The Cleveland Orchestra: Franz Welser-Most - The Last Waltz

The Cleveland Orchestra: Franz Welser-Most - The Last Waltz at Severance Music Center

What does a farewell sound like when the person saying goodbye has spent years shaping the sound of an entire city? Franz Welser-Möst’s The Last Waltz is Cleveland’s chance to find out. This isn't simply another evening of beautiful music. It's his final concert as Music Director of The Cleveland Orchestra—and the kind of milestone you can only experience once.

On May 29, 2027, Severance Music Center hosts a program steeped in the Viennese tradition Welser-Möst has championed. Schubert, Lanner, and Johann and Joseph Strauss bring the elegance, rhythmic lift, and unmistakable sparkle of the waltz. You can hear that music on a recording any day. You cannot replay the feeling of being in the hall for this particular goodbye.

And this farewell isn't only about looking back. Stephan Koncz’s Czardas, commissioned by the Orchestra, receives its world premiere. One last shared musical discovery sits alongside the traditions that helped define this partnership. That's a more fitting send-off than a greatest-hits retrospective could ever be.

If Cleveland's concert life has meant something to you, this is a chance to witness a chapter closing in the room where so much of it happened. Bring someone who understands why live music becomes part of a city's story.

Be in the room for Welser-Möst’s final bow. Explore tickets for The Last Waltz at Severance Music Center.