Cleveland Orchestra leaves on tour

Five countries in two weeks

Franz Welser-Most relaxes in his studio at Severance Hall before taking the orchestra on a six-city, two-week tour.

Reporter Vivian Goodman The Cleveland Orchestra embarks Tuesday on a two-week tour to five countries. Just before a rehearsal last week at Severance Hall we got a preview from the Music Director. Click to Listen Other options: Realplayer / Windows Media / MP3 Download (7:21)

THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA
2009 MUSIKVEREIN RESIDENCY and TOUR PERFORMANCES
OCTOBER 20 – NOVEMBER 3, 2009

TORONTO, CANADA
Tuesday, October 20, 2009, at 8:00 p.m.
Roy Thomson Hall
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor

Debussy: Fêtes (Festivals) from Nocturnes
Haydn: Symphony No. 85 (“La Reine”)
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5


AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS
Saturday, October 24, 2009, at 8:15 p.m.
Concertgebouw
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor

Debussy: Nuages (Clouds) and Fêtes (Festivals) from Nocturnes
Widmann: Chor (for orchestra)
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5


PARIS, FRANCE
Sunday, October 25, 2009, at 8:00 p.m.
Théâtre des Champs-Élysées
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor

Debussy: Fêtes (Festivals) from Nocturnes
Haydn: Symphony No. 85 (“La Reine”)
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5


LUXEMBOURG
Tuesday, October 27, 2009, at 8:00 p.m.
Philharmonie
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor
Mitsuko Uchida, piano

Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4
Liszt: A Faust Symphony


LUXEMBOURG
Wednesday, October 28, 2009, at 8:00 p.m.
Philharmonie
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor

Haydn: Symphony No. 85 (“La Reine”)
Widmann: Chor (for orchestra)
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5


VIENNA, AUSTRIA
Thursday, October 29, 2009, at 7:30 p.m.
Musikverein
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor

Debussy: Nuages (Clouds) and Fêtes (Festivals) from Nocturnes
Liszt: A Faust Symphony


VIENNA, AUSTRIA
Saturday, October 31, 2009, at 7:30 p.m.
Musikverein
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor
Mitsuko Uchida, piano

Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5


VIENNA, AUSTRIA
Sunday, November 1, 2009, at 7:30 p.m.
Monday, November 2, 2009, at 7:30 p.m.
Musikverein
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor
Malin Hartelius, soprano
Simon Keenlyside, baritone
Vienna Singverein

Widmann: Chor (for orchestra)
Brahms: Ein deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem)


LINZ, AUSTRIA
Tuesday, November 3, 2009, at 7:30 p.m.
Brucknerhaus
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor

Debussy: Fêtes (Festivals) from Nocturnes
Haydn: Symphony No. 85 (“La Reine”)
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5

By Vivian Goodman and Alyssa DeGeorge

The Cleveland Orchestra will begin it’s two-week international tour Tuesday, traveling to Toronto, Amsterdam, Paris, Luxembourg, Vienna and Austria lead by Maestro Franz Welser-Most.  This will be Welser-Most’s eighth international tour with the Cleveland Orchestra, and Welser-Most says the international exposure is important, even if the Canada stop is unusual.

“The last time the orchestra was in Canada is exactly 20 years ago,” the music director said. “ I love Toronto. I’ve been there privately several times. I think it’s a beautiful city and I look forward to staying there for a couple of days.”

The tour’s focus, however, will be on the stop at Vienna’s Musickverein for the orchestra’s fourth biennial residency since 2003.  The musicians have prepared Shostakovich’s 5^th as the centerpiece.. 

“We in Cleveland, I think the community and the orchestra can be really proud because we are … the only American orchestra which has such a residency in that most famous concert hall of the world. So it’s always, going there is very special.”

The orchestra recently added residencies at New York’s Lincoln Center and at Indiana University to other residencies at the Lucerne Festival and in Miami.  It also had a residence in in Salzburg last summer.

Welser-Most says such international exposure pays off at home.  The Swiss bank UBS is sponsoring the orchestra’s season at Severance Hall. And the CEO of Austria’s biggest bank is now a member of the Cleveland Orchestra Board of Trustees.

But Welser-Most says there’s no chance the orchestra will ignore it’s Cleveland roots.  

“The vast majority of our work is still in this community. And just look at the new initiative which we just launched two weeks ago. That was the first time since 1968 that the Cleveland Orchestra played in high schools in this city,” he said. “We’re doing more for the city than ever before but at the same time we have to spread our wings to find other ways of finding money, simply.

“I think that the community can be extremely proud because the orchestra has never been in more demand than it is now. And in economically difficult times world-wide, that says a lot.”

But even with an overseas audience, Welser-Most acknowledged finding support in a worldwide recession hasn’t been easy.

“It’s a struggle for everyone. We’re all in the same fight,” he said. But “the worst you could do is sit at home and whine and say oh the world is terrible. That’s the best recipe to go downhill. So you have to try new things and that’s what we’re doing.”

Among the new things is featuring  a work by its young composer in residence, Jorg Widmann, during the tour.  Welser-Most says he’s committed to the riskier contemporary work, though the orchestra  will also feature Beethoven’s 5th during its stops at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw Oct. 24 and Luxembourg’s Philharmonie Oct. 28.

Welser-Most says he’s excited for the start of the tour though not looking forward to the travel. 

“Jet lag is not good for me and it takes me quite some time to get over it,” he said. And as for his orchestra, “I sort of heard that the use of coffee on tour is bigger than normal.”