The Cleveland Orchestra Announces 104th Severance Hall Season Beginning October 2021

Today, The Cleveland Orchestra announced its return to concerts with audiences in person at Severance Hall beginning in October for the 2021-22 season. With the 104th season, which marks the 20th season of the ensemble's acclaimed partnership with Music Director Franz Welser-Möst, the Orchestra will welcome audiences back to Severance Hall as a more flexible, innovative, versatile, and empathetic institution, strengthened by the lessons of the past 14 months. At the same time, it recommits to the transformational experience of witnessing live music in a communal gathering from October through May 2022.

This season expands the scope of programming with new works and voices, and also deepens the Orchestra's relationships with core repertoire and artistic collaborators. Highlights include ten guest artist debuts, acclaimed guest conductors, 30 works being performed for the first time by The Cleveland Orchestra - including 16 led by Franz Welser-Möst - and premieres of four works co-commissioned by The Cleveland Orchestra and Welser-Möst. A calendar of performances and repertoire is listed below. Subscription tickets are on sale now, starting at $57.00 for a three concert package.

"Over the past 14 months we have all been devastated by those we have lost, questioned the society we hoped was fair, reflected on what we took for granted, and wondered what the post-pandemic world would look like. The Cleveland Orchestra has done the same," said André Gremillet, Cleveland Orchestra President & CEO. "Today's announcement of Franz's 20th season of programming gives us a path forward for what might come, the ability to anticipate even richer musical journeys, and most importantly the opportunity to welcome all our closest friends back to Severance Hall."

Mr. Gremillet continued, "Thanks to the extraordinary generosity of this community, The Cleveland Orchestra has been able not only to survive this crisis, but also to become more flexible and innovative in doing so. The ingenuity of the musicians and staff has allowed us to perform in so many new places and platforms, including our digital concert series The Cleveland Orchestra: In Focus, On a Personal Note podcast, and our self-released audio recording projects, all of which have broadened our audiences. While all of these initiatives have been enormously gratifying and will continue into the future, none can replace the live music experience that remains the core of what The Cleveland Orchestra is about. We simply cannot wait to perform again in front of our Severance Hall audience."

"The options haven't gotten smaller, they've expanded, even after 19 years of creating programs in Cleveland. There is so much to learn, discover, and explore," said Franz Welser-Möst, Music Director of The Cleveland Orchestra. "When [Chief Artistic Officer] Mark Williams and I started planning the 2021-22 Severance Hall season, we knew that there would be an enormous hunger for live music and we see this coming season as an opportunity to continue to deliver to Cleveland audiences great repertoire, some of which will be new, some of which I've discovered over the past year. When I bring back something familiar, there is always an intention behind it. When we introduce the unfamiliar, it might shine a light on the familiar repertoire. We are in a constant state of exploration, there's an infinite number of options and combinations of how you put together a season, which is fun and exciting."

"The world has changed over the past year, which for us meant cancellations, completely rethinking how we program, and reflecting on the upheaval and uncertainty that we have experienced in society and in our own lives. We took all of this into consideration in planning the 2021-22 Severance Hall season," said Mark Williams, Chief Artistic Officer of The Cleveland Orchestra. "It's been empowering to embrace meaningful conversations about incorporating voices especially from people of color and women. Going forward, I'm encouraged that the strides we've made in realizing this season will become a template for the future."

Guest Artist Debuts (listed in order of appearance)

Ten guest artists are making their debuts during the 2021-22 Severance Hall season, including three making their Severance Hall debuts soprano Andrea Carroll, vocalist Capathia Jenkins, soprano Latonia Moore; and seven artists making their Cleveland Orchestra debuts: cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason; pianist Tom Borrow; saxophonist Steven Banks (solo debut); soprano Fatma Said; tenors Michael König and Pene Pati; and organist Iveta Apkalna.

Guest Conductors (listed in order of appearance)

Acclaimed guest conductors, who work regularly with the world's finest orchestras, opera companies, and festivals, will lead the Orchestra during the 2021-22 season. They include Jakub Hrůša, Semyon Bychkov, Gustavo Gimeno, Brett Mitchell, John Adams, Herbert Blomstedt, Stéphane Denève, Dame Jane Glover, Alan Gilbert, François-Xavier Roth, Klaus Mäkelä, and Michael Tilson Thomas.

Cleveland Orchestra World Premieres, U.S. Premieres & Commissions

During the 2021-22, Franz Welser-Möst will lead the ensemble in four works co-commissioned by The Cleveland Orchestra: a cello concerto by Joan Tower (October 14 & 17) performed for the first time by The Cleveland Orchestra; the world premiere of a new work by Hans Abrahamsen (January 6 - 8); the world premiere of Bernd Richard Deutsch's Intensity für Orchester (January 13 - 15); and the United States' premiere of Thomas Adès's The Exterminating Angel Symphony (March 10 & 12).

Cleveland Orchestra Premieres led by Franz Welser-Möst

The 2021-22 season features 30 works presented for the first time by The Cleveland Orchestra, including 16 conducted by Franz Welser-Möst. Among them, Mr. Welser-Möst will lead the Orchestra in performances of Strauss's Macbeth (October 7 & 8), Walker's Sinfonia No. 5 and Korngold's Symphony in F sharp major (October 21 & 23), Haydn's Symphony No. 70 in D minor and Zemlinsky's Psalm Nos. 13 & 23 (March 3 - 5), and Jüri Reinvere's Norilsk, the Daffodils and Sofia Gubaidulina's Light of the End (May 27).

Exploration of George Walker

American composer, teacher, and pianist George Walker's music was influenced by a variety of musical styles, including jazz, folk songs, church music, and classical music. Building on the recording of Walker's Antifonys (for string orchestra), captured for the debut episode of The Cleveland Orchestra: In Focus, Franz Welser-Möst will lead three performances of music by Walker over the course of the 2021-22 Severance Hall season: Sinfonia No. 4: Strands and Sinfonia No. 5: Visions, as well as Lilacs for Voice and Orchestra - for which Walker received the Pulitzer Prize for Music. A graduate of Oberlin Conservatory of Music at age 18, Walker was commissioned by The Cleveland Orchestra to write Dialogues for Cello and Orchestra, which the Orchestra presented as a world premiere in 1976. "George Walker is an intellectual and emotional composer," said Franz Welser-Möst. "And while I've known of his music, I am eager to further my understanding of the depth and complexities of his musical language."

Cleveland Orchestra Family of Artists

The 2021-22 season features conductors and guest artists who have extensive collaborative connections with the Orchestra, including pianists Katia Labèque and Marielle Labèque, Igor Levit, Yuja Wang, Mitsuko Uchida, Imogen Cooper, and Emanuel Ax; cellists Alisa Weilerstein and Gautier Capuçon; violinists Christian Tetzlaff and Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, vocalists Dashon Burton, Capathia Jenkins, Tamara Wilson, Christopher Maltman, Jennifer Johnson Cano, and Anthony Schneider; and conductors Jakub Hrůša, Semyon Bychkov, Gustavo Gimeno, Brett Mitchell, John Adams, Herbert Blomstedt, Stéphane Denève, Dame Jane Glover, Alan Gilbert, François-Xavier Roth, Klaus Mäkelä, and Michael Tilson Thomas.

Cleveland Orchestra Members Featured as Soloists

Cleveland Orchestra first associate concertmaster Peter Otto will be a featured soloist during the 2021-22 season, joining Franz Welser-Möst and the ensemble for William Walton's Violin Concerto on March 10, 11, and 12.

Cleveland Orchestra Choral Ensembles

Formed in 1952 at the request of Music Director George Szell, the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus is one of the few professionally trained, all-volunteer choruses sponsored by a major American orchestra. Its members hail from nearly fifty communities across Northeast Ohio and together the group's 130 singers contribute more than 30,000 volunteer hours each year, through rehearsals and performances, to the Orchestra's music-making. Led by director of choruses Lisa Wong, the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus will be featured in a variety of presentations throughout the 2021-22 season, beginning with a special two-piano arrangement of Brahms's Ein deutsches Requiem on October 28. In addition to performances in December for the annual Christmas concerts, this season also featuring acclaimed vocalist Capathia Jenkins, the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus will perform as part of the Cleveland Orchestra premiere of Zemlinsky's Psalm Nos. 13 & 23 on March 3, 4, and 5. Finally, the Chorus will be joined by the Cleveland Orchestra Children's Chorus and guest soloists for the spring's opera festival, a concert performance of Verdi's Otello, on May 21, 26, and 29.

Save the Date, Cleveland Orchestra Gala, October 16

The Cleveland Orchestra's annual Gala will take place on Saturday, October 16 at Severance Hall. Gala chairs and Cleveland Orchestra Trustees, Nancy W. McCann and Dr. Russell A. Trusso, will collaborate with the Orchestra to create a special evening. The event will include a Cleveland Orchestra concert led by music director Franz Welser-Möst and an elegant dinner. This yearly event raises funds to support the Orchestra's Education and Community Engagement programs. In a typical year, these programs reach more than 100,000 young people and adults, fostering a lifelong relationship with music. More details, including programming, health and safety guidelines, will be announced this summer.

2022 Opera: Verdi's Otello

Continuing The Cleveland Orchestra's tradition for ambitious and innovative opera presentations, Music Director Franz Welser-Möst has developed a festival for May 2022 to explore the challenges created by division. The festival will be centered around performances of Giuseppe Verdi's operatic masterpiece Otello, a dramatic retelling of Shakespeare's classic tale of jealousy, passion, and personal politics. In addition, the festival will involve collaborative partners from across multiple disciplines - including theater, film, literature, and the visual arts - to offer diverse perspectives through a range of presentations and community discussion.

The festival grew out of Welser-Möst's research and preparations to present Verdi's Otello. The idea is to explore and examine universal themes within that classic stage work, to look beyond the surface tensions of love and jealousy gone wrong.

Layered within Otello's action is a storyline driven by characters who feel isolated from those around them. Its action and intrigue present a microcosm of divisions that continue to disrupt and affect human society today - of ethnic minorities and the privileged elite, of betraying enemies masquerading as loyal friends, of misunderstanding between a caring spouse and jealous lover, of secrets held and truth mislaid, of machinations and deceit played for political advantage.

Presented in-concert at Severance Hall on May 21, 26, and 29, 2022, the performances of Verdi's opera will feature international star singers: tenor Michael König as Otello, soprano Tamara Wilson as his wife Desdemona, and baritone Christopher Maltman as Otello's conniving and disloyal friend Iago.

In addition to three performances of Otello, The Cleveland Orchestra will present two related concert evenings (May 27 and 28), featuring music written by a diverse range of composers whose lives and music offer varying perspectives about inclusion and exclusion. In these, Welser-Möst extends the festival's questions and exploration to look directly at classical music's own divisions. These two concerts seek to look at music's divergent power to inspire and engage audiences - whether written by a person of color or different religious beliefs, by someone challenging modern or historical expectations of gender or sexual identity, or across differing views of artistic beauty.

The festival's theme will also shape and provide focus for daytime Education Concert programs performed by The Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Hall in 2022, presented free for Cleveland area students.

Among the partners from Northeast Ohio arts, educational, and community institutions offering additional presentations and events as part of the festival are: lead partner Karamu House, as well as Cleveland International Film Festival, Cleveland Museum of Art, and Cleveland Public Library. Complete details and a festival schedule will be announced later in 2021.

Performances of Otello and the festival examining inclusion/exclusion were originally announced for May 2021, but were cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In preparation for announcing the 2021-22 Severance Hall season, the opera was rescheduled a year later and the festival was re-examined and expanded. Political events in the past year have heightened the festival themes, timeliness, and focus, especially for related community discussions and presentations around racism, layers of discrimination in society, and the politics of hatred and division.

Welcome Back to Severance Hall: Health and Safety

For the safety of all guests, musicians, staff, and volunteers at Severance Hall, Covid-19 health and safety protocols will be in place, including enhanced cleaning, sanitation, and ventilation procedures. In collaboration with the Cleveland Clinic, all protocols are in accordance with the guidelines from the State of Ohio, City of Cleveland, and the Cuyahoga County health department. As advice from health experts and the government evolve, we will update our policies and procedures and inform guests of any changes. Details of current health and safety protocols will be provided in early fall 2021 and available at clevelandorchestra.com.

The Cleveland Orchestra: In Focus digital concert series continues in 2021-22

Across 13 episodes (and two bonus episodes), the inspiring debut season of The Cleveland Orchestra: In Focus reached music lovers throughout Northeast Ohio and around the world, offering extraordinary music performances by The Cleveland Orchestra and celebrated guest artists. To date, videos on the Adella site and app have been viewed close to 68,000 times and more than 152,000 people have visited the site and app; people are watching from all 50 states and internationally in over 40 countries. In addition to the concert performances, each episode of In Focus includes behind-the-scenes interviews and features about the music and music making. The Cleveland Orchestra: In Focus digital concert series will continue in the 2021-22 Severance Hall season with programming and premiere broadcast dates to be announced later in 2021. For information on the current In Focus offerings, visit clevelandorchestra.com/attend/seasons-and-series/in-focus/.

Adella Digital Streaming and App

Adella is The Cleveland Orchestra's digital streaming service. Launched 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. To view premium content, such as the Orchestra's 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. For more information, visit clevelandorchestra.com/adella/ and adella.live.

Concerts for Families, Schools, and Community

The 2021-22 season also includes an array of annual programming continuing the Orchestra's commitment to education concerts (for schools and families) and community programs. Details of these online events and in-person performances will be announced later in 2021 and early 2022. For information about The Cleveland Orchestra's Education and Community Engagement programs and youth ensembles, visit clevelandorchestra.com/education-and-community.

Center for Future Audiences, Young Audience Development

The Cleveland Orchestra's Center for Future Audiences was established to fund programs to develop new generations of audiences for Cleveland Orchestra concerts in Northeast Ohio. The Center was created in 2010 with a $20 million lead endowment gift from the Maltz Family Foundation, and its programs focus on addressing economic and geographic barriers that prevent young people from attending Orchestra concerts at Severance Hall and Blossom Music Center. The programs include research, introductory offers, targeted discounts, student ticket programs, and integrated use of new technologies. For more information, please visit clevelandorchestra.com/support-and-volunteers/center-for-future-audiences/.

Until March 2020, more young people than ever were attending Cleveland Orchestra concerts at Severance Hall and at each summer's Blossom Music Festival. More than 20 percent of the classical concert audience is now made up of patrons 25 years old and under, up from only eight percent before the expansion of programs made possible by the Center's funding. The Center for Future Audiences programs include Under 18s Free, Members Club, The Circle, Student Advantage Program, and Frequent Fan Cards. For more information, please visit www.clevelandorchestra.com.

Under 18s Free, which is the cornerstone program of The Cleveland Orchestra's Center for Future Audiences, continues to foster young audiences by making attendance at orchestra concerts affordable for families, offering free tickets to young people age 17 and under for select concerts. The Under 18s Free program marks its 10th anniversary this summer at the 2021 Blossom Music Festival. As of the summer of 2019, more than 200,000 children will have attended Cleveland Orchestra and Blossom Music Festival concerts for free through the Under 18s Free program. For more information, please visit clevelandorchestra.com/tickets/under-18s-free-for-families/

Subscription and Ticket Information for 2021-22

Subscriptions for the 2021-22 Severance Hall season are on sale now and start at only $57.00 for a three-concert package. Subscribers receive seating priority, ticket exchange privileges, and other benefits, including savings of up to 35% off individual-ticket prices.

Cleveland Orchestra Memberships can be purchased at any time during the year. Memberships are designed to offer convenience and value for patrons who want to experience more Cleveland Orchestra concerts each season and include access to year-round concerts at both Severance Hall and the Blossom Music Festival. In exchange for a monthly membership fee of $35 (billed automatically), members can reserve a single ticket for $10 to any concert at any time. For more information about the Members Club, please visit clevelandorchestra.com/tickets/memberships/.

Tickets to individual performances will be available on Tuesday, September 7, 2021. For more information about the variety of subscription packages offered, or for other questions, call Cleveland Orchestra Ticket Services at 216-231-1111 or 800-686-1141, email BoxOffice@ClevelandOrchestra.com or visit clevelandorchestra.com