Franz Welser-Möst is among today’s most distinguished conductors. The 2018-19 season marks his 17^th year as Music Director of The Cleveland Orchestra, with the future of this acclaimed partnership extending into the next decade. The New York Times has declared Cleveland under Welser-Möst’s direction to be the “best American orchestra“ for its virtuosity, elegance of sound, variety of colour, and chamber-like musical cohesion.

During The Cleveland Orchestra’s centennial last season — dedicated to the community that created it — Franz Welser-Möst led two ambitious festivals, The Ecstasy of Tristan and Isolde, examining the power of music to portray and create transcendence, followed by a concentrated look at the philosophical and political messages within Beethoven’s music in The Prometheus Project (presented on three continents, in Cleveland, Vienna, and Tokyo). His innovative approach to programming, introducing new music, and rediscovering and re-examining older works continues this season, including a brand-new made-for-Cleveland production by Frederic Wake-Walker of Richard Strauss’s opera Ariadne auf Naxos in January.

Franz Welser-Möst and The Cleveland Orchestra are frequent guests at many prestigious concert halls and festivals around the world, including regular appearances in Vienna, New York, and Miami, and at the festivals of Salzburg and Lucerne. During Welser-Möst’s tenure, The Cleveland Orchestra has been hugely successful in building up a new and, notably, younger audience at home in Cleveland through groundbreaking programs involving families, students, universities, and cross-community partnerships. A series of established and newly created education offerings continue to energize and engage students throughout the region.

Founded by Adella Prentiss Hughes, The Cleveland Orchestra’s inaugural concert took place on December 11^th, 1918, with the 2017-18 Centennial season marking the Orchestra’s 100^th year of concerts. Under the leadership of Music Director Franz Welser-Möst, The Cleveland Orchestra has become one of the most sought-after performing ensembles in the world, setting standards of extraordinary artistic excellence, creative programming and community engagement. The New York Times has declared it “... the best in America” for its virtuosity, elegance of sound, variety of colour and chamber-like musical cohesion. The 2018-19 season marks the Orchestra’s 101^st year of concerts, and the beginning of a Second Century of extraordinary music making, dedicated service to its hometown and worldwide acclaim.

Strong community support from across the ensemble’s home region is driving the Orchestra forward with renewed energy and focus, increasing the number of young people attending concerts and bringing fresh attention to the Orchestra’s legendary sound and committed programming — including annual opera presentations with innovative staging and pairings. Recent acclaimed productions have included Debussy’s Pelléas and Mélisande (May 2017), a double bill of Bartók’s Miraculous Mandarin and Bluebeard’s Castle (April 2016) presented in collaboration with Chicago’s Joffrey Ballet and an innovative presentation of Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen (May 2014, with encore performances in Cleveland and Europe during the autumn of 2017). The 2017-18 season also featured in-concert performances of Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde (April 2018).

The partnership with Franz Welser-Möst, begun in 2002 and entering its 17^th year with the 2018-19 season, has earned The Cleveland Orchestra unprecedented residencies in the U.S. and around the world, including one at the Musikverein in Vienna, the first of its kind by an American orchestra. It also performs regularly at the Salzburg and Lucerne Festivals. The Orchestra’s 100^th season in 2017-18 featured two international tours, concluding with the presentation on three continents of Welser-Möst’s “Prometheus Project” featuring Beethoven Symphonies and overtures; these Beethoven concerts were presented in May and June 2018, at home in Cleveland, in Vienna’s Musikverein, and in Tokyo’s Suntory Hall.

The Cleveland Orchestra has a long and distinguished recording and broadcast history. A series of DVD (available through Clasart Classics) and CD recordings under the direction of Mr. Welser-Möst continues to add to an extensive and widely praised catalog of audio recordings made during the tenures of the ensemble’s earlier music directors. In addition, Cleveland Orchestra concerts are heard in syndication each season on radio stations throughout North America and Europe.

Seven music directors — Nikolai Sokoloff, Artur Rodziński, Erich Leinsdorf, George Szell, Lorin Maazel, Christoph von Dohnányi and Franz Welser-Möst — have guided and shaped the ensemble’s growth and sound since its founding in 1918. Through concerts at home and on tour, via radio broadcasts and a catalog of acclaimed recordings, The Cleveland Orchestra is heard today by a broad and growing group of fans around the world.