Credit: Batliner-Institut Franz Neumayr
“Go see the Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom” is on everyone’s Cleveland Bucket List. You can — and should — do that this week. Scene enjoyed a lovely evening under perfect twilit skies on Saturday, as the orchestra treated Northeast Ohio to Tchaikovsky.

For that and much more, we have Franz Welser-Möst to thank.

And on top of that, there’s a nice backdrop to this summer’s performances: Music Director Franz Welser-Möst received the Pro Arte Europapreis 2017 award last week in Salzburg.

It’s a prestigious award bestowed biennially, and we in Cleveland should celebrate Welser-Möst’s dedication to our orchestra.

“Franz Welser-Möst is not only the ambassador of European culture in America, but has also set new standards with his special interpretation of works of the 20th century,” as the jury exclaimed.

This article appears in Aug 2-8, 2017.

Eric Sandy is an award-winning Cleveland-based journalist. For a while, he was the managing editor of Scene. He now contributes jam band features every now and then.