Cleveland Orchestra opens final Welser-Möst season amid strike threat

Driving the news: Welser-Möst opens the season Thursday at Severance Music Center with Richard Strauss' "Four Last Songs," featuring soprano Golda Schultz, and Dmitri Shostakovich's "Symphony No. 8."

• The season culminates in May with three Welser-Möst-led concerts, including a May 29 finale billed as "The Last Waltz."

What they're saying: "This season is a celebration 25 years in the making," Ross Binnie, the orchestra's chief brand officer, tells Axios.

• "There are lots of works with specific meaning to Franz Welser-Möst, like the first piece he ever conducted with The Cleveland Orchestra, Haydn's 'The Creation,' and concerts that have extra fond memories for him."
• Binnie declined to comment on the ongoing search for a new music director.

Yes, but: A potential musicians' strike is hanging over the farewell season.

• The orchestra's musicians unanimously voted to authorize a strike if no deal is reached before their contract extension expires Sept. 23.
• Opening weekend should proceed, but a strike could affect concerts on Sept. 24 and 26 as well as a European tour set to begin Oct. 2 in Germany.

The sticking points: Musicians are seeking compensation they say better matches inflation and peer orchestras, plus stronger protections against injuries and a more meaningful role in auditions.

The other side: Orchestra management has said it is bargaining in "good faith" and declined to comment further on negotiations.

The bottom line: Cleveland is preparing to say goodbye to a conductor who helped define the orchestra for a quarter-century.

• First, musicians and management have about a week to make sure the music doesn't stop.