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Today at the annual meeting of its governing members, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) celebrated the significant artistic and financial achievements and community impact of its 2017-2018 Season, which ended on August 31, 2018.
Mark A. Davidoff, Detroit Symphony Orchestra board chairman and Michigan managing partner at Deloitte, opened the meeting, where the DSO announced an operating surplus for a sixth consecutive year, as well looked back to artistic and fundraising milestones of the previous year.
“As we look back at the previous year, there were many highlights both on stage and in the community,” said Davidoff. “We did all this while also managing to secure our sixth consecutive balanced budget. While we celebrate all that we have accomplished, we continue to think big and plan for even greater impact in the future.”
At the meeting, DSO president and CEO Anne Parsons shared a broad vision for the future, outlining three long-term thematic goals that are: continuing to achieve fiscal stability as outlined in the DSO’s ten-year plan (“Blueprint 2023”), grow and diversify audiences and constituencies, and align and strengthen the DSO brand and reputation.
“The city of Detroit is changing, the state and the world are changing, and the DSO must continue to change with it,” Parsons said. “In order to truly be the most accessible orchestra on the planet, we have to deepen and grow the impact of our institutional values, always striving to be more open, inclusive, collaborative, innovative, transparent, and welcoming, all while holding dear our commitment to excellence—artistic and otherwise.”
Parsons also previewed the upcoming October 2019 centennial of the DSO’s historic home—Orchestra Hall—and shared the news that the organization would celebrate Mort Harris at its annual Heroes Gala in June 2019.
“Orchestra Hall is one of our most precious assets and without question one of the finest concert halls in the world right here in Detroit,” said Parsons. “When we were developing our centennial timeline, we realized our Heroes Gala coincides with the 100-year anniversary of the start of Orchestra Hall’s construction, which took only a remarkable four months in the summer of 1919. And so, I am thrilled to announce that DSO Director Emeritus Mort Harris—who at age 98 has lived among us nearly as long as the hall we’ll be commemorating—has agreed to let us honor him as we launch the Orchestra Hall celebration.”
