The Cleveland Orchestra

Severance Music Center, Northeast Ohio, and Digital InitiativesRegarded by many music-lovers as one of the world's most beautiful concert halls, Severance opened in 1931 as the home of The Cleveland Orchestra. Today, the main concert hall is known as the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Concert Hall, in recognition of the historic $50 million grant from the Cleveland-based Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation. Severance Music Center serves as the home of The Cleveland Orchestra for concerts, rehearsals, and administration. The building is also rented by a variety of local organizations and private citizens for performances, meetings, and gala events.Located in the University Circle district, on the campus of Case Western Reserve University, near the Cleveland Museum of Art, Severance Music Center has served as an integral arts and community hub for generations. Though its acclaimed concerts and recordings delight audiences worldwide, The Cleveland Orchestra is a proud ambassador of Northeast Ohio.The Cleveland Orchestra has a long and storied recording history and an expansive catalog of albums released across the past century. Having launched its own recording label in 2020 with The Cleveland Orchestra: A New Century, a collection of six musical works, the Orchestra has since released several ambitious recording projects. In fiscal year 2022-23, The Cleveland Orchestra released three new recordings, all led by Music Director Franz Welser-Most and captured live from Severance using best-in-class spatial audio technology. The recordings include four works by American composer George Walker spanning half a century (Antifonys for String Orchestra, Lilacs for Voice and Orchestra, and Sinfonias No. 4 and No. 5) (November 2022), Sergei Prokofiev's Symphony No. 5 (March 2023), and Alban Berg's Three Pieces from Lyric Suite and a Suite from Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier (compiled by Welser-Most) (June 2023). These recordings are available for download and streaming on all major platforms. For more information, visit clevelandorchestracomdiscoverreco... Cleveland Orchestra continued to expand in the digital space throughout fiscal year 2022-23, releasing 12 new digital productions on Adella, its digital home, and forging two new digital partnerships with medici.tv and Symphony Media in addition to its existing partnership with Idagio. Cleveland Orchestra productions include full-length concerts, behind-the-scenes footage and commentary, and interviews with Music Director Franz Welser-Most and guest artists shot in Cleveland, London, Vienna, Linz, and beyond. Productions this year included performances of works by Strauss, Mozart, Schoenberg, Mahler, Adams, Debussy, Chin, L. Boulanger, Walton, Sibelius, Shostakovich and more, and featured, among others, Franz Welser-Most, Alan Gilbert, Jane Glover, John Adams, Klaus Makela, Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, and Peter Otto. All concert performances were filmed in the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Concert Hall within Severance Music Center.The Cleveland Orchestra offers countless digital offerings to serve our local communities and schools. Children can learn the basics of orchestral music and the role of the conductor, in video series such as What is an Orchestra?, can explore the instruments of the orchestra up close and personal with Choose Your Instrument and young children and families can enjoy Storytime with The Cleveland Orchestra. Each of these series feature tips and advice from Cleveland Orchestra musicians, fun animation, and world-class music. Children or educators can also engage students with The Cleveland Orchestra's Listening Maps interactive clips that bring listeners deeper into the music or dive into online Lesson Plans for grades Pre-K to 5 Each evergreen digital series has been viewed by hundreds of thousands.

Touring and ResidenciesEach year, the Orchestra allocates several weeks of its performance schedule to residencies and touring activities beyond Northeast Ohio, nationally and internationally. These are designed to enhance both the artistic and financial strength of the organization and extend the Orchestra's worldwide reputation. This year, The Cleveland Orchestra returned to Europe in August and September for the first time since 2018, with 12 performances in nine cities: Amsterdam, Berlin, Cologne, Dresden, Hamburg, Linz, Lucerne, Prague, and Vienna. The Orchestra also returned to Carnegie Hall in New York City on January 18, 2023, making the 228th appearance in the esteemed venue since 1922. The Orchestra performed a program of works by Alban Berg (Lyric Suite) and Franz Schubert (Symphony No. 8, "Unfinished, and Mass No. 6 in E-flat Major, D. 950). For the Mass, the Orchestra was joined by The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus and a celebrated array of soloists. Finally, the Orchestra made its return to the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County for the first time since the pandemic in November 2022 and January 2023 as part of its South Florida Residency. The residency included performances in Miami, Naples, West Palm Beach, and Orlando, and education programs in the Miami area.

Blossom Musical Festival and Blossom Music CenterThe Blossom Music Festival returned in 2022 with an inspiring lineup of concerts and presentations. 19 concerts were part of the 2022 Blossom Music Festival, from Fourth of July through Labor Day weekends (July 2 September 4, 2022) at the Orchestra's scenic summer home in Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Guest conductors and soloists included, among others, Mark Kosower, Elim Chan, Benjamin Grosvenor, Stephen Tavani, Jader Bignamini, Aaron Diehl, Ruth Reinhardt, Richard Kaufman, Jonathan Berman, Cedric Tiberghien, Giancarlo Guerrero, and Lukas Vondracek. The 2022 Festival also included movie presentations of The Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship of the RingTM and Harry Potter and the Chamber of SecretsTM. Under 18s Free, signature program of The Cleveland Orchestra, continued into its 11th season during summer of 2022.

Education and Community EngagementThe Cleveland Orchestra continued serving Northeast Ohio over the course of the 2022-23 season. Ongoing programs in Severance Music Center such as Family Concerts, Education Concerts, and Music Explorers reached more than 20,000 students and thousands of children and families. In-School programs such as Crescendo and Music Mentors created access to instrumental music and expert instruction in Cleveland area schools. All of The Cleveland Orchestra's educational programs are now free for schools and weekly Concert Previews and Music in Depth webinars continued to serve Cleveland Orchestra lifelong learners.Over the initial months of the pandemic, the Mindful Music Moments education program, which combines classical music from The Cleveland Orchestra with mindfulness prompts from experts at The Well, became a powerful tool for both in-person and remote classes to help ease stress and anxiety. This program continues to be offered to all Northeast Ohio schools for free and is currently in use in 120 NEO schools reaching 44,000 studentsOrchestra musicians continued to bring music to communities across Northeast Ohio, performing for community celebrations including La Placita, Cleveland Asian Festival, One World Day, Hispanic Heritage Month, and others, and collaborating with partners such as Karamu for our annual Spring Honoring Black Composers Concerts. And Cleveland Orchestra musicians continued to pass on the traditions of artistic excellence to aspiring young musicians of the acclaimed Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra. Across a typical season, the Orchestra's education and community initiatives reach more than 100,000 people. For more information, visit clevelandorchestracomengagecommun...