Cleveland Orchestra's 2017 Annual Gala Raises Over $1 Million for Fourth Year Running

The Cleveland Orchestra announced today that the 2017 Annual Gala held on Saturday, October 7 raised - for the fourth year in a row - more than a million dollars.

This year's Cleveland Orchestra Gala raised a record-breaking $1,230,000, thanks to the overwhelming generosity of the sponsors, patrons, and long-time supporters, as well as the leadership of Gala Chair NorMa Lerner; co-chair Nancy W. McCann; corporate co-chair, KeyBank Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Beth Mooney; and corporate co-chair, Cleveland Orchestra Board President Richard K. Smucker. The Gala has nearly doubled the annual revenue in the last five years.

The Cleveland Orchestra Gala supports the Orchestra's education and community programs which share the value and joy of music with people throughout Northeast Ohio.

More than 550 guests attended the full Gala evening this year, along with many people who attended the concert through a partnership with the Cleveland Foundation that provided 1,000 free tickets to the community. Gala attendees included more than 100 members of the Orchestra's young professionals group, The Circle.

The concert portion of the evening featured Music Director Franz Welser-Möst and The Cleveland Orchestra in a program that included Verdi's Ballet Music from Don Carlo, Respighi's The Birds, Johann Strauss's The Carnival of Venice, and Tchaikovsky's Capriccio Italien.

The concert was followed by dinner throughout Severance Hall, in the Bogomolny-Kozerefski Grand Foyer, the Smith Lobby, the Founders Gallery, the Hood Meyerson Box Promenade, and Severance Restaurant. The Gala was catered by Executive Chef Douglas Katz of Fire Food and Drink.

The lead sponsors for the Gala are The Lerner Foundation, KeyBank, Richard and Emily Smucker, Audrey and Albert Ratner, and Dee and Jimmy Haslam.

The Cleveland Orchestra has a long and proud history of sharing the joys and benefits of music with people throughout Northeast Ohio. Franz Welser-M?st leads the Orchestra into its second century with a renewed commitment to music education and community engagement, based on his belief that every child should be touched by music, that the arts are critical to a well-rounded education, and that learning never ends (lifelong learning). The Cleveland Orchestra has introduced more than 4 million young people to symphonic music - through live concert experiences and performances over the past ten decades. Today, with the support of many generous individual, foundation, corporate, and governmental funding partners, the Orchestra's educational and community programs reach more than 60,000 young people and adults annually, helping to foster a love of music and a lifetime of involvement with the musical arts. For more information about these programs, and the supporters who make them possible, visit www.clevelandorchestra.com/education-and-community/overview.

For information about The Cleveland Orchestra's choruses and ensembles, visit www.clevelandorchestra.com/about/choruses-and-ensembles.

Now in its 100th Season in 2017-18 and at the launch of its Second Century, The Cleveland Orchestra is undergoing a renaissance. Acknowledged as among the world's best, its musicians, staff, board of directors, volunteers, and hometown are working together on a set of enhanced goals for the Orchestra's Second Century - to develop the youngest audiences of any orchestra; to renew its focus on fully serving the communities where it performs through concerts, engagement, and music education; to continue its legendary musical excellence; to build on its tradition of community support and financial strength; and to move forward into the Orchestra's next century with a commitment to diversified programming. Under the direction of Music Director Franz Welser-Möst, the New York Times declared Cleveland to be the "best American orchestra" for its virtuosity, elegance of sound, variety of color, and chamber-like cohesion. The Cleveland Orchestra divides its time each year across concert seasons at home in Cleveland's Severance Hall and each summer at Blossom Music Center. Additional portions of the year are devoted to touring and to a series of innovative and intensive performance residencies. These include performances in Miami, a biennial residency at Vienna's Musikverein, and appearances at Switzerland's Lucerne Festival, New York's Lincoln Center Festival, and Indiana University. For more information, go to clevelandorchestra.com.

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