The Cleveland Orchestra announces details of October 2015 European tour

The tour will see Welser-Möst and the Orchestra in a number of Europe’s premier concert halls, including their debut performance at the new Philharmonie de Paris, in programs including works by Messiaen, Richard Strauss, Mahler, and Verdi that explore themes of faith, nature, and transcendence. Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 with Radu Lupu and Mozart’s Symphony No. 41 “Jupiter” complete the tour programs.

“Through music, a number of composers, especially in the late 19th century and into the 20th century, explored the philosophical and metaphysical questions of existence,” comments Franz Welser-Möst. “For these concerts, both to begin our season in Cleveland and in Europe in October, I have chosen three composers in particular — Messiaen, Strauss, and Mahler — who gave voice through their music to our understanding of existence and our beliefs in the power of nature and god. Mahler developed a belief in humanity’s role on earth and our connection to nature which is reflected in his Third Symphony. Strauss’s An Alpine Symphony is also about nature, but from a personal viewpoint of experiencing the majesty and mysteries of nature. His Also sprach Zarathustra is more philosophical, and from his viewpoint as an atheist he tackles the very question of God’s existence through Nietzsche’s writings. Messiaen, in his own way a devout Catholic, also voiced in music the wonder of our being. Taken together, and with the beauty of Verdi’s Four Sacred Pieces — Verdi was also an atheist — and the bittersweet melancholy of Strauss’s Four Last Songs, we are offering a set of musical statements. The metaphysical questions they ask, about why we are here and what is our purpose, are for discussion and I hope that the listener will explore these ideas after hearing these magnificent works.”

The Orchestra’s European tour begins at Brussels’s Palais des Beaux-Arts (October 15) and continues at Cologne’s Philharmonie (October 20) with performances featuring Cleveland Orchestra Principal Keyboardist Joela Jones in Messiaen’s Couleurs de la cité céleste; Messiaen’s L’Ascension: 4 méditations symphoniques and Strauss’s Also sprach Zarathustra complete the program. Welser-Möst and the Orchestra bring Messiaen’s Chronochromie and Strauss’s An Alpine Symphony to Luxembourg’s Philharmonie (October 16) and Dortmund’s Konzerthaus (October 22). As part of Expo 2015 at Milan’s Teatro alla Scala (October 18) and at the Philharmonie am Gasteig in Munich (October 25) the Orchestra’s programs features pianist Radu Lupu performing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 alongside Messiaen’s Hymne and Strauss’s Also sprach Zarathustra. In Paris, Welser-Möst and the Orchestra will perform for the first time at the Philharmonie de Paris (October 19) with mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnston as soloist in Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 with the Women of the Choir of the Orchestre de Paris and the Maîtrise de Paris children’s chorus. At the Audimax at the University of Regensburg (October 24), the program features Mozart’s Symphony No. 41 (“Jupiter”) alongside Strauss’s Alpine Symphony.

The Orchestra’s time in Europe concludes October 27, 28, 29 and 31 with the 7th biennial Vienna residency with a four-concert series at the Musikverein with performances of Messiaen’s L’Ascension: 4 méditations symphoniques and Chronochromie, Strauss’s Also sprach Zarathustra and An Alpine Symphony, and Mozart’s Symphony No. 41 “Jupiter”. Joela Jones will again play Messiaen’s Couleurs de la cité céleste. Mezzo-soprano Elisabeth Kulman is soloist in Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 and will be joined by the Vienna Singverein chorus and the Vienna Boys Choir. For the final performance of the tour the Orchestra is joined by soprano Genia Kühmeier for Strauss’s Four Last Songs and the Vienna Singverein chorus for Verdi’s Four Sacred Pieces.

Details of each program are listed below. Images and biographies of soloists and guest artists are available upon request.

                Franz Welser-Möst enters into his 14th year as music director of The Cleveland Orchestra with the 2015–16 season, with the future of this acclaimed partnership now extending into the next decade. The Cleveland Orchestra, which celebrates its 100^th anniversary in 2018, has reached new heights under the direction of Franz Welser-Möst, has been hailed “… the best in America” (The New York Times). Under Welser-Möst’s leadership, The Cleveland Orchestra offers annual series at home in the acoustically outstanding Severance Hall and at the ensemble’s summer home at Blossom Music Center. Through a series of ongoing residencies, the Orchestra also performs regularly in Miami, Vienna, and Lucerne, in addition to annual international tours.

With a strong commitment to music education, Franz Welser-Möst has taken The Cleveland Orchestra back into public schools at home and inaugurated partnerships with the University of Miami and Indiana University. He has championed new programs, including a series of “At Home” neighborhood residencies and concerts in Cleveland to bring the Orchestra and citizens together in new ways.

Franz Welser-Möst has led annual opera performances throughout his tenure in Cleveland, reestablishing the Orchestra as an important operatic ensemble. He brought fully staged opera back to Severance Hall with a three-season cycle of Zurich Opera productions of the Mozart-Da Ponte operas. He led an innovative made-for-Cleveland production of Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen at Severance Hall in 2014. He conducted performances of Richard Strauss’s Daphne in May 2015 and will present a Bartók doublebill in April 2016.

As a guest conductor, Mr. Welser-Möst enjoys a close and productive relationship with the Vienna Philharmonic. Recent engagements with the Philharmonic include a critically-acclaimed production of Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier at the 2014 Salzburg Festival and a2015 production of Fidelio also at Salzburg, as well as appearances at Carnegie Hall and the Lucerne Festival. He served as general music director of the Vienna State Opera from 2010 to 2014. Mr. Welser-Möst had previously directed the Zurich Opera, leading more than 40 new productions and culminating in three seasons as general music director (from 2005 to 2008).

Mr. Welser-Möst maintains relationships with a number of other European orchestras, and the 2015-16 season includes return engagements to Munich’s Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Zurich’s Tonhalle Orchestra. He also makes his long-anticipated debut with Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra for two weeks of concerts, and conducts the Filarmonica of La Scala Milan in a televised Christmas concert. He will conduct the Vienna Philharmonic in two weeks of subscription concerts, leads the Stockholm Philharmonic in the Nobel Prize concert in Stockholm, and conducts a new production of Strauss’s Die Liebe der Danae at the 2016 Salzburg Festival.

For his talents and dedication, Mr. Welser-Möst has received honors that include recognition from the Western Law Center for Disability Rights, honorary membership in the Vienna Singverein, appointment as an Academician of the European Academy of Yuste, a Gold Medal from the Upper Austrian government for his work as a cultural ambassador, a decoration of Honor from the Republic of Austria for his artistic achievements, and the Kilenyi Medal from the Bruckner Society of America.

Under the leadership of Music Director Franz Welser-Möst, The Cleveland Orchestra has become one of the most sought after performing ensembles in the world, setting standards of artistic excellence, creative programming, and community engagement. The strong and ongoing financial support of the ensemble’s home region is driving the Orchestra forward with renewed energy and focus, increasing the number of young people attending concerts, and bringing fresh attention to the Orchestra’s legendary sound and committed programming.

The partnership with Franz Welser-Möst, begun in 2002 and entering its 14th year with the 2015-16 season, has earned The Cleveland Orchestra unprecedented residencies in the U.S. and around the world, including one at the Musikverein in Vienna, the first of its kind by an American orchestra. The Orchestra’s annual residency in Miami, Florida, presented under the name Cleveland Orchestra Miami, is entering its tenth year in 2015-16, and involves four weeks of full programming in South Florida, including concerts, community presentations, education programs, and collaborative partnerships.

The Cleveland Orchestra has a long and distinguished recording and broadcast history. A series of DVD and CD recordings under the direction of Mr. Welser-Möst continues to add to an extensive and widely praised catalog of audio recordings made during the tenures of the ensemble’s earlier music directors. In addition, Cleveland Orchestra concerts are heard in syndication each season on radio stations throughout North America and Europe.

Seven music directors —Nikolai Sokoloff, Artur Rodzinski, Erich Leinsdorf, George Szell, Lorin Maazel, Christoph von Dohnányi, and Franz Welser-Möst— have guided and shaped the ensemble’s growth and sound since its founding in 1918. Through tours, residencies, radio broadcasts, and recordings, The Cleveland Orchestra is heard today by a broad and loyal constituency around the world. For more information, visit clevelandorchestra.com.

The Cleveland Orchestra acknowledges the following corporations and individuals for their generous support of the 2015 European Tour: Raiffeisenlandesbank Oberösterreich AG, Tele München Group, voestapline AG, Miba AG, Dr. and Mrs. Herbert G. Kloiber, Dr. and Mrs. Wolfgang C. Berndt, Dr. and Mrs. Robert Ehrlich, and Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Umdasch.

With special thanks and recognition for international touring sponsorship by Jones Day.