Thu 11/19 @ 7:30PM
Fri 11/20 @ 8PM
Sat 11/21 @ 8PM
The viola is often viewed as taking a backseat to the flashier violin, playing more of a supporting role. But this weekend the Cleveland Orchestra’s principal viola player Robert Vernon and first assistant principal Lynne Ramsey get to step out in front as the soloists in contemporary composer Richard Sortomme’s Concerto for Two Violists. Sortomme, who is himself a violist as well as a violinist, wrote the piece on commission from the Cleveland Orchestra and it will be getting its world premiere this week at Severance Hall.
It’s not Sortomme’s first viola piece commissioned by the orchestra. In 2007, the orchestra premiered his Rhapsody for Viola and Orchestra, with Vernon as soloist.
The three concerts will also feature Franz Schubert’s Symphony No. 9 in C major (“The Great”) inspired by his reverence for Beethoven. Bedřich Smetana’s Overture to The Bartered Bride opens the concerts.
The orchestra will be welcoming its former music director, Christoph von Dohnányi, back to the podium to conduct.
Tickets are $29-$149.