Cleveland Orchestra conductor has cancerous tumor removed

Cleveland Orchestra music director Franz Welser-Möst had a cancerous tumor removed and has canceled his conducting performances from late October through the end of the year

Cleveland Orchestra Conductor (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Cleveland Orchestra music director Franz Welser-Möst had a cancerous tumor removed and has canceled his conducting performances from late October through the end of the year.

The orchestra said he will undergo treatment between conducting engagements for 12 to 16 months.

“His doctors are confident of a full recovery,” the orchestra said in a statement Thursday.

The 62-year-old Austrian has been Cleveland's music director since the 2002-03 season, when he succeeded Christoph von Dohnányi.

Welser-Möst, a three-time Grammy Award nominee, withdrew in July from a new production of Verdi's “Macbeth” at the Salzburg Festival just three weeks before opening night. He remains scheduled to conduct the Cleveland Orchestra's opening performances of the season starting Sept. 28.