Cleveland Orchestra performs third concert in Fridays@7 series at Severance Hall on January 8

Polygraph Lounge (from left) Mark Stewart, Rob Schwimmer, Melissa Fathman

Jaap van Zweden leads program featuring

Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony

Polygraph Lounge to perform post-concert

CLEVELAND, December 10, 2009 – Jaap van Zweden (pronounced YAP van ZVAY-den), music director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, will conduct The Cleveland Orchestra in its third Fridays@7 concert, at Severance Hall on Friday, January 8, at 7:00 p.m. Mr. van Zweden will be making his Cleveland Orchestra debut with concerts on January 7, 8, 9, and 10. The January 8 program, titled Tragedy to Triumph, features Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Opus 36, which was written during a time of great personal crisis for the composer that was also one of the greatest periods in his artistic career, culminating with his Fourth Symphony. The opening work on the program is Johan Wagenaar’s Cyrano de Bergerac Overture, Opus 23.

The new Fridays@7 series offers early-evening programs that are about 75 minutes long, performed straight through, followed by informal performances of music curated by Cleveland percussionist Jamey Haddad. Doors open at 5:30 p.m., with bars open to serve drinks and light food. Each concert begins at 7 p.m. and runs without intermission. After the concert, audience members can move to the Bogomolny-Kozerefski Grand Foyer just outside the Concert Hall and sample interesting cuisine, enjoy cocktails, and mingle with musicians while listening to world music. The first two concerts in the series drew large, enthusiastic audiences.

On January 8, the featured post-concert performers will be the New York duo Polygraph Lounge, called “zany, musically tight, and lyrically brilliant” by New York magazine. The members of Polygraph Lounge, Mark Stewart and Rob Schwimmer, will be joined by vocalist Melissa Fathman and an ensemble of Cleveland Orchestra members to introduce “inspired lunacy from an arsenal of musical instruments plundering the cultural currency of our times.” Audience participation will be highly encouraged.

Upcoming Fridays@7 programs:

February 19, 2010: Musical Obsession, with Music Director Franz Welser-Möst conducting orchestral music by Richard Wagner

April 30, 2010: Royal Drums & Trumpets, with baroque specialist Bernard Labadie guest-conducting Handel’s Water Music