Severance Music Center March 17 Recital

Presented by Dr. Michael Frank and Pat Snyder (deceased) Recital in Thursday, July 30, 2026 | 7:30 PM Gartner Auditorium, Cleveland Museum of Art

Classical piano luminary and living legend, Jean-Yves Thibaudet returns to Cleveland for a rare solo recital of Debussy’s Préludes.

Isata Kanneh-Mason, piano

Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Concert Hall at Severance Music Center Tuesday, March 17, 2026, at 7:30 PM

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770–1827)

MAURICE RAVEL (1875–1937)

DOBRINKA TABAKOVA (B. 1980)

DOBRINKA TABAKOVA

Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 27, No. 2, “Moonlight”

I. Adagio sostenuto —

II. Allegretto

III. Presto agitato

Gaspard de la nuit

I. Ondine

II. Le Gibet

III. Scarbo

INTERMISSION

Nocturne

Halo

I. From Darkness —

II. To Blinding Sunshine —

III. Calm and Settled Glow

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN

Piano Sonata No. 21 in C major, Op. 53, “Waldstein”

I. Allegro con brio

II. Introduzione. Adagio molto —

III. Rondo. Allegretto moderato — Prestissimo

The performance lasts about 1 hour 40 minutes. Generous support for the 2025–26 Recital Series provided by the Art of Beauty Company, Inc.

A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC . . .

Music, it seems, has always been associated with the night. We imagine the earliest human groups singing stories in cave dwellings to ward off fear of the encroaching dark. In our own earliest memories, loving parents calm us to sleep with favorite lullabies. Later in life, pubs and nightclubs offer a different kind of nocturnal music, unless, of course, we prefer to attend evening performances of opera, ballet, or orchestral music.

The musical nocturne, popularized by composer-pianist Frédéric Chopin , began as music intended to accompany evening gatherings in the 18th century. Mozart ’s Serenade No. 13 for strings, Eine kleine Nachtmusik , is perhaps the most famous instance of this multi-movement instrumental genre. In the hands of Chopin and his Romantic contemporaries, however, the nocturne became a genre of single-movement piano works characterized by lyrical melodies and sweeping arpeggiated accompaniment — conjuring sensuous moonlit scenes.

Drawing from much more than just nocturnes, this evening’s program tells the musical story of an evening, from the first glimmers of moonlight to the pink hues of dawn.

Written in 1802, Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 14 was given the enduring nickname “Moonlight” three decades later by the German critic Ludwig Rellstab, who saw in the remarkable opening movement “a boat passing the wild scenery of Lake Lucerne in the moonlight.” The second movement offers respite from the inky depths of the moonlit lake, but the placid evening turns stormy in the finale, as Beethoven unleashes a furious torrent of unrestrained passion.

Whether peaceful or stormy, the evening’s concealing shadows are a favorite disguise for impish tricksters. Maurice Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit (1908) musically depicts three stories from Aloysius Bertrand’s eponymous book. The first movement, Ondine, tells the story of a nymph luring strangers to their watery deaths in her lake-bottom home. In the poem — and the music — a man refuses Ondine, churning her into spiteful outbursts. The second movement, Le Gibet, depicts a corpse hanging on a gibbet (or gallows) in the desert. The eerie scene is punctuated by the sound of insects completing the circle of life. The slippery third movement, Scarbo, follows a nocturnal goblin who enters houses and vanishes just as suddenly, without a trace.

Contemporary composer-pianist Dobrinka Tabakova offers a much more reverent view of nighttime. Her music often seeks to capture light, even amid darkness.

Tabakova’s Nocturne (2008) is a refreshing nod to Chopin’s genre. Undulating and repetitive, it builds out in concentric circles from a familiar musical cell. The fi rst sense of a melody comes not in the right hand as expected, but from the lower left hand playing a syncopated tune below the still-pulsating chords. The mesmerizing piece fades to nothing almost before it has a chance to get started.

A much earlier work, Halo (1999) was written when the composer was only 18. Tabakova explains:

The inspiration for this suite came from a beautiful halo which had formed around the moon one summer’s night. Exploring a range of techniques for achieving harmonics on the piano, the piece describes a hypothetical life of a halo. The fi rst movement sees its birth from darkness, in the second the full strength of light is evoked through rapid repetitive fi gures, and the extreme registers of the piano; and the fi nal movement portrays a mature and settled halo.

The program closes as it opened, with a Beethovenian depiction of light. Often called the “Waldstein” Sonata for its dedicatee, Count Ferdinand Ernst Gabriel von Waldstein , Piano Sonata No. 21 (1804) also bears the nickname “L’Aurora” (The Dawn). After the pulsating, energetic fi rst movement, the open sonorities that begin the second movement conjure daybreak in much the same way as Rossini’s Overture to William Tell or Richard Strauss ’s Also sprach Zarathustra . And thus, our musical evening closes with the promise of a new day.

— Ellen Sauer Tanyeri

Ellen Sauer Tanyeri is The Cleveland Orchestra’s Archives & Editorial Assistant and is a PhD candidate in musicology at Case Western Reserve University.

Named

Mark Kosower + Frank Rosenwein, oboe

Richard Weiss + Gareth Thomas, bassoon

Martha Baldwin + Katherine Bormann, violin

Ralph Curry + Mary Kay Fink, flute

Tanya Ell + Charles Paul, bass

Dane Johansen + Jason Yu, violin

Brian Thornton + Eliesha Nelson, viola

Brian Thornton + William Bender, viola

Bryan Dumm, Artistic Director

SEVERANCE in Recital KANTOROW

in recital

APR 16 | THU 7:30 PM

Alexandre Kantorow, piano

Works by J.S. Bach, Medtner, Chopin, Alkan, Scriabin, and Beethoven

HAMELIN

in recital

MAY 5 | TUE 7:30 PM

Marc-André Hamelin, piano

Works by Haydn, Beethoven, Weinberg, and Rachmaninoff

Generous support for the 2025–26 Recital Series provided by the Art of Beauty Company, Inc.

Marc-André Hamelin’s performance is generously sponsored by Dr. Michael Frank and Patricia A.* Snyder.

*In Memoriam

ISATA KANNEH-MASON

Piano

Pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason offers eclectic and stimulating recital programs with repertoire encompassing Haydn and Mozart , Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel and Clara Schumann , Chopin and Brahms , Gershwin , and beyond.

Kanneh-Mason is in high demand worldwide. In July 2024, she performed at the First Night of the BBC Proms at Royal Albert Hall with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Elim Chan , recieving stellar reviews. Kanneh-Mason then went on to appear as concerto soloist with the European Union Youth Orchestra and Iván Fischer in summer 2024, performing Dohnányi’s Variations on a Nursery Tune at Carnegie Hall.

Highlights of the 2025–26 season include Rachmaninoff ’s Third Piano Concerto with Bar Avni and the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, and with Petr Popelka with the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra. Kanneh-Mason makes further debuts with the Naples Philharmonic and Seattle Symphony, and returns to the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa.

Kanneh-Mason also appears in solo recital and in chamber music performances at Wigmore Hall, with further recital appearances at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, the Brucknerhaus in Linz, the Norwegian National Opera in Oslo, and the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, among others.

Kanneh-Mason is a Decca Classics artist and has recorded four solo albums — Romance (2019), Summertime (2021), Childhood Tales (2023), and Mendelssohn (2024). Her most recent release presents music from two Mendelssohn siblings, including the glittering First Piano Concerto by Felix and the long-lost Easter Sonata by Fanny.

Kanneh-Mason has received many awards, including the coveted Leonard Bernstein Award from the Schleswig-Holstein Festival and an Opus Klassik award for Best Young Artist. She also enjoys composing and arranging, and, in 2023, released two albums of her favorite works for intermediate and advanced piano students through ABRSM Publishing.

BY

LATE SEATING

As a courtesy to audience members and musicians, late-arriving patrons are asked to wait quietly until the fi rst convenient break in the program. These seating breaks are at the discretion of the House Manager in consultation with the performing artists.

CELL PHONES, WATCHES & OTHER DEVICES

To ensure a quiet and respectful listening environment, please silence all electronic devices.

PHOTOGRAPHY, VIDEOGRAPHY & RECORDING

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IN THE EVENT OF AN EMERGENCY

Contact an usher or a member of house staff if you require medical assistance. Emergency exits are clearly marked throughout the building. Ushers and house staff will provide instructions in the event of an emergency.

HEARING AIDS & OTHER HEALTH-ASSISTIVE DEVICES

In consideration of others, please reduce the volume on hearing aids and other healthassistive devices that may produce noise. For Infrared Assistive-Listening Devices, please see an usher. To request one in advance, email info@clevelandorchestra.com.

AGE GUIDELINES

Regardless of age, each person must have a ticket and be able to sit quietly in a seat throughout the performance. Classical Season subscription concerts are not recommended for children under 8. However, there are several age-appropriate series designed specifically for children and youth, including Music Explorers (for 3 to 6 years old) and Family Concerts (for ages 7 and older).

Copyright © 2026 by The Cleveland Orchestra and Musical Arts Association

Editorial: Kevin McBrien, Editorial & Publications Manager (kmcbrien@clevelandorchestra.com)

Ellen Sauer Tanyeri, Archives & Editorial Assistant

Design: Melissa Leone (melissa@melissaleone.com)

Program books for Cleveland Orchestra concerts are produced by The Cleveland Orchestra and are distributed free to attending audience members.

The Cleveland Orchestra is proud to have its home, Severance Music Center, located on the campus of Case Western Reserve University, with whom it has a long history of collaboration and partnership.