The Cleveland Orchestra Announces Spring Digital Concert Programs and Premieres

Today, The Cleveland Orchestra announced its April and May programming and broadcast schedule for The Cleveland Orchestra: In Focus digital concert series, showcasing four new episodes total, with three featuring Music Director Franz Welser-Möst and one with associate conductor Vinay Parameswaran.

Episodes include Cleveland Orchestra members as soloists or in chamber music ensembles; in order of appearance, they are Joshua Smith (principal flute), Marc Damoulakis (principal percussion), Frank Rosenwein (principal oboe), Carolyn Gadiel Warner (piano), Afendi Yusuf (principal clarinet), Stephen Rose (principal second violin), Jeanne Preucil Rose (violin), Lynne Ramsey (first assistant principal viola), and Mark Kosower (principal cello). Guest artist and acclaimed organist Paul Jacobs is featured in Episode No. 8.

The Cleveland Orchestra: In Focus series is available for current subscribers and donors at no additional charge, or for premium members on the Adella digital streaming app and adella.live. Information about June In Focus premiere broadcast dates and programming will be announced in spring 2021.

Visions & Impressions, In Focus Episode No. 8, premieres on Thursday, April 8 at 7:00 p.m. This episode looks at contrasts and musical impressions. Opening with a solitary flute and concluding with the largest and grandest of all pipe instruments, a quartet of musical works speak to the ethereal and momentary nature of music. Principal flute Joshua Smith performs two exquisitely enigmatic pieces for solo flute - Japanese composer Tōru Takemitsu's Air and French composer Claude Debussy's tender Syrinx evoking mythical beauty. Between these, Franz Welser-Möst leads The Cleveland Orchestra strings in Prokofiev's whimsical and effervescent Visions fugitives, drawn from an early cycle of piano miniatures. The program concludes with a thundering performance of one of the 20th century's most intriguing organ concerto by Francis Poulenc, played by Paul Jacobs, "a virtuoso of dazzling technical acumen" (The New York Times).

Musical Magicians, In Focus Episode No. 9, premieres on Thursday, April 22 at 7:00 p.m. This program offers discoveries new and old, highlighting music's magical ability to uncover and reveal pleasures, dreams, and unexpected connections. A modern concerto by American composer John Corigliano, Conjurer gives the soloist a new role of literally concocting and charming the musical material into existence. Here, Cleveland Orchestra principal percussionist Mark Damoulakis takes up the conjuring. Dvořák wrote his Second String Quartet in 1875, just as his career was gaining international attention. In this piece, he infuses classical traditions with musical stylings from his Bohemian homeland, bringing enlivened rhythms and sensibilities in an artful mix of thoughtful patterns and heartfelt emotions. Written for a string quartet plus double bass, Franz Welser-Möst leads The Cleveland Orchestra strings in a full-voiced rendition.

Style & Craft, In Focus Episode No. 10, premieres on Thursday, May 6 at 7:00 p.m. This broadcast features two talented young musicians - one French, one English, and both with great gift for melody and form, style, and craft. Frenchman Maurice Ravel wrote a short sonata movement to enter into a magazine contest in 1903. The piece was disqualified on a technicality, but soon enough expanded into a three-movement work, Sonatine performed by Frank Rosenwein (principal oboe) and Carolyn Gadiel Warner (piano). Three decades later, an acquaintance asked the young Benjamin Britten if he could complete a brand-new commission on very short deadline. The resulting homage to Britten's teacher Frank Bridge was given its premiere at the world-famous Salzburg Festival in Austria just three months later, adding to Britten's newly surging reputation. Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge aptly mirrors Bridge's wide-ranging musical taste and dynamic personality, from Viennese waltz to a march, from funeral march to beguiling opera aria.

Order & Disorder, In Focus Episode No. 11, premieres on Thursday, May 20 at 7:00 p.m. A program of juxtaposition from two of music's most creative composers, writing in two styles more than a century apart. First comes Mozart's poignant Clarinet Quintet, written during a difficult and unhappy year for the composer, yet filled with sweet and warm music that brings comfort, fresh perspective, and hope - Mozart bringing order to his disordered life. For this In Focus performance, principal clarinet Afendi Yusuf joins Cleveland Orchestra colleagues Stephen Rose (principal second violin), Jeanne Preucil Rose (violin), Lynne Ramsey (first assistant principal viola) and Mark Kosower (principal cello) in this extraordinary work. For Alban Berg, the process of musical creation was an intensely-driven search for innovative answers using old materials in new ways - to shake up the old order into newly disordered beauty. In his Lyric Suite, he creates solace and splendor in contrasting string voices, buzzing and interacting with hard-edged vitality and poetic grace.

In addition to the concert performances, each episode of The Cleveland Orchestra: In Focus includes behind-the-scenes interviews and features about the music and music making. Additional information is included below.

Adella is The Cleveland Orchestra's new digital streaming service. Premiering in October 2020, the Adella app and digital offering is named after the Orchestra's founder, Adella Prentiss Hughes. Adella is free to download and access, and includes free content from the Orchestra's Archives, On a Personal Note podcast, and other performance highlights. For more information, visit clevelandorchestra.com/adella/ and adella.live.

To view premium content, such as the Orchestra's new In Focus concert series, guests will need access to Adella Premium. This service can be purchased for $34.99/month. Adella Premium is also automatically available to all Cleveland Orchestra subscribers (including Members Club, The Circle, and Frequent Fan Card holders) and donors who contribute more than $300 annually. Those interested in purchasing a subscription or membership can contact the Cleveland Orchestra Ticket Office by phone at 216-231-1111, e-mail boxoffice@clevelandorchestra.com, or at clevelandorchestra.com.

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