Philadelphia Orchestra endowment campaign crosses $100 million mark

Orchestra meets requirements of $10 million challenge grant from Neubauer Family Foundation

(Philadelphia, September 12, 2005)

The Philaelphia Orchestra Association announces that its endowment campaign, A Sound, A City, A Civilization, has passed the $100 million mark. A $10 million challenge grant from the Neubauer Family Foundation was instrumental in bringing the campaign to this point. The grant, announced in January 2005, called for the Orchestra to strengthen fundraising from its Board of Directors and establish a broader fundraising base in the community by raising an additional $20 million for the endowment, $10 million from its Board and $10 million from other donors, by August 31, 2005. The Orchestra has successfully met all of these requirements.

The $10 million grant establishes endowment funds to support Music Director Christoph Eschenbach’s special artistic initiatives, including the commissioning of new works; to increase efforts to bring the Orchestra to a broader audience outside the concert hall and into the wider world through media and technology; and to endow the principal trombone chair, currently held by Nitzan Haroz. The grant requires the Orchestra to maintain balanced operating budgets for the next five years.

To date, 91% of the Board has participated in the endowment campaign of which 71% have contributed towards the challenge, including 56 active Board members and 38 emeritus members, with an average Board gift of $373,000 (excluding the Annenberg Foundation gift). Of the $100.8 million raised by the campaign so far, $85 million has been given by Board members, including a lead gift of $50 million from the Annenberg Foundation. Twenty-five million dollars remains to be raised in the final two years of the five-year campaign. The campaign is chaired by Peter A. Benoliel and by vice-chairmen Carole Haas Gravagno and Harold A. Sorgenti.

Joseph Neubauer, a member and former Chairman of the Orchestra’s Board of Directors, said, “The generous support of the Orchestra Board and members of the community will ensure that this great institution continues to excel artistically and that it will reach the broadest possible audiences, both here and across the nation and the world.  Special thanks are due to the campaign leadership, in particular Harold Sorgenti, for meeting the Neubauer Family Foundation Challenge.”

“Completing the Neubauer challenge and crossing the $100 million mark brings The Philadelphia Orchestra into the next phase of the endowment campaign as we work to raise the remaining $25 million,” said Campaign Chairman Peter A. Benoliel. “Building on the core group of donors who have already given, we will now be asking for support from the wider community, those who value The Philadelphia Orchestra as a musical institution and recognize that it is an important cultural force in the City of Philadelphia and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”

Roberto Díaz, principal viola and member of the Orchestra’s Endowment Committee, remarked, “On behalf of the musicians of the Orchestra, I am pleased to express our enormous gratitude to the Neubauer Family Foundation for their vote of confidence in The Philadelphia Orchestra. This generous gift helps secure the future of this great musical institution.”

The Philadelphia Orchestra Association announced the public phase of its five-year, $125 million endowment campaign, entitled A Sound, A City, A Civilization, in September 2003. Commitments to the campaign include a lead gift of $50 million from the Annenberg Foundation, along with other major leadership gifts that allowed the Orchestra to raise the original campaign goal from $75 million to $125 million. A Sound, A City, A Civilization will assure the future of Philadelphia’s most renowned performing arts institution. Internationally prized for its distinctive sound and virtuosity, The Philadelphia Orchestra serves as a cultural, educational and economic catalyst for the Philadelphia region. However, its endowment has long lagged behind that of its peers. Successful completion of this endowment campaign will provide greater funding stability for the organization, by augmenting annual giving and helping to fulfill its vision of bringing great symphonic music to the broadest possible audiences.

The Philadelphia Orchestra’s endowment campaign objectives include the areas of performance, education and community partnerships, and innovation. A successful campaign not only will put The Philadelphia Orchestra on a financial footing equal to that of its peers, it will grow it so that the Orchestra can forge new artistic paths and reach new audiences. A cornerstone of A Sound, A City, A Civilizationis the endowing of chairs in the Orchestra. To date, 19 chairs have been endowed, including that of the music director. Other endowment opportunities include establishing Guest Artist Funds, naming concerts, and naming activities within educational and community partnerships programs.

Founded in 1900, The Philadelphia Orchestra has distinguished itself as one of the leading orch­estras in the world through a century of acclaimed performances, historic international tours, best-selling recordings, and its unprecedented record of innovation in recording technologies and outreach. With only six music directors piloting The Philadelphia Orch­estra through its first century, the ensemble has maintained an unparalleled cohesiveness and unity in artistic leadership.

This rich tradition is carried on by Christoph Eschenbach, who became the Orchestra’s seventh music director in September 2003. His acclaimed first season in Philadelphia saw the launch of the Orchestra’s first-ever multi-year cycle of Mahler’s complete symphonies and ended with a tour of the music capitals of Europe. The 2004-05 season celebrated the works of the great masters, and included a four-week festival entitled Late Great Works featuring late works by Mozart, Strauss, Mahler, Tchaikovsky, Wagner, and Berio. In October 2004, Mr. Eschenbach and the Orchestra opened Carnegie Hall’s season with an all-Strauss program, featuring Renée Fleming and Yo-Yo Ma and broadcast on PBS’ Great Performances. The season closed with a three-week tour of Asia.

In May 2005, Mr. Eschenbach and the Orchestra announced a three-year recording partnership with Ondine Records, the Orchestra’s first recording contract in 10 years. Taken from live concerts, the first recording under the agreement is scheduled to be released in fall 2005. Other recent highlights include the launch of the public phase of a five-year, $125 million endowment campaign, entitled A Sound, A City, A Civilization, in 2003. The Orchestra’s 2002-03 season celebrated Wolfgang Sawallisch’s 10 highly acclaimed years at the Orchestra’s helm and paid tribute to his artistic achievements with the release of a Grammy-nominated three-disc set of Schumann recordings, the first recordings made in Verizon Hall at The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. In 2000, the Orchestra celebrated its 100th Anniversary, and in the following year, moved to its new home in the Kimmel Center.

The Philadelphia Orchestra annually touches the lives of more than one million music lovers worldwide through its performances (more than 300 concerts and other presentations), publications, recordings, and broadcasts. A major winter subscription season is presented in Philadelphia each year from September to May, in addition to education and community partnership programs. The Orchestra presents a series of concerts each year at New York’s Carnegie Hall, performing encores of some of its acclaimed concerts from Philadelphia. Its summer schedule includes a month-long outdoor season in Philadelphia at The Mann Center for the Performing Arts, free concerts in local neighborhoods, and a three-week residency each August at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in upstate New York.

The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts hosts the Orchestra’s home subscription concerts.
The Center includes two performance spaces, the 2500-seat Verizon Hall, designed and built especially for the Orchestra, and the 650-seat Perelman Theater for chamber music concerts. Designed by architect Rafael Viñoly along with acoustician Russell Johnson of Artec Consultants Inc., the Kimmel Center provides the Orchestra with a state-of-the-art facility for concerts, recordings, and education activities. The landmark building is named in honor of Philadelphia businessman and philanthropist Sidney Kimmel, who gave the largest individual gift toward its construction. Kimmel has served on the Board of Directors of The Philadelphia Orchestra since 1995.

The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts (KCPA) and the historic Academy of Music (where the Orchestra performed for 101 seasons) are operated together as a single cultural facility by Kimmel Center, Inc. (KCI). A variety of Philadelphia’s other performing arts groups serve as resident companies for the two buildings. KCI owns, manages, supports, and maintains the KCPA. Kimmel Center, Inc., also manages the Academy of Music, owned by The Philadelphia Orchestra Association since 1957, and where the Orchestra continues to present the annual Academy Anniversary Concert and Ball.