Cleveland Orchestra and Franz Welser-Möst Present Special Two-Week Festival

The Cleveland Orchestra and Music Director Franz Welser-Möst announce further details of the upcoming festival The Ecstasy of Tristan and Isolde. In a special two-week series of concerts revolving around performances of Wagner's Romantic opera Tristan and Isolde, Franz Welser-Möst explores the depths and wonder of ecstasy - in a journey toward transcendence and understanding, through music, art, and belief. This festival is part of the Orchestra's historic 100th season and the 16th year of the Orchestra's acclaimed partnership with Franz Welser-Möst.

On April 21, 26 and 29, 2018, Franz Welser-Möst leads The Cleveland Orchestra in concert performances of Wagner's groundbreaking operaTristan and Isolde. Soprano Nina Stemme stars as Isolde, with tenor Gerhard Siegel as Tristan. Commenting on this opera, Welser-Möst said: "If Beethoven marks the start of the Romantic Era in music, which is surely true, there can also be no arguing that Wagner's Tristan and Isolde represents the ultimate high point of that same Romanticism. In this score, Wagner broke apart the tonal harmonic system to create a sense of longing, to search for rest and peace and home, for the ultimate fulfillment of love. With this opera, Wagner unleashed music from the past and announced the start of our modern world."

The Ecstasy of Tristan and Isolde festival also includes concerts led by Welser-Möst on April 25 and 28 as well as a screening of Lars von Trier's Melancholia in collaboration with the Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque on April 22. April 25 features Messiaen's Turangalîla-Symphonie for Piano, Ondes Martenot, and Orchestra with pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet and ondes Martenot player Cynthia Millar. On April 28 the program includes the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus and the Orchestra performing select choral and brass works and Bach's Cantata No. 170 with countertenor Iestyn Davies, plus Liszt's Fantasy and Fugue on the chorale "Ad nos, ad salutarem undam" performed by organist Paul Jacobs.

When asked how this opera inspired a two-week festival, Welser-Möst said: "Tristan and Isolde is an ecstatic piece. [Messiaen's Turangalîla-Symphonie] is about ecstatic love and directly touches on and re-examines the story of Tristan and Isolde, but in a very different kind of musical language...The other concert [Divine Ecstasy] centers on religious or spiritual ecstasy." To read an in-depth Q&A with Welser-Möst about the opera and festival, click here.

To view the first video in a two-part series about Tristan and Isolde, visit https://youtu.be/8HvQOJNS8P4. For more information, please see the calendar listing below or visit our website at https://www.clevelandorchestra.com/Tickets/Tristan-Festival/.

Free Concert Previews

Ticket holders of the opera Tristan and Isolde are invited to one of the free concert previews before the concert. The previews on April 17, 18, & 19 at local libraries are offered as part of The Cleveland Orchestra Music Study Group program. Participants can learn about the history ofTristan and Isolde, discuss the life of Richard Wagner, and be guided through musical listening examples with Dr. Rose Breckenridge. For the full list of time and locations, see the calendar listing below.

Opera Patron Information at Severance Hall

For the two 6:00 p.m. performances on April 21 and 26, Act 1 will be followed by a 40 minute intermission and Act 2 will be followed by a 20 minute intermission. For the 3:00 p.m. performance on April 29, each act will be followed by a 20 minute intermission. The total run time of the opera is approximately 4 hours and 20 minutes. Expanded food options will be available from bars in Smith Lobby on the street level, in the Bogomolny Kozerefski Grand Foyer, in the Hood Meyerson Promenade at the box level, and in the John P. Murphy Dress Circle Lobby for each performance. The Severance Restaurant will also be open for pre-concert meals starting at 4:00 p.m. on April 21 and 26, and at 12:00 p.m. onApril 29.

The Cleveland Orchestra and Opera
Under Franz Welser-Möst's direction, The Cleveland Orchestra re-established itself as an important operatic ensemble with Welser-Möst leading annual opera performances during his tenure in Cleveland. In 2008, he led five sold-out performances of a staged production of Dvo?ák's operaRusalka with the Orchestra at the Salzburg Festival. He next brought fully-staged opera back to Severance Hall, following a four-decade absence, with a three-season cycle of Zurich Opera productions of the Mozart-Da Ponte operas. This was followed by concert performances of Strauss's Salome at Severance Hall and at Carnegie Hall in 2012. In May 2014 Welser-Möst led an innovative new production of Leoš Janá?ek'sThe Cunning Little Vixen combining computer-animated stage design with live action at Severance Hall - with cutting-edge opera director and MacArthur Fellow Yuval Sharon. This production was presented again in September 2017, and a documentary about the production was released by WVIZ/PBS and distributed by American Public Television. In May 2015, he led staged performances of Strauss's Daphne at Severance Hall, followed by concert performances in New York in July as part of Lincoln Center Festival 2015. In spring 2016 the Orchestra collaborated with The Joffrey Ballet to create a double-bill of Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle and The Miraculous Mandarin. In spring 2017 the Orchestra and Welser-Möst reunited with Yuval Sharon for the world premiere of the innovative opera production of Debussy's Pelléas and Mélisande.

Second Century Sponsors

The Cleveland Orchestra is deeply grateful to the visionary philanthropy of its Second Century Celebration Presenting Sponsors, The J.M. Smucker Company and KeyBank, who have given generously to celebrate the Orchestra's 100th season while animating a bold vision for an extraordinary second century. For a full list of Second Century sponsors, please click here.

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