| Pianists Stephen Hough, Yunchan Lim, Garrick Ohlsson, Minsoo Sohn, and Orion Weiss to perform complete Beethoven Piano Concerto Cycle with The Cleveland Orchestra from November 6 to 17 Yunchan Lim to make Cleveland Orchestra debut |
| CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Orchestra regrets to announce that Music Director Franz Welser-Möst will be unable to conduct the upcoming three weeks of performances in Cleveland due to ongoing medical treatment. The Cleveland Orchestra family greatly looks forward to his return to the podium when he is fully recovered. Following Franz Welser-Möst’s cancellation, pianist Igor Levit withdrew from his planned performances of the Beethoven piano concertos. Five world-famous pianists will now perform instead, and the programs will remain the same. Sir Stephen Hough, Yunchan Lim, Garrick Ohlsson, Minsoo Sohn, and Orion Weiss will step in for this highly anticipated cycle, works that revolutionized concerto writing and remain cornerstones of the classical repertoire. Cleveland Orchestra Associate Conductor Daniel Reith will lead all programs. The cycle opens on November 6 and 7 with Beethoven’s Triple Concerto, featuring Augustin Hadelich, Julia Hagen, and Cleveland native Orion Weiss. Hadelich and Weiss, an accomplished musical duo known for their captivating chemistry, have recently released American Road Trip, an album that celebrates the works of American composers. The Triple Concerto is paired with Beethoven’s Third Concerto, featuring the renowned Sir Stephen Hough in his much-anticipated return to Severance. Hough, who recently recorded the complete Beethoven cycle, earned high praise from Gramophone magazine: “It is a tribute to the quality of Stephen Hough’s musicianship that the new cycle’s most memorable performance should be that of Beethoven’s […] Third Piano Concerto, the one – on record at least – that has often proved the most elusive.” On November 9 and 12, Cleveland Orchestra favorite Garrick Ohlsson takes on both Beethoven’s Second and Fourth concertos. Known for his “virtually peerless keyboard muscle” (The Plain Dealer), Ohlsson returns to Severance following a dazzling subscription week with Franz Welser-Möst earlier this year featuring Mozart’s final piano concerto. The cycle concludes on November 15 to 17 with the much-anticipated Cleveland Orchestra debut of pianist Yunchan Lim. Lim, who became an international sensation as the youngest winner of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2022, will perform Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto. Marin Alsop, who chaired the Jury, described Lim as “that rare artist who brings profound musicality and prodigious technique organically together.” Minsoo Sohn, Lim’s esteemed mentor and teacher at the New England Conservatory of Music, will open the program with a performance of Beethoven’s First Concerto. Updates for the Mahler’s Song of the Earth program on November 21, 22, and 23 are forthcoming. BEETHOVEN PIANO CONCERTO CYCLE TRIPLE CONCERTO & THIRD CONCERTO Wednesday, November 6, 2024, at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, November 7, 2024, at 7:30 p.m. The Cleveland Orchestra Daniel Reith, conductor Orion Weiss, piano (Triple Concerto) Augustin Hadelich, violin Julia Hagen, cello Sir Stephen Hough, piano (Third Concerto) BEETHOVEN Triple Concerto BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 3 The Cleveland Orchestra inaugurates a highly anticipated cycle of Beethoven’s piano concertos with five celebrated pianists. In this first of three installments, the “brilliant” Cleveland native Orion Weiss (The New York Times) shares the stage with violinist Augustin Hadelich and cellist Julia Hagen for the majestic Triple Concerto. Following this, the captivating Sir Stephen Hough returns to Severance for the stormy Third Piano Concerto, Beethoven’s only one set in a minor key, which Hough recently recorded to high praise from Gramophone magazine. BEETHOVEN PIANO CONCERTO CYCLE SECOND & FOURTH CONCERTOS Saturday, November 9, 2024, at 8 p.m. Tuesday, November 12, 2024, at 7:30 p.m. The Cleveland Orchestra Daniel Reith, conductor Garrick Ohlsson, piano BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 2 BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 4 Cleveland favorite Garrick Ohlsson — known for his “virtually peerless keyboard muscle” (The Plain Dealer) — returns to Severance for the second part of this Beethoven cycle with the composer’s sprightly Second Piano Concerto, which is suffused with Mozartian playfulness and bold dramatic gestures. The Fourth Piano Concerto, on the other hand, fully exhibits the seasoned symphonist Beethoven had become by the time of the work’s premiere in 1808. BEETHOVEN PIANO CONCERTO CYCLE FIRST & FIFTH CONCERTOS Friday, November 15, 2024, at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, November 16, 2024, at 8 p.m. Sunday, November 17, 2024, at 3 p.m. The Cleveland Orchestra Daniel Reith, conductor Minsoo Sohn, piano (First Concerto) Yunchan Lim, piano (Fifth Concerto) BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 1 BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 5, “Emperor” The Cleveland Orchestra concludes its unmissable Beethoven cycle with the much-anticipated Cleveland Orchestra debut of pianist Yunchan Lim. Lim, who became an international sensation as the youngest winner of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2022, will perform Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto, perhaps as grand and romantic as anything the composer would ever write. Minsoo Sohn, Lim’s esteemed mentor and teacher at the New England Conservatory of Music, opens the program with a performance of Beethoven’s First Concerto. |
