From UPI

   CLEVELAND, June 7 (UPI) -- Austrian conductor Franz Welser-Most will
   succeed Christoph von Dohnanyi as the Cleveland Orchestra's music
   director in 2002.

   Cleveland Orchestra Board President Richard Bogomolny announced today
   Welser-Most will become the orchestra's seventh music director when
   Dohnanyi completes his 18-year tenure.

   Bogomolny said Welser-Most has signed a five-year contract, beginning
   with the 2002-03 season, devoting 18 weeks annually to the Cleveland
   Orchestra.

   Bogomolny said he has extended an invitation to Dohnanyi to return
   regularly to conduct the orchestra after 2002 in an emeritus position.

   Welser-Most is currently music director of the Zurich Opera, a post
   he has held since 1995 and will continue to hold beyond 2002.  During
   the next three seasons leading up to 2002-03, he will conduct the
   Cleveland Orchestra in performances including the rarely-heard 20th
   century oratorio by Franz Schmidt "The Book of the Seven Seals."

   Welser-Most made his American debut in 1989 with the St. Louis
   Symphony and has since appeared as guest conductor with the Cleveland
   Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, Boston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic,
   New York Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Tony Duggan
Staffordshire,
United Kingdom.