joe Hisaishi Can.” - New York Times, July 2026
Joe Hisaishi, composer, conductor and pianist, has established himself as a formidable force in contemporary music for his delicately crafted symphonic and solo works, as well as his globally successful film music. Hisaishi is greatly in demand as a conductor performing with the most notable symphony orchestras across the globe. With nearly 40 solo albums and over 100 film scores to his name, he is one of the most celebrated composers of our time.
Hisaishi’s recent symphonic engagements have seen him conducting the Boston and Chicago Symphony orchestras, the Philadelphia and Cleveland orchestras, Los Angeles, Helsinki, and Rotterdam Philharmonic orchestras and Wiener Symphoniker. In summer 2025, he made his debut at the BBC Proms with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra where his work The End of the World was programmed with Steve Reich’s Desert Music. He premiered his new work, Concerto for Orchestra in May 2026 with National Symphony Orchestra, and continues to conduct the work with high-level orchestras across the globes including Orchestra de Paris, Iceland, Colorado, and San Francisco symphony orchestras, and Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in 26/27 season.
As a passionate pioneer of contemporary music, Hisaishi collaborates with similarly experimental artists including Nico Muhly, Bryce Dessner, Nadia Sirota, Phillip Glass, David Lang and Terry Reilly. Since 2014, he has been presenting his eponymous “MUSIC FUTURE” concerts in Tokyo, bringing together the works and talents of these notable collaborators. Volume 13 of the series enjoyed an airing in Tokyo in autumn 2026 and he has also previously travelled with the series to Carnegie Hall, Seattle, and Los Angeles. In 2027, his three Music Future concerts will be hosted and performed by the musicians from Philadelphia Orchestra. Hisaishi holds the Young Composer’s Competition every year to inspire and empower the next generation of composers, with the winning composition making its world premiere at his MUSIC FUTURE concerts.
A Deutsche Grammophon exclusive artist, Hisaishi has released the albums A Symphonic Celebration and Joe Hisaishi in Vienna. The latter includes his Viola Saga with soloist Antoine Tamestit and Symphony No. 2, recorded during his triumphant conducting debut at Vienna Musikverein. Joe Hisaishi Conducts, released in August 2025, includes the music of Reich alongside his The End of the World, a work that explores the “anxiety and chaos” resulting from the collapse of global order and values in the aftermath of 9/11. His most recent recording includes his Symphony No.3 Metaphysica and harp concerto featuring celebrated harpist Emmanuel Ceysson.
Renowned for his long-standing collaboration with Japanese anime director Hayao Miyazaki, Hisaishi has composed scores for Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, Howl’s Moving Castle, amongst others, and has won international awards for his works. Many of these iconic works have been brought to huge live audiences in his recent sold-out performances at Madison Square Garden in New York, La Défense in Paris, the Olympic Hall in Munich, and Tokyo Dome, where he gave three concerts, each attended by an audience of 40,000. His latest Cinema Music Concerts include scores from films directed by Kitano, Obayashi, Dehan and Keaton. He brought this programme to Festival de Nîmes, the Hollywood Bowl, and Radio City Music Hall in summer 2026, as well as the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in autumn 2026.
Hisaishi is the recipient of both the Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon, received in 2009, and The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette, in 2023 by the government of Japan. Hisaishi is the Music Director with Japan Century Symphony Orchestra from the 2025/26 season. Hisaishi was also appointed as Composer-in-Association of Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in April 2024, Composer-in-Residence of Philadelphia Orchestra in October 2025, Composer in Association of Paris Philharmonie in 2026, and Composer-in-Focus for 2026 and Composer-in-Residence for the Hollywood Bowl and The Ford (starting with season 2027/28) of Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Experience another side of Joe Hisaishi as he leads The Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Music Center in an evening devoted to his work as a classical composer. Discover the musical imagination behind his compositions for the concert hall—a fresh perspective on the composer beloved for his film music.
We offer a variety of concessions before the concert, as well as during intermission.
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