Bertrand de Billy makes his Cleveland Orchestra debut in program featuring Dvo��k���s ���New World��� Symphony at Severance Hall on November 27 and 28

Jonathan Biss is soloist in Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 9 ("Jeunehomme")

CLEVELAND, October 28, 2009 ��� French conductor Bertrand de Billy (pronounced Bear-TRAN de Bee-YEE), music director of the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, will make his debut with The Cleveland Orchestra conducting a program featuring Dvo��k's Symphony No. 9 ("From the New World") in Thanksgiving weekend concerts at Severance Hall on Friday, November 27, and Saturday, November 28, at 8:00 p.m. (He will also conduct the Orchestra's Musically Speaking concert on Sunday, November 29, at 3:00 p.m.) For the November 27 and 28 concerts, Jonathan Biss will return to Severance Hall to perform Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 9 ("Jeunehomme"), K. 271, with the Orchestra.

The program for November 27 and 28 begins with Ludwig van Beethoven's Overture to Egmont, Opus 84, followed by Wolfgang Amad�� Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 9 in E-flat major ("Jeunehomme"), K. 271. After intermission, the program concludes with Anton��n Dvo��k's Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Opus 95 ("From the New World").

FREE CONCERT PREVIEWS:

Concert Previews will be given prior to the November 27 and 28 concerts, beginning at 7:00 p.m., in Reinberger Chamber Hall. James Feddeck, Cleveland Orchestra assistant conductor, will give the Preview, titled "New Worlds and New Sounds." Concert Previews are designed to enrich the concert-going experience by providing historical background and critical insight into the music performed at each concert. This series is funded by a generous endowment gift from Dorothy Humel Hovorka.

CALENDAR LISTINGS:

Friday, November 27, at 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, November 28, at 8:00 p.m.

Severance Hall

THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA
BERTRAND de BILLY, conductor
JONATHAN BISS, piano

BEETHOVEN Overture to Egmont
MOZART Piano Concerto No. 9 ("Jeunehomme"), K. 271
DVO���K Symphony No. 9 ("From the New World")

Ticket Prices: $31-$92 ��� Call (216) 231-1111 or 800-686-1141, or order online at clevelandorchestra.com

Season Sponsor: UBS
Guest Artist Fund: The Payne Fund

Concert Preview, in Reinberger Chamber Hall beginning at 7:00 p.m.: "New Worlds and New Sounds," given by James Feddeck, Cleveland Orchestra assistant conductor

Bertrand de Billy

French conductor Bertrand de Billy, music director of the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, will make his Cleveland Orchestra debut with the concerts of November 27, 28, and 29, 2009. Born in Paris in 1965, Bertrand de Billy studied violin and viola, sang in a boys' choir, and began his professional career as an orchestra member. In 1986, he began a four-season tenure as conductor of the Orchestre Symphonique des Jeunesse en Ile de France. He subsequently became conductor and deputy music director of the Anhaltisches Theater in Dessau, Germany, and in 1996, the Volksoper Vienna. From 1999 to 2004, Mr. de Billy was music director of the newly re-opened Teatro del Liceu in Barcelona.

Bertrand de Billy has conducted at the state opera houses in Berlin, Hamburg, and Munich; London's Royal Opera; National Opera in Paris; Th����tre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels; and Vienna State Opera; and at the Los Angeles Opera, Metropolitan Opera, and Washington Opera in this country. At the Vienna State Opera, he was responsible for several new productions, including the complete French version of Verdi's Don Carlos. In 2002, Mr. de Billy made his debut at the Salzburg Festival with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, conducting Mozart's The Magic Flute. That year he also became principal conductor of the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, with which he has performed many operas at Vienna's Theater an der Wien.
Mr. de Billy's extensive discography includes the symphonies of Beethoven and Mahler; French orchestral music; Mozart's Cosi fan tutte, Don Giovanni, and The Marriage of Figaro; the tone poems of Richard Strauss; and Wagner's Ring cycle. His recording of Puccini's La Boh��me with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra was used as the soundtrack for the film of the same name.

Bertrand de Billy has conducted nearly all the orchestral works of Dutilleux and Messiaen, as well as world premieres of pieces by Friedrich Cerha and Johannes Maria Staud. Mr. de Billy also regularly leads performances of music by Luciano Berio, HK Gruber, Hans Werner Henze, Gy��rgy Kurt��g, Wolfgang Rihm, J��rg Widmann, and Bernd Alois Zimmermann.

For more information, visit www.debilly.com.

Jonathan Biss

American pianist Jonathan Biss is known for his prodigious technique, diverse repertoire, artistic maturity, and versatility. He made his Cleveland Orchestra debut in November 2007.
Jonathan Biss represents the third generation in a family of professional musicians that includes his grandmother, the cellist Raya Garbousova, and his parents, violinist Miriam Fried and violist/violinist Paul Biss. Jonathan Biss began studying piano at age six, and his first musical collaborations were with his parents. He studied at Indiana University with Evelyne Brancart and at the Curtis Institute of Music with Leon Fleisher. In 2000-2001, Mr. Biss made both his New York recital debut and his New York Philharmonic debut.

Mr. Biss has received many honors, including the 2002 Gilmore Young Artist Award, Wolf Trap's Shouse Debut Artist Award, the Andrew Wolf Memorial Chamber Music Award, Lincoln Center's Martin E. Segal Award, an Avery Fisher Career Grant, the 2003 Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award, and the Leonard Bernstein Award at the 2005 Schleswig-Holstein Festival.
In repertoire ranging from Beethoven to Schoenberg, as well as new music including commissions from Leon Kirchner and Lewis Spratlan, Jonathan Biss has performed with the orchestras of Detroit, Houston, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh, and on a European tour with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. In recent seasons, he made his debuts with the Bilbao Orkestra Sinfonikoa, London Philharmonic Orchestra, NDR Hamburg, Philharmonia Orchestra, and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. This past summer, he toured Japan with the NHK Orchestra and performed with the Melbourne Symphony.

In the 80th birthday celebrations of Leon Fleisher in October 2008, Mr. Biss joined pianists Yefim Bronfman, Katherine Jacobson Fleisher, and Mr. Fleisher in concerts in New York, Boston, and Baltimore. The pianists played both individually and in piano four-hand combinations.

Mr. Biss has been a member of Chamber Music Society Two at Lincoln Center, a frequent participant at the Marlboro Music Festival, and a collaborator with such ensembles as the Borromeo and Mendelssohn quartets as well as with violinist Midori and cellist Johannes Moser.
Mr. Biss's recordings for EMI Classics include works by Mozart and Schumann. He received an Edison Award for his disc of Beethoven's piano sonatas and a Diapason d'Or de l'ann��e for a CD of music by Schumann.

For more information, visit www.jonathanbiss.com.