(Credit: Yevhen Gulenko)

The Cleveland Orchestra has announced its 2026-27 season at Severance Music Center, the 25th and final year of its partnership with Music Director Franz Welser-Möst.

Welser-Möst opens his final season on September 17 and 20 with Richard Strauss’s “Four Last Songs,” featuring soprano Golda Schultz alongside Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 8.

Performance Dates: Sept. 17 & 20, 2026

The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus marks its 75th anniversary with a special concert featuring Grammy Award-winning composer and conductor Eric Whitacre leading the U.S. premiere of his “Eternity in an Hour.” The program opens with John Corigliano’s “Fern Hill,” conducted by Director of Choruses Lisa Wong.

Performance Date: Oct. 24, 2026

Conductor Petr Popelka leads The Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus in Brahms’s “Ein deutsches Requiem” with soprano Julia Kleiter and baritone Lucas Meachem as the soloists.

Performance Dates: November 5 – 8, 2026

Welser-Möst conducts Beethoven’s “Missa solemnis,” joined by soprano Golda Schultz, mezzo-soprano Taylor Raven, tenor Julian Prégardien, and bass Anthony Robin Schneider, alongside The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus.

Performance Dates: Jan. 14 & 16, 2027; Jan. 19, 2027 (Carnegie Hall)

Thomas Adès conducts Holst’s “The Planets” with members of The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus.

Performance Dates: Feb. 4 – 7, 2027

Welser-Möst marks the fifth year of the Mandel Opera & Humanities Festival with Richard Strauss’s “Die Frau ohne Schatten,” staged by director Frederic Wake-Walker. David Butt Philip sings the Emperor, Sara Jakubiak sings the Empress, Jennifer Johnson Cano sings the Nurse, Roman Burdenko sings Barak, and Ambur Braid sings the Dyer’s Wife, alongside The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus.

Performance Dates: May 16 – 22, 2027

Soprano Joélle Harvey, tenor Kai Kluge, and baritone Ludwig Mittelhammer join Welser-Möst and The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus for Haydn’s “The Creation,” the very first work Welser-Möst conducted as Music Director during his inaugural season.

Performance Date: May 27, 2027