The Cleveland Orchestra: Fabio Luisi & Paul Huang - Barber

The Cleveland Orchestra: Fabio Luisi & Paul Huang - Barber at Severance Music Center

Barber's Violin Concerto can sound like pure tenderness—right up until the music demands everything from the soloist. Paul Huang brings that contrast to Cleveland with Fabio Luisi conducting, making the violin the emotional center of the evening.

The program has real shape, too. Bent Sørensen’s Evening Land opens the door with a contemporary sound world, then Paul Huang steps into Barber’s demanding solo part before Carl Nielsen’s Symphony No. 4, “The Inextinguishable,” closes the performance with its famously dramatic timpani contest. That combination matters. It means the concert isn’t built on one spotlight alone; it moves from atmosphere to lyric line to full orchestral force. See Severance Music Center details

And that is why this date stands out. Barber’s concerto rewards a violinist who can balance lyric phrasing with velocity, while Nielsen’s symphony asks the whole orchestra to sound urgent, defiant, and alive. In Mandel Concert Hall, those contrasts should feel immediate, not theoretical.

Hear the violin turn tenderness into fireworks. Get The Cleveland Orchestra: Fabio Luisi & Paul Huang - Barber tickets for Cleveland.