July Centennial Gift: Cleveland Foundation Day with The Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom on Sunday, July 20

15,000 free tickets available as part of “music under the stars” gift

RELEASE DATE: 7.2.2014

Due to tremendous interest, all free tickets to the Cleveland Foundation Day with The Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom July 20 have been reserved as of 7/8/14. Please stay tuned for our next gift announcement on Aug. 4. We thank the community for such outstanding participation in our centennial gifts!



CLEVELAND – As part of The Cleveland Orchestra’s 25th annual Star-Spangled Spectacular Concert tonight on Public Square, music lovers will become part of the Cleveland Foundation’s year-long birthday celebration. The foundation’s July centennial gift to the community will be publicly announced live on stage while the Orchestra plays “Happy Birthday.”

Halfway through the concert, Cleveland Foundation Executive Vice President Robert E. Eckardt will join conductor Loras John Schissel onstage to announce that July’s gift will be Cleveland Foundation Day with The Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom.

On July 20, up to 15,000 Northeast Ohioans will be able to enjoy The Cleveland Orchestra concert featuring the music of Weber, Mozart and Shostakovich while sitting on the Blossom Music Center lawn – for free.

Tickets are required to attend the concert. With each of up to 5,000 free adult lawn tickets reserved, two additional free tickets for children 17 and under can also be reserved through the Orchestra’s Under 18s Free program for families. Ticketing will remain open until all lawn tickets have been reserved for the concert (see link at right after 10 a.m. July 7). Tickets are limited to two adults per household, with two additional children’s tickets available per adult ticket (for a total of two adult tickets and four children’s tickets per household).

“Enjoying the world-class music of The Cleveland Orchestra under the stars in the beautiful park-like setting of Blossom is something that everyone in our area should experience,” Eckardt said. “We are so pleased our July centennial gift to the community will make these two community assets accessible to families across Northeast Ohio.”

The July gift celebrates the special role the foundation, through its donors, has played in helping support the world-renowned Cleveland Orchestra and the ensemble’s ongoing commitment to play more music for more people across Northeast Ohio. In just the past four decades, the foundation has granted more than $38 million to the Orchestra, including a $10 million grant in 2013, the largest single grant to an arts organization in the foundation’s history.

“The Cleveland Orchestra is extraordinarily grateful to the Cleveland Foundation for making possible this special offer of music for Northeast Ohio,” said Gary Hanson, Executive Director of The Cleveland Orchestra. “We are honored to take part in celebrating the 100th anniversary of an organization so committed to the strength and vitality of Greater Cleveland. We owe special thanks to all those who support our region through the Cleveland Foundation, enabling the Orchestra and other arts organizations to create and sustain the thriving cultural community of Northeast Ohio.”

Cleveland Orchestra concertgoers at Blossom are welcome to bring food and beverages for picnics before the concert. Parking is free and shuttles transport visitors from the parking lots to the main gate. Ticketed concertgoers are encouraged to arrive early on July 20 for the 7 p.m. concert. Gates to the Blossom grounds will open at 4:30 p.m.

The Cleveland Orchestra is the 11th nonprofit organization the Cleveland Foundation has partnered with for its centennial gifts to the community. The gifts are meant to highlight organizations the foundation has played a role in establishing or enhancing throughout its 100-year history.

Concert Details:

Cleveland Foundation Day with The Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom

Sunday, July 20, at 7 p.m.

Blossom Music Center

1145 West Steels Corners Road

Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio

The Cleveland Orchestra

Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, conductor

Francesco Piemontesi, piano

This Sunday evening concert features musical works created in three centuries — from Mozart’s final masterful and melodic Piano Concerto No. 27 (written in 1791) to Carl Maria von Weber’s dramatic Overture to Der Freischütz (1821), and concluding with Dmitri Shostakovich’s soul-stirring and powerful Symphony No. 5 (1937).

The Cleveland Foundation

Established in 1914, the Cleveland Foundation is the world’s first community foundation and one of the largest today, with assets of $2.1 billion and 2013 grants of $89 million. For more information on the Cleveland Foundation, visit ClevelandFoundation.org/purpose and follow us at Facebook.com/ClevelandFoundation or @CleveFoundation on Twitter.