Cleveland Music Critic Sues Paper, Orchestra

The recently demoted classical-music critic of the Cleveland Plain Dealer filed suit against the paper and the management of the Cleveland Orchestra yesterday. The suit brought by Donald Rosenberg, who has written a book about the orchestra and has served two terms as president of the Music Critics Association of North America, charges he was removed from the assignment he had held for 16 years for being too harsh on Franz Welser-Möst, the orchestra's conductor and music director.

The suit asks for compensatory and punitive damages "well in excess" of $25,000 each. "I'm going for money but also to shed some light on the issues of freedom of speech, freedom of the press and censorship," Rosenberg said in an interview yesterday. "Those are important aspects of this case. The reasons it happened are bigger than me."

The Cleveland Orchestra is widely regarded as one of the nation's best.

Plain Dealer Editor Susan Goldberg, who is named in the suit, said in an e-mail, "We have no comment."

Ana Papakhian, the orchestra's director of communications and audience development, referred inquiries to Robert Duvin, attorney for the Musical Arts Association, its management organization, which is also named in the suit. Duvin could not be reached for comment last night.

The suit claims that the dispute started in 2004 when the Austrian-born Welser-Möst became highly displeased with Rosenberg's reporting of the conductor's comments to Die Weltwoche, a Swiss weekly magazine. In the magazine, Welser-Möst was quoted as complaining of the necessity of funding culture in the United States by finding "rich widows." He also reportedly said that to meet him personally, the ladies must donate substantially. For $500 or $5,000, "you don't get a handshake from the music director." With a person who donated $10 million, "of course, you go to dinner," he was quoted as saying. Welser-Möst also described Cleveland as "an inflated farmer's village." The accuracy of the quotes has not been questioned, according to the suit.

As a critic, Rosenberg was also less than enthusiastic about Welser-Möst's capabilities as the orchestra's conductor.

According to the suit, the orchestra launched "a punitive and retributive campaign" that included "beseeching" the Plain Dealer to "curtail the publication" of Rosenberg's views at a time when both the former and current publishers of the Plain Dealer were members of the Musical Arts Association's board of directors.

In September, Rosenberg was replaced and reassigned to lesser duties at the paper that did not include covering the orchestra. His demotion has become a cause celebre among classical music critics, aficionados and bloggers.

Since that time, the Plain Dealer has conducted newsroom buyouts and layoffs, although Rosenberg was not affected by either. Asked yesterday whether he thought he was targeting declining institutions -- both classical orchestras and newspapers -- Rosenberg said, "Lots of papers have let their classical music critics go. The field is getting smaller all the time. . . .

"It's rough out there."