SPRING FOR MUSIC ANNOUNCES MELLON FOUNDATION GRANT OF $1 MILLION ensuring three festivals: 2011, 2012, 2013

For Release:
April 9, 2009

Selected 2011 participating orchestras also announced

Spring for Music's first festival season at Carnegie Hall will begin in May 2011 (Friday, May 6 - Saturday, May 14, 2011) with the following orchestras having been chosen to participate in this festival:

Albany Symphony Orchestra
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal
Oregon Symphony
Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra
Toledo Symphony

The selected orchestras range in budget size from $2 million to $36 million; they include orchestras from Canada, Georgia, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Oregon and Texas; they include one chamber orchestra; and of the seven, three will be making their Carnegie Hall debuts. Programs include one major New York premiere, and works by twelve living composers. The complete programs of these orchestras will be announced in early 2011, at the time that tickets for the 2011 festival go on sale at Carnegie Hall. Requests to orchestras for proposals for the 2012 festival will be solicited this May.

Thanks to a generous grant of $1 million from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, as well as significant multi-year gifts from Daniel & Jan Lewis and Gerry & Marguerite Lenfest, plus funding from the Irving Harris Foundation, Spring for Music can now commit to three seasons (2011, 2012, 2013) of yearly presentations of seven orchestras over a nine-day period each May at Carnegie Hall. One half of the Mellon grant is in the form of a challenge to be matched on a two-to-one basis in order to leverage additional fundraising. The amount still to be raised to cover the Spring for Music three-year budget, plus an anticipated fourth year in 2014, totals approximately $1.5 million. The annual budget for each festival is approximately $1.5 million.

Spring for Music, a new and innovative festival of concerts by North American symphony and chamber orchestras presented annually at Carnegie Hall to broad music-loving audiences at affordable prices, is being sold through a unique marketing structure built around adventurous and creative programs. The general public will have access to any Spring for Music seat at Carnegie Hall for the price of $25 on a first come, first

served basis; a limited number of tickets are priced at $15. This festival is designed to allow participating orchestras to showcase their artistic philosophies through distinctive and creative programming in one of the world's most competitive musical environments. In pre-concert talks, each participating orchestra will be asked to describe how their program relates to their artistic philosophy. The festival becomes a musical laboratory that can foster greater innovation in each orchestra's home market.

In selecting the participating orchestras (eligibility constitutes being among League of American Orchestras Groups I and II, and orchestras from Groups III and IV that have received ASCAP Awards for adventurous programming), key program elements to be considered include originality of repertoire, sequence of pieces, individual program elements, programmatic structure, and production elements. Emphasis is placed on creativity, variety, innovation, and distinctive profile. In addition to their program proposals, orchestras are selected on the basis of quality of orchestra and conductor, relationship of the orchestra's proposal to its overall institutional identity, and the balance of orchestras by geography and size. The Spring for Music Artistic Director selects the orchestras and determines the programs in conjunction with the orchestras. No orchestra is eligible to participate in consecutive years in order to avoid any sense of "ownership." President of the League of American Orchestras, Jesse Rosen, commented,

"Spring for Music showcases the remarkable quality of America's orchestras from cities big and small and demonstrates the growing richness and diversity of the concert repertoire. By enabling a whole new group of orchestras to take artistic risks and to engage with new audiences in the national spotlight of Carnegie Hall, this project promises to bring fresh energy to our field."

Spring for Music has been created by three music industry veterans who are its three project directors: Thomas W. Morris, former Executive Director of The Cleveland Orchestra and current Artistic Director of the Ojai Music Festival, as CEO and Artistic Director who will be responsible for selecting participating orchestras and finalizing programs; David V. Foster, President of Opus 3 Artists, as Production Director who will provide overall concert production and administration, as well as make all necessary contracts on the festival's behalf; and Mary Lou Falcone, prominent classical music public relations counsel, as Public Relations Director who will oversee festival publicity and media relations. The festival is being undertaken with the full support and enthusiastic endorsement of Carnegie Hall through its Executive and Artistic Director Clive Gillinson, who stated,

"I am especially delighted to welcome this wonderful Spring for Music project to Carnegie Hall, as a truly important initiative both for US orchestras and for NY audiences. I have long admired the remarkable quality of musicians in America, as well as the superb quality of the orchestras themselves, and I think the strength in depth that they represent is not exceeded anywhere in the world. Since arriving at Carnegie Hall, I have long hoped that one day we might be able to further extend our showcasing of the quality, variety and imagination of the orchestral music making that is taking place across the country, every day of every week."

On the Board of Directors are Chair Daniel R. Lewis; Treasurer Catherine French; Secretary Catherine Gevers; Michael Gehret; Ara Guzelimian; Joan Harris and Lowell J. Noteboom.

For more information please visit our website at www.springformusic.com.

M.L. FALCONE, Public Relations: T: 212-580-4302 F: 212-787-5638 E: mlfpr@att.net