Presser Foundation Awards $500,000 Grant to The Philadelphia Orchestra for Education and Community Outreach

(Philadelphia, January 6, 2005)

The Philadelphia Orchestra has received a $500,000 grant from the Presser Foundation to support education and community outreach initiatives that will create new ways to engage audiences with orchestral music experiences. The funds will be used over five years, starting with the 2004-05 season, and will help fund both new and existing programs.

"The Presser Foundation is delighted to award this grant to The Philadelphia Orchestra as it so aptly fulfills the mission put forth by our founder, Theodore Presser, to improve and further education in music," stated Edith A. Reinhardt, president of the Presser Foundation. "We commend The Philadelphia Orchestra and Christoph Eschenbach for committing the artistic and administrative resources to address this task in creative and exciting new ways."

As he prepared to become music director in 2003, Christoph Eschenbach articulated a vision of "raising the invisible curtain" to close or span the gulf that so often divides audience members from performers. A staff/musician working group worked last season to translate this vision into a number of initiatives and changes that will be phased in over the next few years. Under the leadership of Director of Education and Community Partnerships Sarah Johnson, these new initiatives will become part of the core mission of The Philadelphia Orchestra and will join ongoing staple education and community partnerships programs.

"This is an exciting and dynamic time for the presentation of The Philadelphia Orchestra musical experience," said Philadelphia Orchestra Chairman Richard L. Smoot. "With Maestro Eschenbach leading us, the enthusiastic involvement of so many of our musicians, staff, and board, and the support of community leaders like the Presser Foundation, we have an opportunity to serve our community in ways that will make a critical contribution to the lives of youth and adults alike."

Among the new education and community partnership initiatives to be supported by the Presser grant is the hiring of a part-time music animateur, the first at a U.S. orchestra, to help design and guide the implementation of all the new "raising the invisible curtain" programs. These include the creation of interactive activities around certain concerts, the launch of a redesigned "Access" concert series, and additional community initiatives. It will also support a new School Partnership Program, as well as such ongoing activities as the Sound All Around program for pre-school children, Family Concerts and Pre-concert Adventures, School Concerts, Neighborhood Concerts, professional development programs for music teachers, and programs for student musicians.

The Presser Foundation supports activities that develop music literacy and provide firsthand experience in music making, with the goal of broadening the entire structure of the musical community.

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 began his tenure as the Orchestra's seventh music director in September 2003. As Mr. Eschenbach and the Orchestra inaugurate a new era in the ensemble's esteemed history, the Orchestra has announced the launch of the public phase of a five-year, $125-million endowment campaign, entitled A Sound, A City, A Civilization. Commitments to the campaign include a lead gift of $50 million from the Annenberg Foundation, along with other major leadership gifts that have allowed the Orchestra to raise the original campaign goal from $75 million to $125 million.

In addition to Mr. Eschenbach's appointment as music director, the Orchestra has observed several important milestones in recent years. The Orchestra's 2002-03 season celebrated Wolfgang Sawallisch's ten 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. The Orchestra moved to its new home at the Kimmel Center in December 2001, after celebrating its 100th Anniversary through a series of activities surrounding the year 2000, including the internationally televised gala Birthday Concert on November 16, 2000, a tour of Europe in 2000, and tours of Asia and the United States in 2001. A tour in the spring of 2003 took the Orchestra to nine cities in the United States, Mexico, and South America. Christoph Eschenbach and the Orchestra capped their first full season together with a tour of the music capitals of Europe in the spring of 2004.

The Philadelphia Orchestra annually touches the lives of more than 1 million music lovers worldwide through its performances (more than 300 concerts and other presentations each year), 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. Mr. 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 highly anticipated annual Academy Anniversary Concert and Ball.