The Cleveland Orchestra: Santtu-Matias Rouvali - Strauss

The Cleveland Orchestra: Santtu-Matias Rouvali - Strauss at Severance Music Center

Imagine an orchestra telling a hero's story without a single actor walking onstage.

Richard Strauss's Ein Heldenleben supplies the sweeping drama when Santtu-Matias Rouvali leads The Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Music Center on November 22. The score can sound triumphant, combative, intimate, and almost cinematic—all through instruments. And the program has a second voice: Steven Banks performs Billy Childs's Diaspora: Concerto for Saxophone, a contemporary work with a very different musical language.

That contrast makes the concert special. You can hear a saxophone emerge as a storyteller, then watch an entire orchestra build Strauss's huge emotional landscape. In a recording, you control the volume and the distractions. In Mandel Concert Hall, the players control the moment. The details that make these works powerful—the breath before a phrase, the swell of strings, the impact of brass—happen around you. It's a rare chance to travel between two musical worlds without leaving your seat.

Make room for an evening that thinks—and feels—on a grand scale. Find The Cleveland Orchestra: Santtu-Matias Rouvali - Strauss tickets for Severance Music Center.