Cleveland Orchestra maestro Franz Welser-Most will soon have two dream jobs on two different continents

Franz Welser-Most, the director of the Cleveland Orchestra, is taking on a second job – director of the Vienna State Opera.

No, the incoming director of the state opera — the massive, complicated and powerful institution at Vienna’s cultural heart — is most inspired by the future, not the legendary past. When Welser-Most, 49, takes over for Seiji Ozawa next season, the only direction he’ll be looking is forward.

“What excites me is the potential of the house, not its history, great as it is. Tradition has to be something lively.”