Long considered one of America’s great orchestras, The Cleveland Orchestra stands today among the world’s most-revered symphonic ensembles. In concerts at home in Severance Hall, each summer as part of the Blossom Festival, in residencies from Miami to Vienna, and on tour around the world, The Cleveland Orchestra continues to set standards of artistic excellence, imaginative programming, and community engagement.

Under the leadership of Music Director Franz Welser-Möst, The Cleveland Orchestra has become one of the most sought-after performing ensembles in the world. The partnership has earned the Orchestra unprecedented residencies in the United States and in Europe, including at the Musik­verein in Vienna, the first of its kind by an American orchestra. The Orchestra returned for its third Musikverein residency in the autumn of 2007 as part of an eleven-concert European tour. The Orchestra also regularly appears at European festivals and its travels in 2008 included an eight-performance summer residency at the Salzburg Festival and a continuation of its ongoing series of residencies at the Lucerne Festival (featuring Roche Commissions, a project involving the Orchestra, the Festival, and Carnegie Hall). Domestically, the Orchestra and Mr. Welser-Möst have toured from coast to coast, and in January 2007 began an unprecedented ten-year residency project in Miami, Florida, where they perform annually at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County.

The Cleveland Orchestra has a long and distinguished recording and broadcast history. A series of DVD and CD recordings under the direction of Franz Welser-Möst has recently been added to an extensive and widely-praised catalog of audio recordings made during the tenures of the ensemble’s former music directors. In addition, Cleveland Orchestra concerts are heard in syndication each season on radio stations throughout North America and Europe.

The Cleveland Orchestra was founded in 1918 by a group of local citizens intent on creating an ensemble worthy of joining America’s ranks of symphony orchestras. Over the next eight decades, under the direction of only seven chief conductors (Nikolai Sokoloff 1918-33, Artur Rodzinsky 1933-43, Erich Leinsdorf 1943-46, George Szell 1946-70, Pierre Boulez 1970-72, Lorin Maazel 1972-82, and Christoph von Dohnányi 1984-2002), the Orchestra grew from a fine regional organization to being one of the most admired symphonic ensembles in the world. Extensive concert seasons at home in Cleveland were augmented with educational programs that have introduced hundreds of thousands of Cleveland-area school children to classical music. Touring performances throughout the United States and, beginning in 1957, to Europe and across the globe have confirmed Cleveland’s place as one of the world’s handful of best orchestras. Year-round performances became a reality with the first Blossom Festival in 1968, presented at an award-winning, purpose-built outdoor facility located just south of the Cleveland metropolitan area near Akron, Ohio. Radio broadcasts and recordings (on LPs CDs, and now DVDs and via the internet) along with television performances and free community concerts have enlarged the ensemble’s total audience by millions of supporting patrons, enthusiastic fans, and discerning connoisseurs.

Today, The Cleveland Orchestra stands at a crossroads in its storied history, inaugurating new programs, residencies, and fiscal opportunities while eagerly pursuing its long tradition of artistic excellence, educational engagement, and community service. The ensemble’s annual Severance Hall season remains one of the world’s most rewarding and thought-provoking experiences, exposing audiences to new music and favorite repertoire in performances that feature the best soloists from across the globe — all in the glowing acoustical warmth of a truly remarkable hometown concert hall.

Last Updated - March, 2009

The Musical Arts Association is grateful to the following government agencies for their ongoing generous support of The Cleveland Orchestra: National Endowment for the Arts; State of Ohio; Ohio Arts Council; and the commissioners and citizens of Cuyahoga County.