Franz Welser-Möst leads The Cleveland Orchestra during rehearsals for Verdi’s “Requiem,” with soprano Asmik Grigorian, mezzo-soprano Deniz Uzun, tenor Joshua Guerrero and bass Tareq Nazmi. The production comes to the Arsht Center as the orchestra celebrates its 19th season. (Photo by Yevhen Gulenko/Human Artist Photography and Cinema/courtesy of The Cleveland Orchestra)
For nearly two decades, The Cleveland Orchestra has maintained a presence in Miami that extends well beyond the idea of a touring engagement. Since 2007, the orchestra’s residency at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts has developed into a sustained artistic relationship with the city—one that returns in early 2026 for its 19th season.
“We don’t treat Miami as a tour destination,” says Ilya Gidalevich, vice president of artistic planning for The Cleveland Orchestra. “We really see it as a second home.”
Over time, he explains, the residency has expanded beyond performances. Educational programs, artistic collaborations and repeat appearances have allowed the orchestra to build relationships with South Florida audiences over multiple seasons, shaping Miami into a place where listeners return year after year rather than encountering the orchestra just once.
That distinction shapes how The Cleveland Orchestra approaches Miami. Unlike traditional tour stops that are programmed independently, the residency allows for long-range planning and reflection.
“We don’t treat Miami as a tour destination,” says Ilya Gidalevich, vice president of artistic planning for The Cleveland Orchestra. shown at center. “We really see it as a second home.” Clarinetist Robert Woolfrey is at left, and principal oboist Frank Rosenwein, right, during rehearsals for Verdi’s “Requiem.” (Photo by Yevhen Gulenko/Human Artist Photography and Cinema, courtesy of The Cleveland Orchestra)
“We ask ourselves what we did last year, what we’re doing this year, and what comes next,” says Gidalevich. “How do we create a sense of continuity across multiple seasons in Miami?”
The aim, he adds, is to build an ongoing relationship with audiences who come back to the hall repeatedly, rather than engaging with the orchestra only once as they would on a tour stop.
The 2026 residency reflects that long view. Conducted by Franz Welser-Möst, the orchestra’s longtime music director, the season opens Friday, Jan. 23 and Saturday, Jan. 24 at Knight Concert Hall with Verdi’s “Requiem,” featuring The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus and an international roster of soloists led by soprano Asmik Grigorian, alongside mezzo-soprano Deniz Uzun, tenor Joshua Guerrero and bass Tareq Nazmi.
Programming a work of this scale in Miami is a deliberate choice. Gidalevich describes the process as a balance between institutional identity and local engagement.
“There are two essential questions we always ask,” he says. “How do we stay true to who we are as an orchestra, and how do we present ourselves in the best possible way for the audience we’re engaging?”
In Miami, that balance often means pairing major repertoire with artists and programs to engage both longtime classical listeners and newer audiences.
Soprano Asmik Grigorian will have performed Verdi’s Requiem with The Cleveland Orchestra in Cleveland and at Carnegie Hall. South Florida audiences will hear the same production at the Arsht Center in January. (Photo by Yevhen Gulenko/Human Artist Photography and Cinema., courtesy of The Cleveland Orchestra)
The Miami performances of Verdi’s “Requiem” follow closely on appearances in Cleveland and at Carnegie Hall, allowing South Florida audiences to hear the same large-scale production presented in New York. For Grigorian, the performances also mark her debut with The Cleveland Orchestra.
Born in Lithuania and raised in an operatic family, the soprano has established an international career that includes appearances at major opera houses and festivals across Europe and the United States. Her work spans traditional and contemporary repertoire, and she is equally active in opera houses and concert halls.
Verdi’s “Requiem” occupies a distinctive space between sacred music and opera, demanding both technical control and emotional range from its performers. Grigorian believes the work’s expressive breadth is central to its impact.
“It requires a lot of colors,” she says. “There’s such a wide dynamic scale—from very quiet, delicate moments to extremely powerful ones. That range demands experience and technique, but also a willingness to be emotionally open inside the music.”
Rather than directing listeners toward a single interpretation, Grigorian emphasizes the personal nature of the experience.
“Art is about feeling,” she says. “Every person will take from this music what they need at that moment. I don’t want to tell the audience what to feel—I want them to listen and discover their own connection.”
Music director Franz Welser-Möst conducts The Cleveland Orchestra in Mozart’s “Jupiter” Symphony. He will lead the ensemble’s 19th Miami residency in January, opening with Verdi’s “Requiem” at Knight Concert Hall. (Photo courtesy of The Cleveland Orchestra)
Gidalevich says that bringing the orchestra’s chorus back to Miami was a key factor in shaping the opening of the season.
“It was important for us to feature a major choral work with vocal soloists,” he says. “That’s something we’re very proud of.”
Known for its dramatic intensity—particularly the thunderous “Dies Irae”—Verdi’s “Requiem” anchors the residency with one of its most expansive offerings.
The weeks that follow highlight the breadth of the orchestra’s Miami programming. On Wednesday, Jan. 28, celebrated violinist Itzhak Perlman will join the ensemble for “Cinema Serenade,” a program devoted to iconic film scores. Pianist Yefim Bronfman appears Friday, Jan. 30 and Saturday, Jan. 31 in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5, “Emperor,” paired with Mozart’s Symphony No. 41, “Jupiter.”
Together, the programs reflect the orchestra’s effort to present a wide range of repertoire within a single residency, from sacred choral works to symphonic classics and film-inspired music.
The residency continues into March with performances of Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring,” conducted by Rafael Payare, in side-by-side concerts with Fellows from the New World Symphony. That collaboration reflects an educational mission that has become central to the orchestra’s Miami presence.
“Many Cleveland Orchestra musicians were once New World Symphony Fellows themselves,” notes Gidalevich. “They know how meaningful that experience can be.”
Soprano Asmik Grigorian rehearses Verdi’s “Requiem” with conductor Franz Welser-Möst and The Cleveland Orchestra. (Photo by Yevhen Gulenko/Human Artist Photography and Cinema, courtesy of The Cleveland Orchestra)
The partnership, he adds, offers emerging musicians an opportunity to perform alongside a major American orchestra while reinforcing the residency’s role as more than a performance series.
As The Cleveland Orchestra approaches its third decade in Miami, the residency remains a work in progress—shaped by continuity, experimentation and an ongoing dialogue with the city it returns to year after year.
“Our hope,” says Gidalevich, “is to keep strengthening the audience base here and to serve Miami’s classical music community with performances that feel vital and engaging.”
The Cleveland Orchestra in Miami
VERDI’S “REQUIEM”
WHEN: 8 p.m., Friday, Jan. 23, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026
WHERE: Knight Concert Hall, Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, 1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami.
COST: $35 to $175.
ITZHAK PERLMAN: “CINEMA SERENADE”
WHEN: 8 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 28.
WHERE: Knight Concert Hall, Adrienne Arsht Center
COST: $69 to $290.
BRONFMAN PLAYS BEETHOVEN
WHEN: 8 p.m., Friday, Jan. 30, Saturday, Jan. 31
WHERE: Knight Concert Hall, Adrienne Arsht Center.
COST: $35 to $175.
INFORMATION: 305-949-6722 or arshtcenter.org
Written By Miguel Sirgado
January 19, 2026 at 7:27 PM
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