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Tuesday, October 20, 2009 at 8 PM
Roy Thomson Hall
Tickets: $169.50 - $49.50
Call 416-872-4255 or
online at
www.roythomson.com
or visit the Roy Thomson Hall Box Office
Toronto, ON - One of the greatest symphonic ensembles of our
time – THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA – returns to
Roy Thomson Hall for one performance only on Tuesday,
October 20 at 8 PM after an absence of 20 years. The
internationally-renowned orchestra has long been acclaimed as
the most European-sounding of the American "Big Five," and is
securely positioned as one of the "10 Best" in the world. This
rare Toronto appearance, led by the orchestra’s dynamic music
director Franz Welser-Möst, serves as the launching point
of a major European tour including concerts in Paris, Amsterdam
and Vienna. The rich and varied program is designed to show off
the orchestra’s versatility, brilliance and depth, and includes
Debussy’s gorgeous Fêtes (Festivals), Haydn’s
robust and melodic Symphony No. 85 (La Reine), and
Shostakovich’s most popular work, his powerful and dramatic
Symphony No. 5.
The illustrious history of the Cleveland Orchestra began
in 1918 under Russian-American conductor Nikolai Sokoloff, who
initiated commercial recordings, radio broadcasts and an
extensive touring schedule (including a performance at Massey
Hall in 1923). The orchestra grew from a fine regional
organization into one of the most admired symphonic ensembles in
the world under a succession of distinguished European-born
music directors: Artur Rodzinski, Erich Leinsdorf, George Szell,
Lorin Maazel, Christoph von Dohnnayi (who led the ensemble in
its Roy Thomson Hall performance two decades ago), and now,
Franz Welser-Möst, who is boldly moving the ensemble into
the 21st century through his questing interpretations
and imaginative programs. Under his inspired leadership, the
orchestra continues to set the highest standards of artistic
excellence in concerts at home in Cleveland’s magnificent
Severance Hall, at its outdoor summer festival home in Blossom
Music Center, at numerous residencies in U.S. and Europe,
including Vienna’s famed Musikverein and Switzerland’s Lucerne
Festival, and on tour around the world.
Born in Linz, Austria in 1960, Franz Welser-Möst is now
in his eighth season as Music Director of the Cleveland
Orchestra. After his left hand was injured in an automobile
accident in 1978, the young musician abandoned his violin
studies in favour of conducting. He made his professional debut
as a conductor with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra in 1983,
followed by major debuts at the Salzburg Festival in 1985, and
the London Philharmonic in 1986 where he later served as
Principal Conductor from 1990 to 1996. From 1995 to 2008 he held
several chief posts with the Zurich Opera, including Principal
Conductor and General Music Director.
In 2002, he was appointed Music
Director of the Cleveland Orchestra under an initial contract of
five years, but was so well received at the end of his first
season, that his contract was extended to lead the orchestra
through its centennial in 2018. He also regularly conducts
leading European orchestras and opera companies, including those
of Berlin and Vienna, and has been appointed General Music
Director of the Vienna State Opera, effective in the fall of
2010.
Franz Welser-Möst’s many recordings on both CD and DVD have
won numerous awards. His DVD of Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier,
filmed at the Zurich Opera, won the coveted Diapaso d’Or award.
His first CD with the Cleveland Orchestra, Beethoven’s Symphony
No. 9, was released in 2007. His January 2009 live recording
with the orchestra of an all-Wagner concert, with Canadian
soprano Measha Brueggergosman in a performance of the
Wesendonck Lieder, will be released by Deutsche Grammophon
in 2010, the first of a projected series of recordings to be
taped by DG at Cleveland’s Severance Hall and released
internationally on CD and via internet download. He also appears
with the orchestra on DVD in performances of Bruckner’s
Symphonies Nos. 5, 7 and 9. Mr. Welser- Möst’s many
honours include Musical America’s 2003 Conductor of the
Year Award.
This performance is sponsored by Lexus
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