Photo by Roger Mastroianni, Courtesy of The Cleveland Orchestra
The Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation has given the Cleveland Orchestra a $50 million gift, the largest in both the ensemble's and the philanthropic organization's history.
In recognition of this bounty, the Orchestra will rename its primary performance space the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Concert Hall, while the name of the iconic Severance Hall building will be tweaked to the "Severance Music Center," encompassing both the new Mandel Concert Hall and Reinberger Chamber Hall.
The Orchestra now joins the plethora of local institutions bearing the Mandel's name: among them the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case; the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Honors College at CSU; the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Humanities Center at Tri-C; the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Global Leadership & Learning Institute at the Cleveland Clinic; both the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Welcome Pavilion and the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Auditorium at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo.
The mammoth gift will principally go toward the Orchestra's endowment, enlarging the cultural organization's finances and securing its future. Investments in enhanced digital infrastructure were teased in the press releases. The funds will also create a new opera and humanities festival in Cleveland, to be called, you guessed it, the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Opera and Humanities Festival.
"This unprecedented gift lays the groundwork for The Cleveland Orchestra’s second century," said André Gremillet, the Orchestra’s President & CEO, in a statement, "supporting our long-term capacity to offer extraordinary musical performances and inspiring programs while transforming our ability to reach audiences far beyond the physical limits of our building."
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