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The Program
April 4, 2027 | 3:30pm
Cultural Center at Disciples Christian Church
3663 Mayfield Rd, Cleveland Hts
Free Admission
The Composer Next Door
Life invents, Life Creates
SSO and the Cleveland Composers Guild present a 1 week workshop event. Selected composers work with a live orchestra to fine tune and record their pieces.
The public is invited to view the process in an OPEN REHEARSAL
WORKS AND COMPOSERS TO BE ANNOUNCED
Cleveland Composers Guild
Conducted by Domenico Boyagian
Special Event
Refreshments will be served. Meet the composers!
The Hype:
Life Invents, Life Creates
Not all composers are dead….some live and walk among us. The Suburban Symphony Orchestra and Cleveland Composers Guild have teamed up for a public collaboration session, highlighting select short symphonic works from local composers.
Peek behind the curtain of the creative process to see the light behind the leitmotif, as composers talk to conductors and new music comes to life and evolves in real-time. Which notes will make the final cut? Join us and find out!
Playlists
The Artists
Celebrated for his expressive artistry, clarity of vision, and dynamic leadership, Maestro Domenico Boyagian has been hailed by The Cleveland Plain Dealer as “a born conductor” and “a conductor for whom the music is the sole point of standing before musicians.” Milwaukee’s Shepherd Express praised his “insightful grasp of style” and his ability to lead “with sensitivity in tempo and phrase.”
Now in his ninth season as Music Director of the Suburban Symphony Orchestra, Boyagian has guided] the ensemble through a vibrant period of growth, highlighted by a complete Beethoven Cycle that culminated in a sold-out Ninth Symphony at Severance Hall to celebrate the orchestra’s 70th anniversary. The 2025–26 season features works by Holst, Grieg, Prokofiev, Saint-Saens, Tchaikovsky, Sibelius, as well as the annual Young Soloist Concerto Competition. A dedicated advocate for education, Boyagian collaborated with pianist Lang Lang on the “101 Pianists” program to inspire young performers.
As Music Director of Cleveland Opera Theater, Boyagian has elevated the company to a leading regional force, conducting productions across the U.S. with companies such as Florentine Opera, Opera Southwest, Florida Grand Opera, Opera North, Opera Delaware, Opera Baltimore, and the Manhattan School of Music. Guest engagements have included the Milwaukee Symphony, Delaware Symphony, Palm Beach Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica, and the Bulgarian Festival Orchestra.
Born in Bologna, Italy, Boyagian studied at the Bologna Conservatory, Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, and the Cleveland Institute of Music. He has recorded Grieg works with Antonio Pompa-Baldi and the Ohio Philharmonic for Centaur Records, as well as Margaret Brouwer’s Voice of the Lake with Blue Streak Ensemble. His honors include a “Most Distinguished Artist” grant from Cleveland’s Community Partnership for Arts and Culture and recognition as one of the “Top 10 Most Successful Italians Under 40 in the U.S.” by the Italy-America Chamber of Commerce of New York.
Cleveland Composers Guild
Composers
The Cleveland Composers Guild is one of the nation’s oldest new music organizations, and has had over 200 composer members over its more than fifty year history. Over the past half-century, the CCG has built an enviable record of supporting new music, with recordings on the CRI, Crystal, Advent, and Capstone labels, and publication series from Ludwig and Galaxy. There are currently about 40 professional composers in the Guild and each concert features a wide range of musical styles. In recent years the Guild has collaborated with the Cleveland Opera Theater, The Syndicate For The New Arts, Cleveland Ballet, the Rocky River Chamber Music Society, the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society, and with various local artists to create multi-disciplinary concerts that engage with the arts in a new way. The CCG produces numerous live concerts every season featuring the finest performers available in Northeast Ohio, and all concerts are free-of-charge. In addition to regular series programs, the Guild produces an annual Junior Concert in tandem with the Music Settlement in University Circle. Pre-college age students perform music written for them by Guild members and compose original music as well; it’s a great way to encourage the next generation of musicians to love new music
Program Notes
Program notes will be available approximately one week before the performance.
Eduard Lalo: Symphonie Espagnole
Notes by violinist Yi-Chuan Li
Edouard Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnole, although directly translated to, “Spanish Symphony”, is considered a violin concerto by today’s standards. It was written in 1874 for violinist Pablo de Sarasate, the composer of Zigeunerweisen. It contains many Spanish themes and motifs throughout, including gypsy-style gestures in the first theme. This piece sparked a period of Spanish themed music, such as Bizet’s opera Carmen. Symphonie Espagnole also had an influence on Tchaikovsky. After Tchaikovsky went through a rough period of his life, his student Iosif Kotek introduced him to Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnole. He enjoyed it so much that he set aside his ongoing compositions to write his violin concerto in D major
Camille Saint-Saens: Cello Concerto No. 1
Notes by cellist Nick Jacques
Saint-Saëns’ first cello concerto is a piece with drama and operatic storytelling. I associate the first movement with a hero finding himself in a storm, followed by expansive themes in both the first and third movements where this character wrestles with doubt. By the time we get to the coda, our hero has come out victorious, signalled by the transition from A minor to A major. My favorite part of the piece is the deep F major theme in the third movement, which reminds me of a wise old man.
Felix Mendelssohn: Piano Concerto No. 1
Notes by pianist Max Tian
Mendelssohn’s First Piano Concerto shifts moods so quickly in the last two movements that it feels like a series of scenes in a film. The Andante, to me, is the warmest part of the piece. It feels like a song shared in a quiet space with the piano just floating over the strings in a calm, singing line. From there, the music does not really stop, since it connects straight into the finale, where the piano suddenly has a sparkling, rapid-fire energy that is flowing rather than heavy
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