The Cleveland Orchestra has received a $5 million gift from the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation to support Music Director Franz Welser-Möst’s Kelvin Smith Family Chair.
Over the next three years, the Cleveland Orchestra will honor its historic partnership with Welser-Möst, who will step down from his post when his contract ends in June 2027. At that time, he will be the longest-serving music director in the ensemble’s history.
“In 1979, my grandfather recognized and honored the artistic excellence of the Cleveland Orchestra and endowed the position of Music Director with a generous gift. The Smith Foundation wishes to recognize Franz Welser-Möst’s influential leadership with a meaningful gift and honor his long-standing commitment to Cleveland,” said Ellen Stirn Mavec, President and Chair of the Foundation and granddaughter of the late Kelvin and Eleanor Smith.
The Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation is a private family foundation that makes grants to Cleveland’s nonprofit charities. Its mission is to support nonprofit organizations that excel in their missions through excellence, creativity in approach, fiscal responsibility, and dynamic leadership in their service to the community, thereby making a positive impact on the citizens of Cleveland.
“I would like to express my gratitude to the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation for this donation, which demonstrates a sustained commitment to the Cleveland Orchestra and to providing world-class symphonic music to the greater Cleveland area,” said Welser-Möst. “After 23 years of my partnership with the Cleveland Orchestra, I continue to be amazed by the breadth and depth of what we have accomplished together.”
“We are extremely grateful to Ellen Mavec and the Smith Foundation Board for their support of the Cleveland Orchestra and for this remarkable gift in recognition of Franz Welser-Möst and his lasting impact on the orchestra and the city,” said André Gremillet, the orchestra’s president and CEO. “As we celebrate Franz’s illustrious career in Cleveland and benefit from his final three years as music director, we also recognize the Smith family’s generous contributions to our institution.”
Welser-Möst conducts the Cleveland Orchestra this week in two different programs at the Severance Music Center (August 15) and the Blossom Music Center (August 17). These performances preview repertoire for the orchestra’s upcoming European tour, including Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony, Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony, and R. Schumann’s Piano Concerto with pianist Víkingur Ólafsson.
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