In Sunday’s (10/16) Plain Dealer (Cleveland), Zachary Lewis writes, “If the Cleveland Orchestra is Northeast Ohio’s prime cultural ambassador, then the goal of its upcoming European mission is to scout sites for new embassies. Sure, there are fans to be made and concerts to play. Thirteen of them, in fact, over 17 days in five countries. But as the orchestra embarks this week on its 2011 European tour, forming and strengthening official bonds are equally high priorities. … Broadly speaking, the tour follows a large, northeasterly arc, beginning Thursday in Madrid, Spain, and ending Saturday, Nov. 5, at the Musikverein in Vienna, Austria, where the group is set to collaborate with the famed Vienna Singverein in two performances of Mozart’s C-Minor Mass. … But Vienna isn’t just the tour’s geographic and artistic destination. The site of a flourishing long-term biennial residency, it’s also a model for what the orchestra would like to implement elsewhere across the continent. … Perhaps the hottest iron in the fire is Paris, where the orchestra has performed 13 times since 1957 and will appear again Tuesday and Wednesday, Oct. 25 and 26, at the Salle Pleyel. …Talks about a formal residency in Paris reportedly have been taking place at least since 2009, when the orchestra last visited.”
Posted October 11, 2011
