Petr Popelka steps onto the Severance Music Center podium Friday for the first of two high-stakes programs with the Cleveland Orchestra, pairing Haydn's Symphony No. 80 with Mahler's Symphony No. 5 before a second week built around Brahms's Requiem. The 40-year-old chief conductor of the Wiener Symphoniker and former leader of the Norwegian Radio Orchestra arrives at a pivotal moment for an orchestra still settling after a labor dispute, with no successor yet named to Franz Welser-Möst, who is finishing his 25th and final season as music director.
Popelka's two-week stint, running October 30 through November 15, is widely viewed as a kind of audition to succeed Welser-Möst, according to Cleveland.com. Cleveland Orchestra president and CEO André Gremillet welcomed Popelka back for the two programs, though the outlet reports that a spokesperson for the orchestra confirmed no decision has been made about a new music director. Popelka himself said he does not expect a decision until the end of the year.
A Conductor Already Familiar to Severance Audiences
This is not Popelka's first visit to Cleveland. He has appeared with the orchestra three times since 2024, including conducting Schumann's Symphony No. 1, the Spring Symphony, and leading Ligeti's Piano Concerto with pianist Yuja Wang. On each of those three previous appearances, the conductor said he was floored by the orchestra's preparation, flexibility and commitment, per the same Cleveland.com account.
Popelka has also noted the area's deep support for the orchestra and its broad embrace of opera, and he said he wants to explore Cleveland and the Cleveland Museum of Art during his stay. He sees the current pair of programs as a chance to demonstrate a broad range of repertoire and how he works with the orchestra, the outlet reports.
A Career Spanning Prague, Dresden and Vienna
Popelka trained in his hometown of Prague and in Freiburg, and he spent nine years at the Staatskapelle Dresden, serving as deputy principal double bassist there from 2010 to 2019, according to his biography on wienersymphoniker.at. He has served as chief conductor of the Wiener Symphoniker since the 2024-25 season and is designated to become general music director of the Bayerische Staatsoper beginning with the 2029-30 season. He is also a regular guest with the orchestras of Chicago and Pittsburgh.
Popelka told Cleveland.com that the feasibility of leading both the Cleveland Orchestra and the Bayerische Staatsoper is an open question, and he said he would cut back on guest conducting if he became Cleveland's music director. Whatever the music-director decision, he said he wants a strong relationship with the orchestra regardless of the outcome, and he predicted his next two weeks here would strengthen both his candidacy and his regard for the ensemble.
Haydn and Mahler Open a Two-Week Run
Friday and Saturday's concerts, at 7:30 p.m. October 30 and 31, followed by a 3 p.m. performance Sunday, November 1, pair Mahler's Symphony No. 5 with Haydn's Symphony No. 80 in D minor, a work from a composer who has all but disappeared from the repertoire of many orchestras, per Cleveland.com. Popelka has conducted a great deal of Mahler in Vienna recently, giving the pairing added resonance for his Cleveland return.
The second week brings a different kind of weight: the world premiere of Distant Lands, a Cleveland Orchestra-commissioned oboe concerto by Adolphus Hailstork featuring principal oboist Frank Rosenwein, paired with Brahms's Ein deutsches Requiem. The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus joins Popelka for the Requiem, with soprano Julia Kleiter and baritone Lucas Meachem as guest vocalists, according to the Cleveland Orchestra's season announcement.
Both programs unfold at Severance Music Center, 11001 Euclid Ave. in Cleveland. Tickets range from $32 to $216 and are available at clevelandorchestra.com or by calling 216-231-1111.
An Orchestra Rebuilding Trust After a Strike
Popelka's visit comes weeks after Cleveland Orchestra musicians walked out in late September following a deadlock over wages, as reported by The New York Times. The three-day strike forced the cancellation of two performances before it ended with a three-year contract including 5 percent annual raises and raising musicians' base salary from $165,516 to $191,620, the Times reported separately. The walkout had also put the orchestra's planned European tour, a 15-concert journey across 13 venues in nine countries, in doubt, according to the Times.
The dispute reflected broader financial pressure facing American orchestras and opera companies, which are grappling with rising costs and declining revenue tied to falling attendance and donations, per the Times. Against that backdrop, the orchestra has emphasized a commitment to being the best possible version of itself following the strike, and Welser-Möst's farewell season has been built as a grand celebration of his 25 years in Cleveland, with the retiring music director expected to return as a guest conductor in the future.
For now, the search for his successor continues without a timetable attached to Popelka's current visit beyond his own expectation of a decision by year's end. His two Cleveland programs, Zachary Lewis reported for Cleveland.com, give both the conductor and the orchestra a public stage on which to make their case to each other.
