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ATL SYMPHONY MUSICIANS

news

Chicago Symphony Orchestra receives its two largest gifts in its history

8/31/2014

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Article by Lewis Lazare Reporter - Chicago Business Journal | June 12, 2014, 1:00pm CDT

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  The Zell Family Foundation has made a $17 million gift for the naming of the position of Chicago Symphony Orchestra Music Director, now held by Riccardo Muti.
photo by Todd Rosenberg
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra today said it received two contributions totaling $32 million. The two gifts are the largest in the 123-year history of what is considered one of the world's greatest orchestras.
Helen and Sam Zell, who head the Chicago-based Zell Family Foundation, have made a $17 million contribution to the Symphony's endowment and general operating funds. Among other things, monies from the gift will be used to name, in perpetuity, the position of Music Director at the Symphony, which has been held by Riccardo Muti since 2010. Muti recently renewed his contract for five years through the 2019-20 season.
Sam Zell is the well-known Chicago real estate mogul and businessman who owned the Tribune Co. for a turbulent period of time that included a plunge into bankruptcy. His wife Helen Zell has been a member of the CSO's Board of Trustees since 2007.
A second gift of $15 million is being made by the Chicago-based Negaunee Foundation to support the work of the Chicago Symphony's Institute for Learning, Access and Training, which will be known going forward as the Negaunee Music Institute at the Chicago Symphony.
The Institute was established as the education and community outreach arm of the CSO. The Institute typically engages with some 200,000 children, teens and adults of diverse incomes every year. Founded in 1987, the Negaunee Foundation has made gifts to the CSO in the past, but today's gift is the largest.
Full Article

CSO get record-setting pair of gifts totaling $32 million
By Hailey Lee | June 12, 2014

Deborah Rutter, Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association president, said the gifts will be integral to the orchestra's “long-range strategy to build up the endowment for a secure future. I'm indebted to these two extraordinary families."

Today was Ms. Rutter's last board meeting before she steps down at the end of the month to head the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington. She said she is proud to leave behind a secure financial legacy.

“When you pour your heart and soul into an organization, you want it to remain in a great position when you move on,” Ms. Rutter said. “These gifts help me feel that greatness and relief to see how well the institution will do.”

The two gifts are the equivalent of 43 percent of the orchestra's annual budget of $75 million. They represent an 11 percent increase to the orchestra's endowment, now $315 million including the gifts.
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Minnesota Orchestra putting troubles behind

8/31/2014

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Article by Graydon Royce, Star Tribune | August 30, 2014

PictureKevin Smith, Minnesota Orchestra’s interim president, said the organization has moved past strife. Photo: RICHARD TSONG-TAATARII
Kevin Smith has put out the word: If you want to help the Minnesota Orchestra, no idea is dumb and no donation too small.
Last week’s announcement of $13.2 million in private donations, including an extraordinary $10 million gift, certainly buoyed Smith’s new job as the orchestra’s interim president.
But the windfall doesn’t lessen Smith’s ardor for democracy and collaboration as he leads Minnesota’s largest and oldest performing-arts group out of its darkest period.
“The dynamic here is not out of control, but it’s wild right now,” said Smith as the orchestra prepares a month of season-opening concerts and events — including a gala Friday with Renée Fleming. (Remember? She sang the national anthem at the Super Bowl.)
So if you have thoughts on how the orchestra can avoid long lockouts, big annual deficits, public scorn and international ridicule, come on in.
Smith is betting team spirit will sell tickets to the orchestra’s first full season in three years, win grass-roots donations and burnish a brand badly damaged by the longest lockout in American symphonic history.
Smith, longtime head of the Minnesota Opera, is only temping as the orchestra board searches for a permanent replacement for the departing Michael Henson.

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Cleveland Orchestra is exactly where a thriving organization needs to be.

8/30/2014

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The Cleveland Orchestra announced a balanced budget, growing audiences, increased endowment, and a record number of student attendees | Article by Zachary Lewis, The Plain Dealer | December 06, 2013

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Black may be a morbid color. But where the Cleveland Orchestra is now is exactly where a thriving organization needs to be.

For the first time in years, the orchestra on Wednesday released an annual report containing virtually nothing but good news. In fiscal 2013, the budget balanced, the endowment grew, and the audience swelled by leaps and bounds.

“The community is demonstrating confidence in us because we really have our act together,” said Dennis LaBarre, president of the Musical Arts Association, the orchestra’s governing body. “People are realizing that the orchestra is the kind of asset this community needs.”

Start with the budget. Building on the near-elimination of its deficit last year, the orchestra in fiscal 2013 balanced its books perfectly, breaking even on a budget of $48.2 million.
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Houston Grand Opera achieves record attendance

8/30/2014

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The Houston Grand Opera received a $750,000 grant to assist in producing new works, while also achieving record attendance and fundraising.
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arizona opera erases debt

8/30/2014

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The Arizona Opera erases its debt.

April 09, 2014 12:00 am  •  By Cathalena E. Burch

Arizona Opera has signed on one of the state’s largest workers’ compensation insurers to a four-year deal as a season title sponsor, a move that will effectively erase the biggest debt from the company’s longterm deficit.

Arizona Opera has had a $1.6 million revolving line of credit with CopperPoint Mutual, formerly SCF Arizona, since 2007. At the end of the four-year deal, which runs through the 2017-18 season, that debt will be erased.  Under the agreement, CopperPoint will appear in all marketing materials for the opera’s seasons, including the season brochures.
Full Article

May 01, 2014 12:00 am  •  By Cathalena E. Burch

AZ Opera meets $1M challenge, erases debt Company raises $500,000 to collect challenge gift.
Arizona Opera has launched its second Million Dollar May fundraising campaign after an anonymous donor in Phoenix offered up a $500,000 challenge. The donor agreed last week to give the money to the company if it can raise an additional $500,000 in donations by June 30. 
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The Lyric Opera of Chicago sees significant increases

8/30/2014

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The Lyric Opera of Chicago, which has operated in the black for 26 of the past 27 seasons, saw significant increases in revenue and fundraising, and an increase of 8% in ticket sales.

http://www.lyricopera.org/about/financial-statements.aspx
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NYC Announces $23 Million to Expand Arts Programs

8/30/2014

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By Denisa R. Superville on July 1, 2014 4:08 PM

New York City Announces $23 Million More to Expand Arts Programs in 2014-2015.
Mayor Bill de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña announced Tuesday a $23 million initiative to expand arts education in city schools and fund training for arts teachers in the upcoming school year.

The announcement was made at the Bronx Museum of the Arts, with City Comptroller Scott Stringer, whose office released a report in  April, "State of the Arts," which, as the name suggests, looked at arts programs in city schools and found that arts education was seriously "underfunded" and that the resources were "inequitably" distributed across the city.
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Opera Theatre of St. Louis sees subscription revenue, attendance rise

8/30/2014

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By Angela Mueller, Reporter - St. Louis business Journal | June 23, 2014

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The Opera Theatre of St. Louis saw both subscription revenue and attendance increase by 8.1 percent in 2013-2014.
    Both subscription revenue and attendance have increased by 8.1 percent thus far this year at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, making 2014 the company’s highest grossing subscription season in five years.
    With one week remaining in its 2014 season, Opera Theatre has generated $914,668 in subscription revenue thus far, according to spokesperson Anh Le. The company’s annual operating budget is projecting it will close out the fiscal year at about $9.3 million.
    More than 17 percent of subscribers to this year’s season are new subscribers, many of whom were introduced to the organization through Opera Theatre’s Young Friends program. Subscriptions to the Young Friends program have increased 93 percent over the past two years, and all four Young Friends events offered during the season sold out, as did a preseason event at the Contemporary Art Museum with Isaac Mizrahi, whose new production of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” is part of this year’s season.
    “We are encouraged by the growth of subscription audiences, which represent the cornerstone of our support,” Tim O’Leary, Opera Theatre’s general director, said in a statement.

Full Article
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Christine Brewer (center) as Madame Lidoine with the nuns of Compiègne in Opera Theatre of Saint Louis’ 2014 production of "Dialogues of the Carmelites." photo by Ken Howard
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San Antonio Symphony celebrates its 75th

8/30/2014

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San Antonio Magazine | June 2014 By Tamara Garcia

The San Antonio Symphony celebrated its 75th anniversary!

To say this is a year of milestones for the San Antonio Symphony is an understatement. The symphony is celebrating its 75th anniversary with a concert featuring renowned violinist Joshua Bell in a lineup of pieces that will almost exactly replicate the symphony’s inaugural performance in 1939. The concert also will mark the symphony’s final performance of the season at the Majestic Theatre. It will open its 2014-2015 season as a resident of the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, where it will present both classical performances and pop concerts. Sebastian Lang-Lessing, the symphony’s music director, spoke with us about the symphony’s history and about why its move to the Tobin will help it remain an integral part of the Alamo City’s culture for years to come.
Full Article
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New York City Ballet Spring Gala

8/29/2014

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By Bettina Zilkha, Contributor - Forbes Style & Design | 5/11/2014

New York City Ballet Spring Gala Celebrates Fifty Years At Lincoln Center, Raises $3.15 Million.

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