Photos from Finland: Sibelius and The Cleveland Orchestra

Jean Sibelius is a favorite composer of the Cleveland Orchestra — every music director in the Orchestra’s history has conducted his symphonies. George Szell was fond in particular of his Second Symphony: in the span of just 19 years (between 1952 and 1970), he performed the work with The Cleveland Orchestra 53 times.

In 1965, at the invitation of the U.S. Department of State, Szell and the Orchestra went on an extensive tour of Europe — in fact, it was the longest tour that the Department of State had ever organized. During this trip, they performed in Helsinki at a festival celebrating the centenary of Sibelius’s birth. They gratified local pride by including Sibelius’s Seventh Symphony on their program.

Also while in Finland, Szell and a number of local dignitaries visited Ainola, Sibelius’s much-beloved home in the countryside.

Many guest conductors have also performed Sibelius’s Symphony No. 2 with The Cleveland Orchestra. Among them are luminaries such as Thomas Beecham, Leonard Slatkin, Colin Davis, and Vladimir Ashkenazy. A piece of trivia: this symphony is the only work that has been conducted at The Cleveland Orchestra by both Neeme Järvi (at Blossom in 1990) and his son, Paavo Järvi (also at Blossom, in 2004).

When The Cleveland Orchestra returned to Finland in August 2024, they performed Sibelias’s Fifth Symphony, and a quartet of musicians gave an additional special performance at Ainola.

— Sophie Benn was the 2016–17 season archives research fellow. The fellowship is an opportunity for graduate music students from Case Western Reserve University to work with The Cleveland Orchestra Archives.

All photographs courtesy of The Cleveland Orchestra Archives.