Perspectivesfrom the Executive Director Autumn 2016 Welcome to The Cleveland Orchestra’s 99th season. The coming months promise much as the Orchestra performs its annual season here at home in one of the most beautiful — and best-sounding — concert halls in the world. Franz Welser-Möst, now in his fifteenth year as music director, and this Orchestra have formed an incredible partnership. They are widely acknowledged for their extraordinarily collaborative music-making and the finesse and depth of their performances. Their work together is filled with consummate craft, unprecedented precision, and passionate musical understanding. Cleveland’s incredible onstage musical team was showcased at three prestigious music festivals in Europe in August, with audiences and critics alike lauding the Orchestra’s performances. One five-star review of the first Salzburg concert from the Kurier included these glowing observations: “Under the leadership of Franz Welser-Möst, The Cleveland Orchestra has matured into one of the supreme bodies of sound in the world. . . . Ultimate precision is coupled with a nearly uncontrollable joy in new sounds. . . . Even Richard Strauss is like child’s play for The Cleveland Orchestra and Welser-Möst, as they confirmed with a performance of the Symphonica domestica, in which Welser-Möst opened a cosmos of sound, replete with superlatives.” (Additional European review excerpts can be read on page 58 of this program book.) The tour to Europe was, in fact, just part of a tremendously good summer filled with great performances by The Cleveland Orchestra here at home. Despite some evenings where rain dampened attendance, the 2016 Blossom Music Festival drew in nearly $2.3 million in ticket revenue. Record sales of Lawn Ticket Books once again helped carry this year’s success — alongside our popular Under 18s Free program — and resulted in an average of over 7,000 patrons per concert, down only slightly from the previous summer. Our Labor Day Weekend tradition for family programming was extraordinarily popular, with the Orchestra’s live accompaniment to the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark selling 25,000 tickets across two nights. Our neighborhood residency “At Home in Hough” also brought forth wonderful participation, engaging residents of this important and historic neighborhood close to Severance Hall through workshops, classes, clinics, and performances. Hundreds of youth took part in music training and presentations, as well as arts programs delivered by our partners from the Cleveland Museum of Art. These efforts produced a showcase of neighborhood art and music surrounding The Cleveland Orchestra’s free Community Concert on August 11. The Orchestra, joined onstage by the specially-assembled Hough Community Chorus of more than 90 singers, brought the audience to its feet, clapping and singing along. Looking to the months ahead, we have many performances of special promise in store — brought to life for you and made possible by you, thanks to generous support from across Northeast Ohio. I can think of no more exciting place to be than watching and hearing and experiencing this great Orchestra right now. The Cleveland Orchestra is playing better than ever, and everyone onstage is committed to serving up great art that is also great entertainment. Thank you for joining us — and I look forward to seeing you throughout the season.
Severance Hall 2016-17
André Gremillet
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