Franz Welser-Möst

As Musical Director of the Cleveland Orchestra, Franz Welser-Möst has moulded the orchestra’s unmistakable sound for 21 years. During his term of office, the orchestra was frequently lauded for its musical excellence by the international critics. Innovative projects and cooperative ventures continuously targeted and involved a young public. Today, 20% of all concertgoers are under 25. Welser-Möst brought back numerous world premières and opera productions to the Severance Hall. Besides terms as resident conductor in the USA, Europe and China, Franz Welser-Möst appears with the Cleveland Orchestra at all the leading festivals. He will be the musical director of the Cleveland Orchestra until 2027. As guest conductor, Franz Welser-Möst has a particularly close and productive artistic partnership with the Vienna Philharmonic. He conducted the New Year Concert three times, and regularly conducts the orchestra in subscription concerts at the Wiener Musikverein and on tour in Japan, China, Australia and the USA. He also conducted the historic Sarajevo and Versailles Memorial Concerts. From 2010 to 2014 Franz Welser-Möst was general music director of the Wiener Staatsoper, where he not only covered the repertoire as a whole but particularly focused on 20th century operas, including Janácek’s »Kátja Kabanová«, »From the House of the Dead« and »The Cunning Little Vixen«, and Hindemith’s »Cardillac«. He has worked intensively on the oeuvre of Richard Strauss in both Vienna and Cleveland, with performances of »Salome«, »Die Frau ohne Schatten«, »Der Rosenkavalier«, »Ariadne auf Naxos« and »Arabella«. Franz Welser-Möst is a regular guest conductor at the Salzburg Festival, and sets pioneering new standards of interpretation as an opera and concert conductor, including »Rusalka«, »Der Rosenkavalier«, »Fidelio«, »Die Liebe der Danae«, Aribert Reimann’s opera »Lear« and Richard Strauss’ »Salome«, with which he made festival history in 2018. As a result of its incredible success, »Salome« was encored in the 2019 Festival programme. In 2020 he is conducting the Vienna Philharmonic in the opening concert of the Salzburg Festival and the première of Richard Strauss’ »Elektra«. Among other distinctions, Franz Welser-Möst is an honorary member of the Society of Friends of Music in Vienna, and was awarded the Vienna Philharmonic Ring of Honour, the Kilenyi Medal of the Bruckner Society of America and the Kennedy Center Gold Medal in the Arts. Franz Welser-Möst has made numerous CD and DVD recordings, many of which have received international awards, including the recordings of performances of Der Rosenkavalier and Salome at the Salzburg Festival. The latest live recordings with the Cleveland Orchestra include a 3 CD Box Set »The Cleveland Orchestra – A New Century«, with works by Beethoven, Varèse, Strauss, Prokofiev, Johannes Maria Staud and Bernd Richard Deutsch.