Like many organizations, The Cleveland Orchestra has faced challenges the last few years, but challenges aren’t always a bad thing. The flip-side of challenge is opportunity and as a recent article by Zachary Lewis in the San Francisco Classical Voice puts it:
For better or worse, it’s not business as usual at the Cleveland Orchestra. The atmosphere today is one of determination, of long-overdue gameness to collaborate, experiment, open up. Read the full article.
The orchestra offers free tickets to summer concerts at the Blossom Music Center for all children 18 and under. They’ve also launched a popular Fridays@7 concert series, featuring an earlier start time, no intermission, and an after party. The orchestra’s Center for Future Audiences–started in 2010 and funded by a $20 million grant–ensures that such initiatives will have long-term financial and organizational backing.
The orchestra is also expanding the definition of community by performing regularly in Miami, recently announcing a four week residency during the 2012-2013 season. While in Florida, Cleveland Orchestra musicians work with students and with players in the New World Symphony. The program has its own website and certainly suggests a surprising future where an orchestra could be less tied to its immediate geographic surrounding.
We’re looking forward to talking about all these programs when we chat with leaders from The Cleveland Orchestra on Saturday, April 14. Look for the live blog the day of and a podcast in May.