It was with great disappointment that we read The Cleveland Orchestra’s announcement of its 2014-2015 Severance Hall season, which features only one work by an American composer. While the orchestra’s efforts in this realm in recent seasons may be characterized as half-hearted at best, next season truly reflects a low point in programming in this regard.

How can this greatest of orchestras continue to so blatantly ignore the music of its own country? It is unthinkable that any European orchestra (or practically any other American orchestra, for that matter) would snub the music of its own composers, yet our orchestra appears unwilling to even acknowledge – let alone reflect – the great diversity of the current American musical scene. How wonderful would it be to hear our friends and colleagues in powerful, compelling music by such important living American composers as Claude Baker,

John Corigliano, David Del Tredici, George Lewis, Steven Stucky, Joan Tower, George

Tsontakis, Melinda Wagner, Olly Wilson, as well as Cleveland’s own recently deceased Donald Erb, to mention but a few. Orchestras around the U.S., including the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, etc., are making a strong commitment to new American music (and thriving while doing so), whether through appointing

American Composers-in-Residence, American Music Advisors, regularly programming significant new American works, or through such exciting series as CONTACT!, Green Umbrella, or Music NOW.

While we commend the orchestra for its laudable efforts to attract a more diverse audience and reach out to communities beyond University Circle, we simply do not understand why

American music is given such short shrift in any of its programming, especially when it has been shown repeatedly that audiences are hungry for, and responsive to, new American music. The experience of orchestras such as Albany, Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, San Francisco, St. Louis, etc. reflects, year in and out, that audiences will embrace American music. Simply put, American composers are creating the most diverse and compelling body of music being written today. Does the orchestra not see a responsibility to communicate the wonderful variety of this music?

Apparently not, as next season includes works heard in Severance Hall multiple times in just the past five seasons, some as often as three times in the very recent past. The truth is that even the most canonical works need to be heard with fresh ears from time to time, while also being put in the context of the music being written

today. In fact, had previous generations adopted the attitude the orchestra seems to embody, we simply would not have the music the orchestra so predictably repeats from season to season, all of which was new, untested and revolutionary at one time.

We are certain that our colleagues in the orchestra would relish the opportunity to apply their skills and musicianship to works by living Americans, many of whom they count as personal friends and musical mentors. How can those young composers studying at our local institutions know there is a place for them and their music in the world when the leading performing organization in their community refuses to barely acknowledge, let alone support, the existence of their art? To do so shuns a responsibility, which we all share, not only to the music of our time and place, but also as role models to future generations of creative artists.

When asked why he programmed so much contemporary American music at the Boston Symphony, Serge Koussevitzky famously replied, “The next Beethoven will from Colorado come!” It is truly sad that so much great American music – whether from Colorado, Kansas, New York, or yes, even Ohio – stands so little chance to communicate its message to listeners in Severance Hall.

Yours Sincerely,

Keith Fitch,

Head, Composition Department

Vincent K. and Edith H. Smith.

Chair in Composition

Cleveland Institute of Music

Clint Needham,

Composer-in-Residence

Assistant Professor of Music

Conservatory of Music

Baldwin Wallace University

Jeffrey Mumford,

Distinguished Professor of

Music (composition)

Lorain County Community College

Andrew Rindfleisch,

Professor of Music

(composition)

Director, Cleveland

Contemporary Players and

Composers’ Resource Center

Cleveland State University

Greg D’Alessio,

Associate Professor of Music (composition)

Cleveland State University

Liza Grossman,

Founder and Music Director

Contemporary Youth Orchestra

Margaret Brouwer,

Emeritus Faculty

(composition)

Cleveland Institute of Music

Founder and Director, Blue Streak Ensemble