Encore YOUNG PROFESSIONALS OF THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA

QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER 2019 Q1 / VOLUME 1

IN THIS ISSUE

NEW YEAR, NEW WAYS TO GET INVOLVED

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT:

Sara Elaqad, Executive Director, Minds Matter Cleveland

CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA SPOTLIGHT:

Ilya Gidalevich, Artistic Administrator Membership Stats:

Current Membership (as of 12/31/2018): 308

New Members (last quarter): 26

The best attended event in 2018 was October, when the Cleveland Orchestra performed Scheherazade

Quarter one, volume one of Encore, The Circle’s inaugural issue of our organization newsletter: we hope you find it both useful and enjoyable! It is important that your experience within The Circle is all that you want it to be; whether you attend every event, only come when you can, enjoy networking and meeting new people or just come for the music, there is an opportunity for you to participate. In the new year, we encourage you to do as much as you desire to enjoy your experience. è Contribute to our newsletter. We are looking for photographs, articles, opinion pieces, membership quotes and much more. Email a contribution you’d like to see featured in our newsletter or contact thecircle@clevelandorchestra.com for more information. è Follow us on social media to make sure you have the most up-to-date information: @thecirclecle

è We are always looking for motivated individuals to help plan events and improve membership. We have several committees and a leadership board that are available for Circle members to serve on. If interested email: thecircle@clevelandorchestra.com. è Invite your friends to join The Circle! Spread the word about our organization. è Communicate how we can make The Circle better by emailing suggestions to thecircle@clevelandorchestra.com.

New Year, New Ways to Get Involved

EVAN SCHRADER, MARKETING CHAIR

Rebecca Kolberg Rob Kovacs

Kristi Krueger Bridget Mahoney

Kevin Payne Taylor Phillips Karim Ragab

Rothy Rim

Marcus Bierbaum Patrick Brickman

Megan Delp Scott Esterly Laura Greig

Eleanor Hagan Craig Heitger Hannah Hund Vanessa Jacob

Natasha Sheridan Hassan Siddiki

Jim Szelagowski Maria Tang Elijah Turan

Daniel Vujanov Kelley Weber Amy Young

Xiaoyu Zheng

Welcome NEW MEMBERS

October – December 2018

Upcoming Events

MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR MEMBERSHIP!

Save an additional 20% off all other Cleveland Orchestra classical concerts with

your Circle membership (USE PROMO CODE 33407)

If you can’t attend one of our concert events, you can trade your tickets and

attend another concert of your choosing

MARK YOUR CALENDAR Future Event Dates:

JANUARY

Friday, January 18 Strauss & Mozart – Severance Hall

FEBRUARY

Friday, February 22 Beethoven “Pastoral” – Severance Hall

MARCH

Program TBD

APRIL Thursday, April 18

Mindful Music Moments

MAY Friday, May 31

5-Year Anniversary Celebration An American in Paris – Severance Hall

Last Quarter’s Events

GET TO KNOW

THE CIRCLE’S MEMBERSHIP

CO-CHAIRS

Clint Samuel Financial Consultant,

Charles Schwab

Abigail Jasper Architect,

Hiti, DiFrancesco & Siebold, Inc.

OCTOBER RIMSKY-KORSAKOV’S

SCHEHERAZADE

(LEFT) Circle Members enjoy the performance in Severance Hall. Our event was followed by an afterparty featuring

the Cleveland Bluegrass Orchestra in Smith

Lobby.

NOVEMBER COPLAND’S APPALACHIAN

SPRING

(RIGHT) Guest artist, Leila Josefowicz joined Ilya Gidalevich for a Q&A

during our networking event.

DECEMBER ANNUAL HOLIDAY PARTY - 78th STREET STUDIOS

(ABOVE) The holiday party was enjoyed at 78th Street Studios

in Gordon Square where we had the privilege of meeting building owner, Dan Bush and Hedge Studio’s Hilary Gent. We

explored open studios, enjoyed food, beverage and a raffle.

Member Spotlight

SARA ELAQAD Executive Director, Minds Matter Cleveland

Social Media Chair, The Circle Board sara@mindsmattercleveland.org

INTERVIEW BY EVAN SCHRADER, MARKETING CHAIR

When the board decided to create a Member Spotlight article in our newsletter, the search for the subject took no time at all: the first assignment had to feature Sara (pronounced sarr-uh not sair-ruh) Elaqad. Fleeing the Bosnian war with her family at the age of six and becoming a refugee in the United States at age seven, she has bounced from city to city; but since her time attending law school at Case Western, she now calls Cleveland her home. Sara graduated with a dual degree in International Relations and French (with a minor in Arabic) from Ohio State before heading to Cleveland. She is currently the Executive Director of nonprofit Minds Matter Cleveland which offers highly motivated, low-income students the opportunity to obtain higher education at some of the most competitive and prestigious schools in the world. I first met Sara at our annual gala in 2016 where she captured my attention as a smart, vibrant, up-and-coming professional in Cleveland. Little did I know she wasn’t “up-and-coming;” she had already arrived. How did you become involved with Minds Matter? I learned about Minds Matter from a high school student I met in my previous work. He was ranked first in his class at his high school, but he came from a family with very little resources and neither of his parents had gone to college, so he initially didn't think his college and career prospects were very promising. Through Minds Matter, he had two young professional mentors who worked with him on a weekly basis helping him become college-ready. He got to attend residential summer programs at top universities during high school so he could experience a rigorous college environment. I've always seen access to educational opportunity as the gatekeeper for kids to reach their potential, and seeing the direct impact Minds Matter had on students who very much need additional support to help them meet their potential made me want to get involved. How can others participate and support Minds Matter? We have volunteer opportunities for mentoring (I loved being a mentor to Richelle, who is now studying architecture at Miami University), tutoring, or on our leadership team. In addition to the student-facing programming, we rely on volunteers to help with things like community outreach, event planning, and developing curriculum. Of course, we always accept financial donations, as we rely on the community in order to make our programs possible. Tell us about your experience with the Circle. I became a member in July 2016, and joined the board a little over a year ago. We're so fortunate to live in a city with a world-class orchestra and we have so many opportunities to enjoy it through the Circle. I like that the Circle gives us an opportunity to do something fun outside of the usual bar scene. I love classical music but have no musical talent myself, so watching the Orchestra perform feels like watching magic. It's a beautiful thing. I'm also a big fan of the little extras we get to experience, like yoga in Severance Hall and behind-the-scenes tours and interviews. How can Circle members contribute to a successful social media platform? Like and follow our social media accounts! And then like and share our posts, so they get more exposure. Always feel free to send me great event photos or articles related to our orchestra.

If you would like to nominate a Circle member for “Member Spotlight” please email thecircle@clevelandorchestra.com

Cleveland Orchestra Spotlight

ILYA GIDALEVICH Artistic Administrator, The Cleveland Orchestra

INTERVIEW BY KRISTINA MOORE, ORCHESTRA RELATIONS CHAIR

What is a typical day at the Orchestra for you? It’s chaotic. Although the framework remains the same, every day is different, as there are always different programs, collaborators and repertoire to explore. For example, right now I’m working on the Blossom 2019 Season, so I’m talking to guest conductors about what kind of repertoire they want to be doing, and which soloists they are interested in having perform with them. At the same time, I’m making sure that everything leading up to the performance tonight is in place. Right now, we are starting the 2018 holiday concert series of 11 performances, so we have a guest conductor, two guest soloists and a very special guest (Santa Claus) who will all be on stage tonight. So we’re making sure that every step of the process, from the inception to the execution of the program, is in place.

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Can you describe your role for us? I’m the Artistic Administrator and I work for the Artistic Department, which is made up of three people. Any time you see the Orchestra play, any time that you see someone conduct the Orchestra, and any time you see someone perform in front of the Orchestra as a guest soloist, that is our purview. We work with our music director Franz Welser-Möst, and all of the guest conductors and guest soloists to put together the programs that the Orchestra ends up playing. So, whether it’s here at Severance Hall, in Miami, on tour, or at Blossom Music Center, or out in the community, we have some hand in shaping what that concert looks like.

“I tell this story all the time, that when I came

to Cleveland for the first time, it was to interview

for the Orchestra. My cab driver started asking me questions

about where I’m from, and what I’m doing here, and I told him I might be

moving here from New York. He asked if I had

lost a bet, but I told him, well I’m interviewing for

the Orchestra and his response was “oh the

Orchestra, I love the Orchestra, it’s great and it

means so much!” The mere idea that a cab driver

in Cleveland knows and understands what this

institution means to this city, both here and

abroad, is phenomenal. I think why we are so

successful and have thrived here for now, 101 seasons,

as a cultural institution, is that we have such a devoted base in the

community, and The Circle is a reflection of that

commitment.”

How long have you been in this role? I’ve been here for almost exactly three years. I’m not from Cleveland, as I moved here from New York City, where I worked in arts management. It’s a common leap from artists management to artistic administrator, as much of the background knowledge is the same. In my previous role, I would call my predecessor here and pitch artists, and now I’m fielding those same calls. So, in this role I’m essentially just on the other side of the same process.

What are you favorite things to do in Cleveland? Well, my job is almost 24/7, as we work a lot of nights and weekends, so I don’t have a whole lot of time to do much of anything. But when I am doing something, I’m probably eating. I love to explore the restaurant scene. I also love the museums here. Between that and going to all the Orchestra concerts, my time is filled.

How do you like Cleveland? I love it! I’m originally from Atlanta, which is also a smaller city, and so I find a lot of similarities. Cleveland has everything to offer that I would want in a big city. It may be in only one or two iterations, but always at a very high level of quality.

How do you see The Circle growing the Orchestra’s long-term audience base? Well, I think there’s an important element of just being exposed to this art form, and understanding that it is worthwhile, so I think there’s a natural transition from membership in the Circle to long-term audience members. What I find very fulfilling about the Circle’s mandate is that we don’t actually change what happens on stage; you all come because you want to be here to experience the music. We have changed how we approach the younger audiences, and things that happen around the concert have changed, but the concerts themselves are still that core experience.

CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA SPOTLIGHT: ILYA GIDALEVICH (CONT.)

the coda from The Circle’s Board President

Happy New Year! I’m thrilled that we are beginning the new year with this newsletter to highlight The Cleveland Orchestra, upcoming events, and our members. Thank you for taking the time to read it and I hope you have found it interesting and useful. Of particular interest to me is the Member Spotlight where we will get to know more about our members and the wide array of careers and interests that are represented. Many thanks to Evan Schrader for creating ‘Encore’ and to all who contributed. 2019 will be a milestone year for The Circle as we are celebrating our 5-year anniversary. The growth of this group has been remarkable and, I believe, reflects the interest in the arts that has been a hallmark of Cleveland for generations. There will be more to come on the history of The Circle and we’ll have our anniversary party on May 31st. Over the course of this year it is my hope that our enthusiasm for The Cleveland Orchestra will grow and we find new ways to support this historic institution. The new year for The Circle will kick off with back to back months of concerts. In January we will hear The Orchestra perform Strauss and Mozart. February will provide a unique opportunity to network with some donors and trustees of the Cleveland Orchestra at the reception before the performance of Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony. This might be the perfect event for you to invite a coworker. Keep an eye to our social media pages and your email for more details. Thank you for your membership in The Circle. I look forward to seeing you at an upcoming event! Cheers,

Bryan Scafidi

PAUL BODNAR, Programming Co SARA ELAQAD, Social Media

MARGIE GLICK, Programming Co ABIGAIL JASPER, Membership Co

2019 Circle Executive Board

KRISTINA MOORE, Orchestra Relations YVONNE NATH, Secretary

CLINTON SAMUEL, Membership Co EVAN SCHRADER, Marketing

BRYAN SCAFIDI, President ANDREW SINGER, Vice President