This pairing of Prokofiev symphonies includes two examples of differing character: his intense Second Symphony, “a piece of iron and steel” as he described it, and his most popular symphony, the more uplifting, irrepressible Fifth. When the Fifth was premiered in the US, Prokofiev’s picture graced the cover of Time magazine, and the magazine’s lengthy profile of him quoted Koussevitzky’s assessment: “[The Fifth Symphony is] the greatest musical event in many, many years. The greatest since Brahms and Tchaikovsky! It is magnificent! It is yesterday, it is today, it is tomorrow.”

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Modern Classicist: Welser-Möst Conducts Prokofiev5 and 2

Severance Music Center

Themes of nostalgia, childhood, and the passage of time abound in this whimsical concert, which concludes with Ravel’s enchanting ballet score, transporting us to the forest where Tom Thumb's trail of crumbs falls victim to various songbirds, amidst a sweetly innocent love scene between Beauty and the Beast, and concludes with an ecstatic celebration of nature in "The Enchanted Garden."

Ravel's Mother Goose

Inspired by the countryside, in Beethoven’s “Pastoral,” his most programmatic symphony, you can hear the rolling of thunder, a joyous country dance, and the calling of a shepherd’s pipes. From the solo cello's triumphant opening chord and the lively conversation between the orchestral strings and the soloist, Haydn proves this concerto deserves its place as the crown jewel in the canon of cello repertoire. 

Beethoven's Pastoral

Isata Kanneh-Mason drew popular and critical acclaim when her debut album Romance – the Piano Music of Clara Schumann rocketed to No. 1 on the UK classical charts. Gramophone magazine extolled the recording as “one of the most charming and engaging debuts.” Her Cleveland premiere is not to be missed. Hindemith’s Mathis der Mahler is inspired by 16th-century painter Matthias Grünewald and his struggle for artistic freedom of expression in the repressive climate of his day — mirroring Hindemith’s own struggle as the Nazis attained power and repressed dissent.

Kanneh-Mason Plays Schumann

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The Cleveland Orchestra has been renowned for its recordings and performances of the Brahms symphonies. Brahms's Fourth and last symphony has been called "one of the supreme creative acts of the Romantic era" and is fraught with tension between lyrical beauty, intense drama, and subdued melancholy. The piccolo takes an unusual solo turn when the Orchestra’s principal piccolo, Mary Kay Fink, performs a work commissioned for her from Israeli composer Oded Zehavi.

Brahms's Fourth Symphony

With its rich, sweeping melodies and powerful brass chorales, the Second Symphony has become one of Sibelius’s most famous works — vividly evoking the beauty of his native Finland. 

Sibelius's Second Symphony

Sensual and rhapsodic, Debussy’s prelude uses the solo flute to evoke the moody, dream-like atmosphere of a faun who awakens from a nap in the forest on a sunlit afternoon. In contrast with the more pastoral mood of this concert’s opening works, City Noir was inspired by the peculiar ambience and mood of Los Angeles ‘noir’ films, especially those produced in the late forties and early fifties.

City Noir

Called “the fast rising star of conducting” Klaus Mäkelä returns to conduct a program highlighting the works of British conductors: Elgar’s much loved Cello Concerto, and Walton’s hugely sonic, outlandishly exuberant oratorio (featuring the celebrated baritone Thomas Hampson).

Elgar's Cello Concerto

Critics around the world are praising Yuja Wang for her “impressive virtuosity and poise” (Boston Globe), and she has thrilled audiences worldwide with her “superhuman keyboard technique with artistic eloquence that is second to none” (San Francisco Chronicle). Almost no musical work has had such a powerful influence or evoked as much controversy as Igor Stravinsky's ballet score The Rite of Spring. The work’s premiere was scandalous. In addition to the outrageous costumes, unusual choreography, and bizarre story of pagan sacrifice, Stravinsky's musical innovations tested the patience of the audience to the fullest.

Yuja Wang Plays Ravel & Stravinsky

“Fate knocking at the door.” Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony opens with perhaps the four most famous notes in all of music.  Revolutionary in its time, it is now perhaps the best-known piece of music in history. A perennial Cleveland favorite, the distinguished conductor Herbert Blomstedt is heralded for his interpretations of Beethoven and Schubert.

Beethoven's Fateful Fifth

It is hauntingly beautiful, heartrendingly emotional, and unabashedly romantic. Rachmaninoff wrote of his Second Piano Concerto, “What I try to do when writing down my music is to make it say simply and directly what is in my heart.” Bartók’s dazzling, thrilling, and immensely popular concerto is a virtuosic tour de force for the entire orchestra.

Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto

“The hottest artist on the classical music planet” (The New York Times), superstar Lang Lang plays sold-out concerts in all continents of the globe; he returns to Cleveland to perform Saint-Saëns most popular concerto. In his Symphonie fantastique, the young Berlioz bared his soul in music  —torturing himself with the extreme passion he had once felt for his beloved. Through visions of dreams, opium-induced nightmares, and tender musical kisses, this masterpiece includes a riveting “March to the Scaffold” you won’t soon forget.

Lang Lang Plays Saint-Saëns

In his Fantasy Symphony, the young Berlioz bared his soul in music  —torturing himself with the extreme passion he had once felt for his beloved. Through visions of dreams, opium-induced nightmares, and tender musical kisses, this masterpiece includes a riveting “March to the Scaffold” you won’t soon forget. 

Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique

Known to contemporary audiences through the movie Amadeus, Mozart’s Serenade for winds was taken from obscurity to immortality as Salieri is transfixed by his introduction to the composer’s music: 

“On the page it looked nothing. The beginning simple, almost comic. Just a pulse, bassoons, and basset horns, like a rusty squeezebox. Then suddenly, high above it, an oboe, a single note, hanging there unwavering, till a clarinet took over and sweetened it into a phrase of such delight! This was no composition by a performing monkey! This was a music I’d never heard. Filled with such longing, such unfulfillable longing. It seemed to me that I was hearing the very voice of God.” — from Amadeus

Mozart's Gran Partita

Concert #4

Maltz Performing Arts Center

Living in Beethoven’s shadow, it took Brahms over 14 years to write his first symphony and wow, was it worth the wait! The mysterious opening, lilting melodies and chorale-like finale might leave you asking “Beethoven, who?”

Brahm's First and Pompa-Baldi

The program commemorates 60 years since the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited discrimination based on race, religion, sex, or national origin. The composers and themes represent those groups whose rights were affirmed by this historic legislation, including works by African American, women, and immigrant composers. One highlight of the program is Can You See? by The Cleveland Orchestra’s Daniel R. Lewis Composer Fellow Allison Loggins-Hull, which received its first performances in May 2023.

Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Concert

COYO Winter Concert

The Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra and guest conductor Leonard Slatkin invite you to join us for a night of music “From the New World”.

Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra Concert

The Miraculous Mandarin is a sumptuous, erotic ballet telling a fantastical tale of a girl forced to act as a decoy by thugs, luring a wealthy Mandarin to his tragic fate. Its theme of the tragic, dark passions between men and women is equally as gripping and powerful — and as controversial — as when it first premiered.

Orchestral events in Cleveland, OH

Modern Classicist: Welser...

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Beethoven's Pastoral

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Brahms's Fourth Symphony

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Sibelius's Second Symphon...

The Cleveland Orchestra

City Noir

The Cleveland Orchestra

Elgar's Cello Concerto

The Cleveland Orchestra

Yuja Wang Plays Ravel & S...

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Beethoven's Fateful Fifth...

The Cleveland Orchestra

Rachmaninoff's Second Pia...

The Cleveland Orchestra

Lang Lang Plays Saint-Saë...

The Cleveland Orchestra

Berlioz's Symphonie fanta...

The Cleveland Orchestra

Mozart's Gran Partita

The Cleveland Orchestra

Concert #4

Heights Chamber Orchestra

Brahm's First and Pompa-B...

Suburban Symphony Orchestra

Martin Luther King Jr. Ce...

The Cleveland Orchestra

COYO Winter Concert

The Cleveland Orchestra

Cleveland Institute of Mu...

The Cleveland Orchestra

The Miraculous Mandarin

The Cleveland Orchestra