Cleveland Orchestra Receives $2.5 Million Grant from Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded a new $2.5 million grant to The Cleveland Orchestra to support artistically ambitious programming with special emphasis on opera and ballet, as well as collaborations with guest artists. This gift - the largest to the Orchestra in the Foundation's history - supports the type of programming and partnerships that challenge and expand the Orchestra and help distinguish the Orchestra from its peers.

"We are grateful to the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for supporting artistic initiatives as part of our ongoing transformation," said Gary Hanson, the Orchestra's executive director. "Among national philanthropic foundations, the Mellon Foundation is among the most important in the support of the symphony orchestra. We deeply appreciate their recognition and endorsement of the work of The Cleveland Orchestra."

The Mellon Foundation award will support opera performances in the next three seasons at Severance Hall, including semi-staged performances of Janácek's Cunning Little Vixen - performed by The Cleveland Orchestra for the first time in the Orchestra's history - in the 2013-14 season. Opera has been a significant aspect of The Cleveland Orchestra's repertoire since 1933. Under the leadership of Music Director Franz Welser-Möst, the Orchestra has presented annual concert performances of opera, including Verdi's Don Carlo and Falstaff, Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel, Richard Strauss's Elektra and Der Rosenkavalier, and Dvorák's Rusalka, which was presented in five sold-out fully staged performances at the 2008 Salzburg Festival. In 2009, the Orchestra reintroduced fully-staged opera performances at Severance Hall with a cycle of the Mozart/Da Ponte productions from Zurich Opera. In 2012, Welser-Möst and the Orchestra gave critically acclaimed performances of Strauss's Salome at Severance Hall and at Carnegie Hall.

While backing the Orchestra's operatic performances is its focus, the Mellon Foundation grant also supports world-renowned guest artists in longterm collaborations with The Cleveland Orchestra, such as conductor Ton Koopman, the Orchestra's current Malcolm E. Kenney Artist-in-Residence; pianist Mitsuko Uchida, an internationally recognized leader in the interpretation of Mozart, who is recording an ongoing series of Mozart albums with the Orchestra; and Christoph von Dohnányi, Music Director Laureate of The Cleveland Orchestra, who conducts the Orchestra annually.

Of the Mellon Foundation's commitment, $1.25 million has been awarded in immediate support of the Orchestra. The remaining $1.25 million of the Foundation's grant will be awarded as part of a challenge lasting through June 2016 and will match, one-to-one, gifts from donors to The Cleveland Orchestra designated to support special artistic initiatives, especially opera and ballet. This challenge component adds significant momentum and drive to the Orchestra's fundraising efforts, helping to leverage new gifts from community members eager to experience opera and ballet performed with the Orchestra and ensuring that both art forms, as well as other artistically ambitious programming, remain meaningful features of the Orchestra's repertoire.

The Cleveland Orchestra first received support from the Mellon Foundation in 1977, and recent support includes a 2009 grant in the amount of $800,000. The grant supported the Orchestra's diversification of programming, for the KeyBank Fridays@7 Series and performances of opera, ballet, and chamber music.

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation supports scholarship and work in the humanities and the arts through grants to charitable institutions, including colleges and universities, performing arts organizations, museums, and libraries. The Foundation's grantmaking philosophy is to build, strengthen, and sustain institutions and their core capacities, rather than be a source for narrowly defined projects. As such, the Foundation develops thoughtful, longterm collaborations with grant recipients and invests sufficient funds for an extended period to accomplish the purpose at hand and achieve meaningful results.

The Cleveland Orchestra under the leadership of Music Director Franz Welser-Möst has become Ohio's most visible ambassador and one of the most sought-after performing ensembles in the world. The Orchestra participates in unprecedented residencies in the United States and Europe, including residencies in Miami and at the Musikverein concert hall in Vienna, as well as its newest residency at New York's Lincoln Center Festival. It performs at home in two of the world's finest concert venues: Severance Hall and Blossom Music Center. Broadening its artistic scope, the Orchestra incorporates opera, ballet, jazz, world music, film, and popular music into its innovative programs.

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