Music Director, Franz Welser-Möst leads The Cleveland Orchestra, 2017 Gala Concert at Severance Hall. © Roger Mastroianni, Courtesy of The Cleveland Orchestra.
On Saturday, September 29, 2018 at Severance Hall, America’s preeminent performing arts television series Great Performances in association with ideastream will record The Cleveland Orchestra’s 100th Anniversary Gala Concert for an exclusive U.S. television broadcast on PBS slated for 2019. The broadcast is a co-production of The Cleveland Orchestra, ideastream and THIRTEEN Productions LLC for WNET.
For the Anniversary Gala, Cleveland Orchestra Music Director Franz Welser-Möst leads a program featuring pianist Lang Lang as soloist. The program offers works touching on more than a century of Viennese musical traditions with Lang Lang performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 24. Lang Lang made his Cleveland Orchestra debut in 2000 at Blossom Music Center and most recently performed with the Orchestra in 2014 at Severance Hall. The remainder of the concert features works by Richard and Johann Strauss, and concludes with Ravel’s viscerally cataclysmic La Valse (The Waltz), which dramatically evokes the changing artistic worlds between the 19th and 20th centuries.
The annual Gala Evening provides essential funding for The Cleveland Orchestra’s engaging education and community programs, which share the value and joy of music with people throughout Northeast Ohio. The event, which in addition to the concert, features a gala dinner, is chaired by four prominent members of the Orchestra’s board of trustees: Norma Lerner (gala chair), Nancy McCann (co-chair), Beth Mooney (corporate co-chair) and Richard K. Smucker (corporate co-chair). Get details of the Gala Concert and evening, including information about tickets at clevelandorchestra.com/news100gala.
This concert marks the fourth time that The Cleveland Orchestra has been featured on the Great Performances series, most recently in 2006 when Franz Welser-Möst led the Orchestra in a Carnegie Hall Opening Night Concert. Additional appearances on the long-running series include a concert from the 1975–76 season with Lorin Maazel and a performance from 2000 conducted by Christoph von Dohnányi.
“ideastream has a long and storied history of partnering with The Cleveland Orchestra to share the outstanding work of Cleveland’s musical ambassadors through television, radio and digital platforms,” said Kevin Martin, President and CEO of ideastream. “We are grateful to the donors of the ideastream Campaign for Community. Their investments make possible this new collaboration with Great Performances, which will give local, national and international audiences a chance to hear ‘The Cleveland Sound’ as The Cleveland Orchestra celebrates its 100th birthday.”
“As The Cleveland Orchestra is about to celebrate its 100th birthday in December 2018, this special television broadcast of our Anniversary Gala concert represents a great opportunity to showcase the Orchestra and its unique partnership with Music Director Franz Welser-Möst,” said Cleveland Orchestra Executive Director, André Gremillet. “We are delighted to share with the world some of the superb musical experiences we are so proud to offer our Cleveland audience every week in our beautiful Severance Hall.”
“We are thrilled to bring viewers this milestone concert and continue our relationship with The Cleveland Orchestra and ideastream. Here’s to another 100 years,” said David Horn, Executive Producer of Great Performances.
The Cleveland Orchestra acknowledges the support from Clasart Classic (Germany), the Orchestra’s Global Media Sponsor and co-producer of this Great Performances episode. The Orchestra also thanks NHK Broadcasting (Japan), Bayerischer Rundfunk / 3sat (German and Austria) and YLE (Finnish Broadcasting Company) for their participation.
Major funding for the Great Performances series is provided by The Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation, the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Arts Fund, the Irene Diamond Fund, Rosalind P. Walter, the LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust, The Agnes Varis Trust, The Starr Foundation, the Kate W. Cassidy Foundation, Ellen and James S. Marcus, The Philip and Janice Levin Foundation, The Abra Prentice Foundation, Jody and John Arnhold, public television viewers and PBS.