THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA RETURNS TO CARNEGIE HALL FOR CONCERTS IN JANUARY AND FEBRUARY 2016; January 17 Program Led by Music Director Franz Welser-Möst Features Soprano Barbara Hannigan in the NY Premiere of Hans Abrahamsen Work; February 14 All-Mozart Program Led by Pianist Mitsuko Uchida and Concertmaster William Preucil

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THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA RETURNS TO CARNEGIE HALL
FOR CONCERTS IN JANUARY AND FEBRUARY 2016

January 17 Program Led by Music Director Franz Welser-Möst Features
Soprano Barbara Hannigan in the NY Premiere of Hans Abrahamsen Work;
February 14 All-Mozart Program Led by Pianist Mitsuko Uchida and
Concertmaster William Preucil

Ms. Uchida Returns for a Recital Program on February 23

Franz Welser-MöstThe Cleveland Orchestra returns to Carnegie Hall for the first time since 2012 with two concerts this winter. On Sunday, January 17 at 7:00 p.m., Music Director Franz Welser-Möst leads the orchestra and soprano Barbara Hannigan in the New York premiere of Hans Abrahamsen’s let me tell you. The work, recently awarded the 2016 Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition, features texts from writer and critic Paul Griffiths’s novella of the same name, in which the character of Ophelia delivers a first-person account of her life using only the words Shakespeare wrote for her in Hamlet. Also on the program is Shostakovich’s monumental Symphony No. 4 in C Minor, Op. 43.

The following month, on Sunday, February 14 at 7:00 p.m., pianist Mitsuko Uchida together with Cleveland Orchestra concertmaster and leader William Preucil conducts the orchestra from the piano in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 17 in G Major, K. 453 and Piano Concerto No. 25 in C Major, K. 503. Also on the program is his Symphony No. 34 in C Major, K. 338. Ms. Uchida returns to Carnegie Hall the following week, on Tuesday, February 23 at 8:00 p.m. for a recital featuring works by Berg, Schubert, Mozart, and Schumann.

About the Artists
Barbara Hannigan is known worldwide as a soprano of vital expressive force directed by exceptional technique. She is now bringing that same high energy and expertise to her varied activities as a conductor while continuing to work as a singer with the most prominent maestros.  Ms. Hannigan possesses an exciting stage presence, whether in opera or on the concert platform. Much sought after in contemporary music (she has given over 80 world premieres), she is no less brilliant and devoted a performer of baroque and classical music. Bringing freshness to older music and authority to new, she is among the very few singers whose every performance is an occasion.

Ms. Hannigan is a frequent guest of the Berliner Philharmoniker, who commissioned for her Hans Abrahamsen’s symphonic song cycle let me tell you, a work which her performances has rapidly launched around the world. In 2014, she had the rare honor of an invitation as Artiste Étoile to the Lucerne Festival, where she conducted, gave master classes, and premiered an orchestral work written for her by Unsuk Chin.

György Ligeti and Henri Dutilleux both regarded her as their soprano of choice. Her startling performances of Ligeti’s Mysteries of the Macabre have been acclaimed widely, as has her expressivity in Dutilleux’s Correspondances. Ms. Hannigan’s recording of this work has garnered awards from Gramophone, Edison, and Victoires de la Musique. Other awards include “Sängerin des Jahres” (Opernwelt, 2013), and Personnalité Musicale de l’année (Syndicat de la Presse Française, 2012). She has worked extensively with Pierre Boulez, George Benjamin, Gerald Barry, Salvatore Sciarrino, Pascal Dusapin, and Hans Abrahamsen, among a long list of composers.

Legendary pianist Mitsuko Uchida brings a deep insight into the music she plays through her own quest for truth and beauty. Renowned for her interpretations of Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, and Beethoven, she has also illuminated the music of Berg, Schoenberg, Webern, and Boulez for a new generation of listeners. Highlights this season include a performance at the BBC Proms with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Vladimir Jurowski, the Berliner Philharmoniker with Sir Simon Rattle as well as play-directing Mozart concerti with The Cleveland Orchestra and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra with which she will return to the Salzburg Mozartwoche. Recital performances in 2016 include the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris, the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Royal Festival Hall in London, and Carnegie Hall in New York. With a strong commitment to playing chamber music, Ms. Uchida collaborates closely with the world’s finest musicians. A European tour with Magdalena Kožená in the autumn will be followed by a performance of the Schumann piano quintet with the Ebène Quartet at Wigmore Hall. Ms. Uchida will also appear in chamber music programs with members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and members of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra with Jörg Widmann.

Ms. Uchida’s loyal relationship with the finest orchestras and concert halls has resulted in numerous residencies. She has been Artist-in-Residence at The Cleveland Orchestra and at the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Vienna Konzerthaus, Salzburg Mozartwoche, and Lucerne Festival. Carnegie Hall dedicated a Perspectives series to her entitled Mitsuko Uchida: Vienna Revisited, and she was featured at the Concertgebouw in a Carte Blanche series. Ms. Uchida records exclusively for Decca.

William Preucil became concertmaster of The Cleveland Orchestra in April 1995 and has appeared regularly as a soloist with the orchestra in concerto performances at both Severance Hall and the annual Blossom Festival. Prior to joining The Cleveland Orchestra, Mr. Preucil served for seven seasons as first violinist of the Grammy Award-winning Cleveland Quartet. From 1982 to 1989, he served as concertmaster of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, after previously holding the same position with the orchestras of Utah and Nashville. During his tenure in Atlanta, he appeared with the Atlanta Symphony as soloist in 70 performances of 15 different concertos. Composer Stephen Paulus’s Violin Concerto was written for and dedicated to Mr. Preucil, who premiered it and then recorded it for New World Records with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and conductor Robert Shaw. Mr. Preucil also has made solo appearances with the symphony orchestras of Detroit, Hong Kong, Minnesota, Rochester, and Taipei.

Mr. Preucil regularly performs chamber music, as a guest soloist with other orchestras, and at summer music festivals. Each summer, he serves as concertmaster and violin soloist with the Mainly Mozart Festival Orchestra in San Diego. Mr. Preucil also continues to perform as a member of the Lanier Trio, whose recording of the complete Dvořák piano trios was honored as one of Time magazine’s top 10 compact discs for 1993. Actively involved as an educator, Mr. Preucil serves as Distinguished Professor of Violin at the Cleveland Institute of Music and at Furman University. He previously taught at the Eastman School of Music and at the University of Georgia.

Franz Welser-Möst is one of today’s most distinguished conductors. He has been music director of The Cleveland Orchestra since 2002, with his tenure now contracted until 2022. He holds the Orchestra’s Kelvin Smith Family Endowed Chair.

The Cleveland Orchestra, which celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2018, has reached new heights under Mr. Welser-Möst’s direction. The New York Times recently declared The Cleveland Orchestra the “best American orchestra“ due to its virtuosity, elegance of sound, variety of color, and chamber-like musical cohesion. The Cleveland Orchestra has been repeatedly praised for its innovative programming, support for new musical works, and for its recent success in semi-staged and staged opera productions — including 2014’s critically acclaimed performances of Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen with a revelatory computer-animated stage design. In addition to their regular residencies in the USA and Europe, Franz Welser-Möst and The Cleveland Orchestra are frequent guests at many prestigious concert halls and festivals, including the Salzburg Festival and the Lucerne Festival. The Cleveland Orchestra has been hugely successful in building up a new and, notably, a young audience through its groundbreaking programs involving students and by working closely with universities.

Franz Welser-Möst served as music director of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, 1990-96, and of the Zurich Opera, 1995-2008. From 2010 to 2014, he held the position of general music director of the Vienna State Opera, one of the world’s most important repertoire houses. In addition to cultivating the traditional German, Italian, and Slavonic repertoire, including a significant spotlight on the works of Janáček, Mr. Welser-Möst placed a strong focus on 20th-century works, including the operas of Richard Strauss. He has an annual presence on the operatic stage at the Salzburg Festival, and after triumphant successes with Rusalka, Der Rosenkavalier, and his seventy-second opera premiere, of Fidelio this past summer — winning huge acclaim for his “brilliant conducting” (FAZ) — he leads a new production of Die Liebe der Danae at Salzburgin 2016.

As a guest conductor, Franz Welser-Möst has developed a particularly close and productive relationship with the Vienna Philharmonic. He has twice appeared on the podium at the Philharmonic’s New Year’s Concert and conducts the orchestra regularly in subscription concerts at the Musikverein, as well as in Lucerne, at the BBC Proms, and on tour in the United States, Scandinavia, and Japan. His close association with the Vienna Philharmonic was honored in spring 2014 when he was presented with the orchestra’s Ring of Honor. Franz Welser-Möst has received many other honors and awards, while his numerous CDs and DVDs have been awarded many international prizes — the Salzburg Festival production of Der Rosenkavalier was recently awarded the Echo Klassik 2015 for “best opera recording.“

In December 2015, he conducts the prestigious Nobel Prize Concert with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and the annual televised Christmas concert of the Filarmonica della Scala, Milan. Upcoming engagements in 2016 include concerts with Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Staatskapelle Dresden, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, and the Bavarian Radio Symphony.

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 artistic excellence, creative programming, and community engagement. The strong and ongoing financial support of 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.

The partnership with Franz Welser-Möst, begun in 2002, currently in its 14th year with the 2015-16 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. The Orchestra’s annual residency in Miami, Florida, presented under the name Cleveland Orchestra Miami, is currently in its tenth year in 2015-16, and involves four weeks of full programming in South Florida, including concerts, community presentations, education programs, and collaborative partnerships.

The Cleveland Orchestra has a long and distinguished recording and broadcast history. A series of DVD 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 Rodzinski, 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 tours, residencies, radio broadcasts, and recordings, The Cleveland Orchestra is heard today by a broad and loyal constituency around the world. For more information visit clevelandorchestra.com.

Program Information
Sunday, January 17, 2016 at 7:00 p.m.
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage
THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA

Franz Welser-Möst, Music Director and Conductor
Barbara Hannigan, Soprano

HANS ABRAHAMSEN let me tell you (NY Premiere)
DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 4 in C Minor, Op. 43

Tickets: $40–$122
_______________________________

Sunday, February 14, 2016 at 7:00 p.m.
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage
THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA

Mitsuko Uchida, Conductor and Piano
William Preucil, Concertmaster and Leader

ALL-MOZART PROGRAM Piano Concerto No. 17 in G Major, K. 453
Symphony No. 34 in C Major, K. 338
Piano Concerto No. 25 in C Major, K. 503

Tickets: $48–$150
_______________________________

Tuesday, February 23, 2016 at 8:00 p.m.
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage
MITSUKO UCHIDA, Piano

ALBAN BERG Piano Sonata, Op. 1
FRANZ SCHUBERT Four Impromptus, D. 899
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART Rondo in A Minor, K. 511
ROBERT SCHUMANN Piano Sonata No. 1 in F-sharp Minor, Op. 11

This performance is sponsored by Nomura.

Tickets: $46–$145

Bank of America is the Proud Season Sponsor of Carnegie Hall.

Ticket Information
Tickets are available at the Carnegie Hall Box Office, 154 West 57th Street, or can be charged to major credit cards by calling CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800 or by visiting the Carnegie Hall website, carnegiehall.org.

For Carnegie Hall Corporation presentations taking place in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage, a limited number of seats, priced at $10, will be available day-of-concert beginning at 11:00 a.m. Monday through Saturday and 12:00 noon on Sunday until one hour before the performance or until supply lasts. The exceptions are Carnegie Hall Family Concerts and gala events. These $10 tickets are available to the general public on a first-come, first-served basis at the Carnegie Hall Box Office only. There is a two-ticket limit per customer.

In addition, for all Carnegie Hall presentations in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage a limited number of partial view (seats with obstructed or limited sight lines or restricted leg room) will be sold for 50% of the full price. For more information on this and other discount ticket programs, including those for students, Notables members, and Bank of America customers, visit carnegiehall.org/discounts. Artists, programs, and prices are subject to change.

 

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