Trouble in Paradise?:
Musical Interactions and Detroit’s Orchestra Hall
M IC HAEL MAUSKA PF
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Thunderous applause, which lasted fully five minutes, greeted Ossip Gabrilowitsch when he
appeared as director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra at its first concert of the season in the new
Orchestra Hall Thursday evening. ... From the topmost point of the gallery to orchestra row the
applause echoed and reechoed through the auditorium. Then, turning from bowing his
acknowledgement to the audience, Mr. Gabrilowitsch led his men in playing the national
anthem while the brilliant throng remained standing. Thus was Orchestra Hall.
—Detroit Free Press, October 24, 19191
Introduction
Throughout American history, the notion of city—a defined physical space with a densely
packed population of workers, families, and tourists—has most often been connected to
manufacturing and technological developments. This reading is especially apt for Detroit, an
urban center integrally connected to the global auto industry, at least until recently. Cities,
however, might also be discussed as complex social structures or cultural entities that thrive on
collaboration. Indeed, cities serve as the collective embodiment of not only a people, but also
their culture, thus consuming a community’s interactions and ideas.
Strangely, the history of Detroit is one of division rather than collaboration. When speaking
and writing about the city, citizens and scholars alike seem to highlight opposing dichotomies:
The present version of this article has benefited from the thoughtful guidance of Mark Clague, the personal insight of
Paul Ganson and Lars Bjorn, and the assistance of the staff at the Detroit Public Library and the Bentley Historical
Library at the University of Michigan. I would also like to thank the other members of the “Music in Detroit” seminar
held at the University of Michigan in the Fall of 2008, where the ideas presented in this article were first tested. Lastly, I
would like to thank this journal’s anonymous reviewers for their helpful and detailed comments.
1.1 Tarsney, “Concert Opens Music Temple,” Detroit Free Press, October 24, 1919.
voiceXchange Vol. 3, No. 1 (Spring 2009): 38–58.
http://voicexchange.uchicago.edu
Mauskapf, Trouble in Paradise? | 39
neighborhoods, race, class, and, inevitably, the city’s own rise and fall.2 When discussing music,
however, it is often the case that a single development—the birth of Motown—is aligned with
Detroit’s cultural identity. To be sure, the third quarter of the twentieth century was marked by
the tremendous success, growth, and musical output of Berry Gordy’s record company, aided in
part by its home-grown, profit-driven mentality. Yet a number of vibrant musical traditions in
and around Detroit thrived throughout the twentieth century, bringing into question the
singular importance placed upon Motown.
The many music genres associated with Motown—R&B, soul, rock, and jazz—existed
simultaneously with a European-based art music tradition. That these musics have historically
been studied independently is no surprise, given their supposedly distinctive aesthetics,
audiences, performing forces, artistic aims, and economic goals. But with this oversimplification
comes the risk of ignoring or isolating certain musical traditions, and unnecessarily (or
inaccurately) segregating the practice and reception of popular and classical music in Detroit.
Indeed, Detroit’s reputation as a city divided has in part inspired this paper, which seeks to
question the conventional cultural divisions that characterize the city’s twentieth-century
identity.3 Beneath this imbedded tradition of segregation are a series of unexpected interactions,
resulting in an ongoing dialogue between cultural scenes that make Detroit’s story one filled
with nuance and intrigue. This article will question the notion of division and segregation in
twentieth-century Detroit, expanding it to the cultural sector, and exploring if and how different
musical traditions interacted and influenced one another. By focusing on the physical and
theorized spaces that fostered these interactions—performance venues and institutions—the
relationships between and among multiple arts scenes, including the seemingly self-marginalized
classical music community, paint an urban soundscape more sophisticated and intertwined than
previously thought.
The theorization of “place” as an integral determinant and representation of cultural
practices is essential to this narrative. Focusing on how physical space and the discourses
surrounding it have fostered different musical traditions within the city highlights the
omnipresence of this interaction. Through generations of experience, patrons and passersby of
particular performance venues undergo a process of enculturation defined by tacit “transactions”
between place and person.4 When viewed as a shared experience, “place” quickly becomes a
valuable construct imbibed with meaning that can tell us a great deal about a community. As the
architect David Canter points out, “the social and cultural processes at work in individual
2.2See, for example, Farley, Danziger, and Holzer, Detroit Divided.
3.3 Although twentieth-century Detroit culture includes significant contributions from a number of ethnic groups,
including large Mexican-American and Arab-American communities, this article focuses on the perceived opposition
between the city’s African-American and European-based art music scenes. In so doing, I explore the division and
interaction between black and white culture more deeply, modeling my argument on previously published studies of
Detroit (see Farley et al., Detroit Divided and Bjorn, Before Motown: A History of Jazz in Detroit, 1920–1960) while
recognizing that further research must be done on cultural traditions that do not fit neatly into this polarized discourse.
4.4Moore, “Toward a Framework of Place.”
40 | voiceXchange
environmental experience … is often ignored, but is critical in constructions of identity.”5 This is
certainly true of collective identities, as well, and understanding how musical communities are
shaped, formed, and even erased through built space can inform musicological research on any
era or tradition.
This article focuses on Detroit’s Orchestra Hall as a case study to explore the issues outlined
above. Built at the behest of one man—conductor Ossip Gabrilowitsch—and designed by famed
Detroit architect C. Howard Crane, Orchestra Hall played a formative role in defining the city’s
musical identity, and has helped foster cross-cultural and cross-racial borrowing that is often
ignored in discussions of Detroit culture. While the hall is most obviously associated with the
orchestra for which it was named, it has not always been occupied by the Detroit Symphony
Orchestra. In the late 1930s, the building was sold and re-branded as the Paradise Theatre, one
of the premiere Midwestern jazz venues of its time. In fact, since the year of its construction
(1919), Orchestra Hall has served as home to the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, a multi-purpose
recording studio, a jazz and dance hall, a center for live vaudeville acts, a movie house, an
abandoned building slated for demolition, and even a catalyst for urban renewal and midtown
revitalization.6
Indeed, the history of Orchestra Hall seems to resonate with much of Detroit’s history, one
filled with stories of failure and renewal, disappointment and unexpected triumph. Yet the
interactions between the musicians and ensembles of these seemingly disparate music scenes, and
the venues that housed them, have historically been tempered by segregation and a mutual
disinterest in, or even a disdain of, each other’s activities. One needs only to look as far as the
Detroit race riots of 1943 and 1967 to see the effects of these complex race and power
relationships. According to Paul Ganson, former bassoonist of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra
(1969–2004) and founder of Save Orchestra Hall, Inc., the tensions enacted by racial and class
divisions were as prevalent in the cultural sector as they were in the political and industrial
realms.7 For nearly a century, many have viewed institutions such as Orchestra Hall as
fundamentally elite, catering to an upper class white clientele. This sense of racial and class-based
separation has been manifested geographically, as well. Until about 1950, Detroit’s population
was relatively segregated, with housing discrimination and racial politics dividing the city into
east (black) and west (white). Interestingly, Orchestra Hall sits on the west side of Woodward
Avenue, the physical and symbolic divide between these two cultures in the first half of the
twentieth century. The notion of individuals with similar socioeconomic backgrounds
assimilating into distinct neighborhoods is not new, but the perpetual tension created by this
5.5As quoted in ibid, 6–7.
6.6 For more information regarding the history of Detroit’s Orchestra Hall, see Stages: 75 years with the Detroit Symphony
Orchestra and Orchestra Hall.
7.7Based on interviews with Paul Ganson, conducted on October 21 and November 11, 2008. Mr. Ganson also has a
forthcoming book on the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (Wayne State University Press).
Mauskapf, Trouble in Paradise? | 41
phenomenon is especially palpable in Detroit.8 I hope that this study will help relieve this
tension, and offer exceptions that offer some insights as to how to successfully negotiate
artistic coexistence and fruitful collaboration.
Although it seems popular culture and tales of urban decay have obscured Detroit’s classical
music history, I would argue that the interaction between these traditions has enhanced the
city’s classical music institutions, from the Sphinx Organization, which encourages the
participation of young black and Latino musicians, to the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. This
assertion leads to a host of questions, including: what role has classical music making played in
the formation of Detroit’s musical identity; who were the musicians, administrators, policy
makers, or presenters that transcended the worlds of popular and classical music-making, acting
in the face of society-sponsored segregation to encourage cultural transparency and integration;
what venues allowed for this cross-pollination, whether simultaneously or over time; and what
effect, if any, did the integration, blending, or stark separation of these cultures have on Detroit’s
musical achievements and development? In attempting to answer these questions, the story of
the city’s musical diversity and perseverance comes to the fore, telling an alternative history that
is as improbable as it is hopeful.
Detroit Gets its Hall
From its very conception, Detroit’s Orchestra Hall has stood as a monument of cultural vitality,
architectural mastery, civic service, and perhaps even divine intervention. When Russian maestro
Ossip Gabrilowitsch was brought on as Music Director to the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in
the fall of 1918, he agreed to the terms of his contract only with the condition that a satisfactory
performance hall be built for the orchestra. Since the original incarnation of the Detroit
Symphony Society in 1887, the ensemble had performed at the original Detroit Opera House
(1887–1897), the Auditorium (a preexistent theater on Larned Street), the Guard Armory, and
the Wayne Casino, calling no venue “home” for more than ten years.9 Initial plans were made in
early 1919 to buy a plot of land approximately nine blocks to the north of Orchestra Hall’s
current location, where the Detroit Institute of the Arts (DIA) now stands, with the intention of
creating a cultural center in midtown Detroit.10 When the deal fell through due to lack of
planning and timely construction progress, the Hall’s current location (3711 Woodward
Avenue) was selected as the next suitable choice. It is no surprise, then, that when the Detroit
News featured a front-page article regarding the Detroit Symphonic Society’s purchase of the
Old Westminster Church, there was considerable excitement.11
8.8 For more on the theory of special assimilation see Charles, “The Dynamics of Racial Residential Segregation.”
9.9 Although the orchestra did not incorporate until May 4, 1914, they performed regular concerts at the Detroit Opera
House for ten years before it burnt down in 1897. The Auditorium refers to an already existing theater building on
Larned Street, located between Bates and Randolph (Mattson, “A History of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra”).
10.10 Hill and Gallagher, AI A Detroit: The American Institute of Architects Guide to Detroit Architecture, 152.
11.11 “Plan $300,000 Concert Hall,” Detroit News, April 22, 1919.
42 | voiceXchange
The old church sat on a plot of land known as Piety Hill, which split the wealthy white
neighborhoods of West Detroit from what would soon be known as Paradise Valley, a hub of
African-American culture and entertainment that stretched from the Detroit River north to East
Warren.12 With the church slated for demolition, the Symphonic Society appointed a Building
Committee to oversee the design and construction of what would become Orchestra Hall. The
committee featured giants of Detroit culture and industry—including businessmen William H.
Murphy, Paul R. Gray, and architect Albert Kahn—and chose the young architect C. Howard
Crane and the local construction firm of Walbridge & Aldinger to execute the project.13
According to some commentators, “with an auditorium giving the director [Gabrilowitsch]
greater convenience for rehearsals and concerts, the most noteworthy musical season Detroit has
ever experienced is promised.”14 Only one thing was stopping Gabrilowitsch’s request from
becoming a reality—capital.
Luckily for those involved, 1919 and the decade that followed represented the golden age of
industry and prosperity in Detroit, due in large part to the thriving auto industry and the scores
of families it employed. Within days of a public plea for donations, $300,000 had been gathered,
and by month’s end, the total bill of $800,000 had been secured, thanks to the collective
philanthropy of William H. Murphy, Jerome K. Remick, and Horace Dodge.15 Just as critically,
the financing of the hall was arranged through the creation of a separate but related
organizational entity, the Orchestra Hall Association. While the Hall was built with the
expressed purpose of housing the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, it was owned and operated by a
distinct governing body. Thus Orchestra Hall’s fate would remain relatively independent of the
Detroit Symphony Orchestra, a revelation that carries important implications when one
considers the events that would transpire in the coming decades.16
Yet the return on Detroit’s investment was immediate. Using the old church’s foundation
and general floor plan to accelerate construction, crews began work on June 6, 1919, and by late
October, the project was finished—just in time for the orchestra’s first subscription concert of
the season. The 4 months and 23 days it took to complete the Hall is a testament to the aroundthe-clock work that went into its production.17 In a 1919 letter to his friend and countryman
12.12 There were several black neighborhoods east of Woodward Avenue, thus blurring the boundaries between them
and their musical institutions and audiences. Paradise Valley alone boasted eighteen music clubs in the 1930s (Bjorn,
Before Motown: A History of Jazz in Detroit, 1920–1960).
13.13Crane would later become a famed designer of theatres, both in Detroit (the Capitol, United Way, and Fox
Theatres, as well as the Film Exchange Building) and across the country.
14.14“Home Assured For Orchestra.” Detroit Free Press, April 23, 1919, 5.
15.15Mattson, “A History of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra,” 13.
16.16In the years that followed the construction of Orchestra Hall, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra folded twice (in
1942 and 1949, respectively), while the Hall struggled throughout the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. That the two organizations
could coexist yet independently prosper or fail allowed for a certain latitude in the way Orchestra Hall operated as a
presenter.
17.17Stages: 75 years with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Orchestra Hall shows photographs of the floodlights that
were used to allow for construction both day and night.
Mauskapf, Trouble in Paradise? | 43
Sergei Rachmaninoff, Gabrilowitsch beamed with pride, praising his newly adopted city while
rhetorically asking if Rachmaninoff’s Boston could “do the same [build a hall in so short a
time].”18 Despite the quick execution of the Hall’s construction, it was universally praised for its
aesthetic beauty and functionality. Built overtop the existing foundation, the building provided
auditorium and box seating for 2,252 people, featured an elegantly ornamented 65-foot high
ceiling, and became an emblem for both neoclassical simplicity and art deco extravagance.19
Acoustically, the cavernous auditorium was compared to the most desirable performance locales
from around the world, including Carnegie Hall. In fact, it was this acoustical excellence that
helped turn the tide in the 1970s fight to save Orchestra Hall.20
Although the Hall’s scheduled opening was delayed nearly three weeks due to construction,
all of Detroit was abuzz with excitement as the orchestra prepared to open its season on
October 23, 1919.21 One of the city’s largest sellers of phonographs, the Brushaber Company,
took out a quarter-page ad to celebrate the Hall’s opening. The owner of the store boasted that,
though “the Fourth City has long been famous for its industrial achievements, ... the Detroit
Symphony Orchestra will bring to Detroit added fame as a center of musical culture and
refinement.”22 As evening approached on the twenty-third, workmen were still putting the
finishing touches on the Hall’s interior. The concert—scheduled for 8:30 pm and featuring
Webern’s Oberon Overture, Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, Mozart’s Concerto in Eb for Two
Pianos and Orchestra, and Bach’s Concerto in C Major for Three Pianos and Orchestra—began
on time, however, and received rave reviews in the following day’s newspapers. The orchestra
itself, now ninety men strong, was “expected to rate second to none,”23 and the Hall was
described as “ a beautiful temple devoted to music [… and] done in ivory, with delicate tracings
of gold and silver.”24 To be sure, “the auditorium, in point of appearance as well as in point of
accommodations, exceeded all sanguine expectations.”25
Orchestra and Hall Diverge
For the twenty years that followed, both Orchestra Hall and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra
enjoyed artistic success and relative financial stability, enticing the likes of Georges Enesco, Igor
Stravinsky, Rachmaninoff, Richard Strauss, Marian Anderson, Bruno Walter, George Gershwin,
Jascha Heifetz, and Enrico Caruso to come and perform as proponents (or beneficiaries) of
18.18Ibid, 5.
19.19Hill and Gallagher, AIA Detroit.
20.20 This insight was gleaned from a conversation with Paul Ganson, October 21, 2008. For more on this issue, see
Wilkerson, “Detroit Symphony Reclaims ‘Acoustical Marvel’ as its Home,” New York Times, March 2, 1987.
21.21“Plan $300,000 Concert Hall,” Detroit News, April 22, 1919.
22.22 “Tonight Marks a New Era in the Musical History of Detroit,” Detroit Free Press, October 23, 1919.
23.23Tarsney, “Concert Opens Music Temple.”
24.24Ibid. Tarsney goes on to list the “high society” (and presumably white) patrons of the Orchestra, as well as their
respective box numbers (i.e. box seats) in the Hall.
25.25 Cline, “Music Season Opens to 2,000,” Detroit News, October 24, 1919.
44 | voiceXchange
Detroit’s premiere cultural enterprise. Even during the Depression, Orchestra Hall remained
profitable, due primarily to a broadcasting contract with the automobile giant Ford Motor
Company and the continued philanthropy of its patrons.26 Just as critically, the orchestra became
one of the first American ensembles to dedicate resources towards educational programming for
inner-city residents, especially children. In fact, the DSO was the first organization of its kind to
hire a full-time Education Director (1923), Edith Rhetts, who helped bring classical music to
predominately young, African-American audiences.27 Indeed, “the educational work to which the
Detroit Symphony Society whole-heartedly turned its attention and resources [was] entirely
without precedent.”28 Orchestra Hall might be seen not as a passive vessel for these
developments, but as a multi-purpose space that facilitated educational programs and attracted
children from all over Detroit via its impressive reputation. But times were about to change.
Gabrilowitsch’s death from terminal cancer on September 14, 1936 signaled the end of an age,
for both the orchestra and its hall.29 In 1939, the orchestra chose not to renew its contract with
the Orchestra Hall Association, opting for a more spacious Masonic Temple, which held nearly
twice as many patrons. From the management’s perspective, this seemed like a logical choice,
though the artistic implications of such a move were yet to be revealed.30
The Association itself kept operating, but, without its primary tenant, began looking for
interested buyers. In 1941, the Elliot Cohen family bought Orchestra Hall, with the intention of
transforming the space into a major venue for motion pictures. The two brothers in charge of the
project, however (Lou and Ben), soon found that live entertainment was a necessary part of the
artistic and financial magic that made Orchestra Hall an international destination. With this in
mind, they converted the space into a premier showcase for live jazz acts, allowing for large
capacity crowds by presenting top talent and attracting new, diverse audiences. For the next ten
years, Orchestra Hall would be rebranded as the Paradise Theatre, the flagship venue for live
jazz in Detroit. Within a decade, it had helped to launch the careers of up-and-coming Detroit
artists like Jackie Wilson, Hank Ballard, and Little Willie John, and became a regular tour stop
for some of the greatest artists of the twentieth century, including Sarah Vaughan, Charlie
26.26 When this series began in the 1920s, the orchestra was billed as the Ford Symphony Orchestra (Mattson, “A
History of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra,” 18). Ossip Gabrilowitsch must be included as a patron to both Orchestra
Hall and the DSO, as well—in 1933, in order to help the Orchestra stay afloat, Gabrilowitsch took no pay for his work
(Wise, “City to Mourn Ossip Gabrilowitsch at Public Funeral on Wednesday,” Detroit Free Press, September 15, 1936,
4).
27.27Other organizations, including the Chicago and Boston Symphony Orchestras, had educational components in
their programming as early as the 1890s, but neither group hired a full-time Educational Director until the 1930s.
28.28Edith Rhetts, “Detroit Symphony History,” Christian Science Monitor, Michigan Supplement, May 14, 1926.
29.29See Wise, “City to Mourn Ossip Gabrilowitsch,” 4, which catalogues a full-page tribute the day after
Gabrilowitsch’s death.
30.30In the early part of the twentieth century, most built spaces were constructed with the tacit understanding that their
life expectancy would run out after 15 or so years. The orchestra’s move, then, might not have been all that surprising.
Mauskapf, Trouble in Paradise? | 45
Parker, Cab Calloway, Count Basie, and Louis Armstrong, who performed at the Paradise’s
grand opening on December 26, 1941.31
The Paradise Theatre: 1941–1951
The Paradise Theatre took its name from the downtown eastern Detroit neighborhood known
as Paradise Valley, which was located southeast of the theatre and was home to a thriving jazz
scene and African-American community.32 The complex influence of and interaction between the
racially segregated communities that surrounded Paradise Theatre were manifested in the venue’s
newly diverse audience, programming choices, marketing techniques, and affordable ticket
prices—in 1943, ranging from 18 to 50 cents.33 Most of the acts that Paradise Theatre presented
were traditional big bands or jazz orchestras, as opposed to the more forward-looking bop and
hard bop performances at the Blue Bird and other venues suited for smaller performing forces
and more avant-garde audiences. At the Paradise, black and white patrons intermingled freely,
forgetting, at least in the physical sense, the segregation that otherwise defined their lives.34
Indeed, the theatre featured an “aggregation of artists” and audiences, and bands that often
utilized an “all-colored revue.”35 The Paradise was not alone in offering entertainment to a
multi-racial clientele, however. Contemporary newspaper reports attest to other venues with
mixed audiences, such as the Frolic Show Bar and the Flame Show Bar—both of which tended
to draw a small but select group of white patrons.36 The Paradise Theatre functioned in much
the same way. Unlike in Orchestra Hall, however, white concertgoers who frequented the
Paradise were in the minority. Nevertheless, the connection between the Paradise and Orchestra
Hall was not a point of contention among new and old audiences; instead, it brought them
31.31 Though some sources falsely claim Duke Ellington as the headliner for the Paradise’s Grand Opening on Christmas
Eve 1941, Paul Ganson and newspaper reviews have confirmed that Louis Armstrong was indeed the main act. Most
sources also attribute the opening date as December 24 (Christmas Eve), but an announcement in Detroit’s AfricanAmerican newspaper, The Michigan Chronicle, confirms that the actual date was indeed December 26, 1941. Part of this
confusion could be that there was to be a “gala midnight performance on New Year’s Eve” of that same year (“Book
Name Bands for New Theatre,” Michigan Chronicle, December 1941). According to a New York paper, “the new
Paradise Theatre, formerly Orchestra Hall, now operated by Ben and Lou Cohen, circuit operators, opened December
26 with Louis Armstrong’s Orchestra,” as opposed to the oft-stated Christmas Eve opening, “in a program designed to
attract colored patronage” (“Detroit Gets Legit House,” New York Amsterdam-Star News, January 10, 1942, 16).
Regardless of these local and national accounts, there is a remarkable lack of local coverage concerning the Paradise
Theatre’s opening, with no articles in the city’s foremost papers—The Detroit Free Press and Detroit News.
32.32It is also possible that the Cohen brothers lifted the name from Chicago’s Paradise Theatre, a movie house that
operated from 1928 to 1956 on the city’s west side (this is the same Paradise Theatre that serves as the namesake for the
multi-platinum Styx album).
33.33 These trends will be dealt with in greater detail later on in the paper, and are chronicled in the Orchestra Hall Use
and Use-Revenue Study Committee, A study relating to the projected use of Detroit’s Orchestra Hall.
34.34Although Detroit’s most infamous race riot did not occur until 1967, the first occurred while the Paradise was still
in operation (1943).
35.35“Book Name Bands for New Theatre,” Michigan Chronicle, December 1941.
36.36Larry Chism, untitled article in The Michigan Chronicle, December 21, 1946.
46 | voiceXchange
together. Throughout the ten years that the Paradise was open for business (1941–1951), inhouse publicity billed the venue as “Paradise Theatre (formerly Orchestra Hall).”37 By branding
the venue as both new and familiar, marketers tried to appease the fears and question the
assumptions that audience members might have had regarding Orchestra Hall/Paradise Theatre
as a segregated space.38 More specifically, it suggests new cross-cultural interactions that had
previously been stifled, making Paradise Theatre an important center for artistic creation and
consumption across communities.
Detroit Symphony Orchestra: 1939–1970
Reviewing where the Detroit Symphony Orchestra performed and how it survived (or was
reborn) during it’s lengthy tenure away from Orchestra Hall sheds some light on their eventual
reunion, and thus deserves some attention here. While Paradise Theatre in the 1940s
represented the tail end of a jazz Golden Age, the orchestra faced continuous upheaval and
financial constraints. When the orchestra left Woodward Avenue in 1939, it had already
defaulted on several loans, and in 1942 the Ford Motor Company pulled its broadcast series
sponsorship.39 The orchestra’s new home—the Masonic Temple—was nearly twice as large as
Orchestra Hall, thus convincing the orchestra’s management that more seats would lead to
greater revenue. They did not, however, anticipate the increased overhead costs associated with
the new venue, which more than offset any gains in ticket sales. As a reaction to these budgetary
concerns and the stuttering economy, management requested that members of the ensemble
accept a new contract calling for a 14-week season (the national average at the time was 26
weeks); the musicians refused, choosing instead to liquidate the Detroit Symphony Society.40
Within the year, however, a powerful and wealthy German immigrant by the name of Henry
Reichhold took the reigns of the organization, co-founding and serving as president of The
Detroit Orchestra, Inc. (1943), a newly formed nonprofit that continues to serve as the official
backbone of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
37.37 This branding technique is mentioned in Stages: 75 years with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Orchestra Hall,
and examples of posters and fliers can be viewed in the Frank and Peggy Bach Collection, Box 1, Strata Associates/Allied
Artists Folder, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan. Ticket price data is mentioned in “Deep River Boys
Open at Paradise Theater,” The Pittsburgh Courier, January 10, 1943, 21.
38.38Paul Ganson suggests that, while the listing of “Orchestra Hall” on promotional material may have assuaged the
unfounded paranoia of white audiences, it also represented the pride and adulation black audiences held for Orchestra
Hall. Even though the black community was marginalized from the symphony concert experience in the 1920s and 30s,
it viewed the hall as “a touch of class.” The issue of race relations as they pertain to the physical space of Orchestra
Hall/Paradise Theatre is critical to understanding this story, and will be expanded upon below.
39.39The Orchestra averted a 1940 crisis by enlisting Edgar A. Guest and The Friends of Detroit to raise $100,000
through a series of $1 donations from members of the community (Mattson, “A History of the Detroit Symphony
Orchestra”).
40.40Throughout 1942, even though they had officially folded, the Orchestra continued to present a series of twenty one
radio broadcasts under the direction of former Music Director Victor Kolar and sponsorship of Sam’s Cut-Rate, Inc., a
department store (Ibid).
Mauskapf, Trouble in Paradise? | 47
Reichhold emigrated from Germany in 1924, and soon found work in the Paint Department
of the Ford Motor Company. By 1927, he had formed his own company, Reichhold Chemicals,
which still produces and distributes chemical products today.41 Reichhold’s success in the forprofit sector made his new position as President of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra all the more
attractive and convincing for those within the organization. His corporate philosophy—“that if
one has a good product, a market, and the right management, success would inevitably result”—
translated directly to his work with the DSO. And, while musical conservatives found
Reichhold’s ideas on orchestral finances “indecent as well as dubious,” many were impressed by
his wealth, vision, and charisma.42 The revitalized orchestra was enjoying both financial and
artistic success, achieving a balanced budget while renewing their international broadcasting
presence, holding a “Symphony of the Americas” composition contest, and hiring the
internationally-tested Karl Krueger as Musical Director. In 1945, Reichhold purchased Detroit’s
Wilson Theater (now known as Music Hall) and the budget label Vox Records, for the
expressed purpose of providing the orchestra with a new, rent-free home and a label on which to
record.
Reichhold’s commercially oriented vision for the orchestra, however, led to growing dissent
among musicians and their supporters. It soon became clear that Music Hall was bought only in
part for its artistic merits, which included a reduced and more appropriate seating capacity of
1700, and the possibility for television broadcasts and diverse musical showcases, such as a dance
orchestra made up of symphony musicians and conducted by Jean Goldkette.43 But Reichhold’s
immense wealth and singular control of the orchestra’s assets and interest proved too much.
After a highly publicized firing of long-time cellist Georges Miquelle in early 1949, the Detroit
Free Press reported that “the orchestra is, in all essentials, a one-man concern.”44 Several months
later, the Detroit Athletic Club News fueled the fire, suggesting that
The one-man band parading under the aegis of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra may have
played its last notes. Finally, the dissension, uncertainty, and contradictions produced by the
unconventional methods of operation that have characterized the orchestra for the past
several years have pyramided into a situation that can mean only the end.45
This prophecy turned reality when, in a show of support for Krueger, who had alienated many of
the ensemble’s musicians, Reichhold threatened to fire the entire orchestra. Shortly thereafter,
41.41Today, the company is known simply as Reichhold, Inc., and is “the world’s largest manufacturer of unsaturated
polyester resins for composites and a leading supplier of coating resins for the industrial, transportation, building and
construction, marine, consumer and graphic arts markets.” See www.reichhold.com for more information.
42.42Mattson, “A History of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra,” 34–36.
43.43Ibid.
44.44Detroit Free Press, February 13, 1949, as cited in Ibid.
45.45Detroit Athletic Club News, April 1949, as cited in Ibid, 45.
48 | voiceXchange
both Reichhold and Krueger agreed to resign, and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra was again
silenced for the second time in eight years.
This time, however, the orchestra’s most fervent supporter—John B. Ford, Jr.—had a plan.
While not directly related to Detroit’s famous auto family, Ford’s father founded the successful
Wyandotte Chemical Corporation, and he himself was a founding member of the Bank of
Detroit. Instead of finding a lone patron to all-but-finance the city’s orchestra, Ford enacted
what is now known as the Ford Plan, a financing scheme that has since become a popular model
for nonprofit development officers. As the new President of the Board, Ford took it upon himself
to find not several but hundreds of civic and corporate sponsors, accepting pledges of $1 to
$10,000, but not a penny more.46 In doing so, the orchestra was able to capitalize on its rising
popularity while inviting anyone interested in the orchestra—black, white, rich, or poor—to
contribute to the organization’s success and stability, thus decentralizing both risk and power.
The result was an orchestra intertwined with its community, for better or worse, and in 1951—
the city’s 250th birthday—the orchestra once again began presenting concerts to the Detroit
public.
This did not mean, of course, that cross-cultural (and in particular, cross-racial) interactions
were now commonplace. In general, these interactions were the exception to the rule. Large and
divisive race riots gripped the city in 1943 and 1967, and the orchestra stayed, for all intents and
purposes, an organization for upper-class whites. But with the rise of commercial pop music and
Detroit’s own Motown record label in the 1960s, some members of the orchestra sought out
new economic and artistic opportunities, just as Berry Gordy was looking to expand his
conception of the “Motown Sound.” Gordon Staples, then Associate Concertmaster and later
full Concertmaster of the orchestra, was asked to do a recording session at Motown Studios on
West Grand Boulevard in the early 1960s. Staples soon began contracting the Motown string
section almost entirely from the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. In fact, members of the orchestra
can be heard on records featuring Diana Ross and the Supremes, Gladys Knight and the Pips,
The Temptations, Marvin Gaye, and others, thus financially enabling Staples to purchase a 1694
Stradivarius.47 Not only did Staples’ work in popular music translate into added economic
benefits for him and his colleagues (of which there were eight); it also provided an additional
artistic outlet. When some members of the orchestra questioned Staples’ involvement in
commercialized “negro” music, he defended the work as “not all gutbucket rock’ n’ roll.”48
While insisting “Staples’s contracting and playing for Motown forged a vital link between the
symphony and its African-American neighbors” might be overstating the connection, it seems as
if bridges were being built through music and across cultural divides.49 The resulting musical
46.46The Ford Plan doubtlessly had predecessors, including the funding scheme described in footnote 39.
47.47 Heiles, America's Concertmasters, 228.
48.48Ibid, 228.
49.49Ibid, 229.
Mauskapf, Trouble in Paradise? | 49
product—countless Motown recordings that feature Staples and numerous other DSO
musicians—is certainly notable for its resourcefulness and range of influence.50
Orchestra Hall continued to be a hotbed for musical and cultural interactions as well, even if
as a last resort. After the Paradise Theatre closed in 1951, the venue was bought by the nowdefunct Church of Our Prayer and used for worship, presumably featuring spirituals and other
types of devotional music. As the 1950s progressed, however, the church vacated the Hall,
leaving one of Detroit’s most treasured landmarks silent. The Detroit Symphony Orchestra,
which moved to the newly built Ford Auditorium in 1956, continued to use the now-deserted
hall for recording purposes. Although the aesthetic glory of the Hall had deteriorated, its stilldesired acoustics continued to make for some of the most critically acclaimed recordings ever
produced, including a series of 1950s discs for Mercury Records under Paul Paray.51 But by the
mid-1960s, Orchestra Hall was no longer tenable (the auditorium’s ceiling was on the verge of
collapsing). With wrecking balls ready, Gino Marchetti, a Detroit restraunteur, purchased the
Hall and the lot on which it was built with the intention to level the existing building and build
an Italian restaurant.
Saving Orchestra Hall
Given the fact that no one—not classical, jazz, or pop artists; not local businessmen and women;
not even city officials—had stepped in to save Orchestra Hall by 1970, the series of events that
followed is all the more remarkable. Led by newly appointed DSO bassoonist and Michigan
native Paul Ganson, a small group of musicians approached Marchetti with a proposition: give
them some time to raise the requisite capital, and sell them back Orchestra Hall. To everyone’s
surprise, Marchetti agreed, and the group of musicians (initially Ganson, Mario DiFiore, and
David Ireland) set out to buy back Orchestra Hall. Within two weeks, the group incorporated
themselves as Save Orchestra Hall, Inc., and by 1971, the group had raised enough money
($100,200) and awareness to buy back the Hall and have it added to the National Register of
Historic Places.52
Although several orchestra musicians were closely involved with Save Orchestra Hall, Inc.,
the Orchestra Association itself was conspicuously absent. According to Ganson, a “Detroit
power structure” made up of city leaders had been exerting political and cultural influence since
the 1960s, and made it necessary for Save Orchestra Hall, Inc. to maintain a distinct identity,
50.50Berry Gordy was not the first record producer to call for orchestrated arrangements of popular tunes, but his decision
to include DSO string players as regular contributors to the “Motown sound” was no coincidence, and has not gone
unnoticed (see, for instance, http://michaeldaugherty.net/description.cfm? trackid=109).
51.51Nearly all of these recordings feature the French repertory; the most famous is an October 12, 1957 recording of
Camille Saint-Saëns’s Symphony No. 3 in C minor.
52.52 This included a $30,000 gift from David Elgin Dodge, grandson of Horace Dodge, who had helped fund the Hall’s
construction in 1919 (“Detroit’s Orchestra Hall Gets Gift to Bar Razing,” New York Times, September 24, 1971, 35).
50 | voiceXchange
Figure 1. The dilapidated interior of Orchestra Hall, circa 1975
(http://www.polyphonic.org/spotlight.php?id=15&page=2)
separate from that of the orchestra. The most powerful components of this power structure—
including “Detroit Renaissance,” an organization led by Al Taubman, Henry Ford II, and Max
Fisher, and “New Detroit,” a group dedicated to the inclusion of African Americans in Detroit’s
resurgence—were critical to defining Detroit’s political and cultural identity, and were generally
sympathetic to the revival of Orchestra Hall.53 With the DSO’s strong connection to the Ford
family and, as a result, Ford Auditorium, the orchestra’s management and supporters were for the
most part uninterested in Orchestra Hall as a permanent venue. This is corroborated by two
1973 studies that explore the projected use and restoration of Orchestra Hall.54 One study even
goes as far as to say that “the Detroit and economic needs, Orchestra Hall was to be a flexible
53.53Based on a November 11, 2008 interview with Paul Ganson. The story surrounding Orchestra Hall’s revival is
paralleled by the changing politics of the city, led most notably by Detroit’s first black mayor, Coleman Young.
54.54 Orchestra Hall Use and Use-Revenue Study Committee, A study relating to the projected use of Detroit’s Orchestra
Hall and Smith, Hinchman & Grylls Associates, Inc.; Johnson, Johnson & Roy, Inc., Preservation of Orchestra Hall.
Mauskapf, Trouble in Paradise? | 51
home for arts organizations of all types.55 With this in mind, Save Orchestra Hall, Inc. launched
a $7 million, 14-year campaign to renovate and revive Orchestra Hall.
For over a decade (1976–1988), the Hall operated as a rental facility for organizations like
Allied Artists, The Chamber Music Society of Detroit, and Dance Detroit, all while raising funds
and slowly renovating the space. Though the restoration was partially funded through the
governor’s state budget (a first for a historic structure in Michigan), and the number of people
devoted to the Hall’s future success continued to grow, funds were tight and progress was slow.
By the late 1970s, the major cultural institutions in Detroit had gotten behind the Hall’s
renovation, including the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, however tepidly.56 Between 1977 and
’79, in conjunction with Strata Associates and The Paradise Theatre Renaissance Committee,
Orchestra Hall presented the Paradise Theatre Orchestra, Yusef Lateef, Dizzy Gillespie, and the
DSO, among others. It was indeed “becoming apparent that Detroit’s acoustical showpiece
would] be saved,” and, one might say, fulfilling its prophecy to be a hub for cultural interaction
and amalgamation.57
Orchestra and Hall Converge
By 1986, architects Richard Frank and Quinn/Evans had been hired to complete the remaining
renovation, and though the entire auditorium area could now be used for seating, much of the
detailed restoration work remained. The Hall’s modernized facilities were still far from
complete, and no one was sure as to how a newly renovated Orchestra Hall would best be
utilized, despite the suggestions of several already-mentioned studies. Carl Levin, then President
of Detroit’s City Council (now senator) put some money aside for a final addition to the north
side of the existing structure, but a year later, funds were compromised, and the expansion never
materialized. Just as progress appeared to be grinding to a stand still, a deal was struck between
Orchestra Hall and its original tenant and namesake—the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
Despite the organization’s earlier claim that it would never be interested in reinhabiting the
Hall, new management thought it best to revisit the issue. After it became clear that the group
could not afford the remaining mortgage, Paul Ganson suggested that the orchestra (which he
was still a part of) rent the Hall for a symbolic $1 per year until they were able to buy the space
back. They did just that, and in 1988, with the help of the DSO’s R. Stevens Miller, Jr., and
Frank Stella of Save Orchestra Hall, Inc., the two entities were legally merged into a single
organization—Detroit Symphony Orchestra Hall (DSO H).
Within a year, the Orchestra had moved back to Woodward Avenue on a permanent basis,
performing Mahler’s Third Symphony at the Hall’s official reopening on September 22, 1989.
Still, restoration continued unabated through 1990, with the help of a number of high profile
55.55See Appendix, which features a list of organizations interested in utilizing a rejuvenated Orchestra Hall.
56.56In 1979, the Orchestra ventured back into Orchestra Hall for its sixtieth anniversary, and from 1982–1988, they
performed subscription concerts there most Friday evenings.
57.57“Paradise Regained,” The Medical News, November 8, 1978.
52 | voiceXchange
contributors, including Oscar Graves. Graves, a noted African-American sculptor who had
attended concerts at the Paradise Theatre in the 1940s, headed up the final restoration of the
Hall’s interior plaster moldings and ornaments. In order to replicate the Hall’s original aesthetic
and acoustic properties, “restorers were careful to use the same kind of heavy plaster originally
used on the walls, ceilings and ornamented balconies, even adding the same cellulose
reinforcement. The plaster on the right side of the hall is half an inch thicker than the plaster on
the left, just as it was originally.”58 With the renovation complete, Detroit’s Orchestra Hall was
again one of the premier musical venues in the Midwest, and for good reason. Its acoustics
remained second to none, and the historical preservation of the Hall’s interior and exterior
façade inspired a restoration movement throughout the city, culminating with Detroit’s famed
Fox Theatre.59 Just as importantly, the sense of collective accomplishment that accompanied the
newly restored Orchestra Hall paved the way for a community-wide cultural revival and sparked
extensive redevelopment north of Orchestra Hall, culminating in the development of the
University Cultural Center Association (UCCA).60
But was the renovation really a success? Urban planners and arts administrators alike
envisioned Orchestra Hall as a physical representation of twenty-first-century Detroit: diverse,
economically viable, and culturally interdependent. Instead, the Hall remains a bastion for
segregation and isolation, with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra acting as sole owner and
operator, and its predominately upper class white audience filling the seats. Some might even
argue that these same divisions continue to define the city itself. But others are more hopeful.61
The intertwined histories of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Hall, and countless
other cultural institutions suggest at least some evidence for substantive interaction and dialogue
between and among communities. This is especially true when one considers the last decade of
Detroit’s rich history. Although Save Orchestra Hall, Inc. was disbanded in 1998, a number of
other organizations and individuals have continued to invest in Detroit’s unique cultural
heritage.
For example, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra has, for the last 18 years, sponsored an
African-American Fellowship Program. Subject to successful audition, the Orchestra provides
three-year fellowships to qualified African-American musicians. While this program might be
viewed as a surface approach to an issue that runs much deeper, it at the very least shows an
awareness of and interest in the problem, doing something “to acknowledge, encourage, and
reward diversity”.62 Others have taken a more drastic approach to diversifying classical music.
58.58Ross-Flanigan, “Resounding Succes,” Detroit Free Press, September 21, 1989, 1–2B.
59.59As Paul Ganson points out, the Fox Theatre’s subsequent restoration, while important, was not nearly as involved or
extensive as that of Orchestra Hall.
60.60 As described in “Saving Detroit’s Orchestra Hall,” September 10, 2003
http://www.mlui.org/growthmanagement/fullarticle.asp?fileid=16542 (accessed October 11, 2008).
61.61See Farley et al., Detroit Divided.
62.62 Interview with Paul Ganson (http://www.polyphonic.org/spotlight.php?id=15&page=1).
Mauskapf, Trouble in Paradise? | 53
Aaron Dworkin’s Detroit-based Sphinx Organization brings young, world-class African-American
and Latino musicians together to perform classical music and promote diversity on the stage.63
The issue of diversity spills over into issues of audience development and retention, as well,
acting as the root of “a problem that [has] plagued cultural organizations in Detroit, where
classical musical devotees have always been a small minority of the population.”64 Yet Detroit is
not unique in this respect; classical music continues to be, for the most part, a past time for the
aging, upper class white community. While this paper does not intend to propose a solution to
this problem, if it may be called that, Detroit’s role in trying to find a solution is indeed notable.
The following declaration, although an exaggeration, suggests a significant kinship between the
Detroit Symphony and the African-American jazz orchestras that frequented Paradise Theatre in
the 1940s: “Part symphony, part jazz band, the new Detroit Symphony [has carved] out a
unique niche in the American orchestral landscape,” and continues to help define Detroit’s
colorful musical fabric.65
And it hasn’t stopped there. In 2003, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra Hall Association
completed another round of renovations and additions to Orchestra Hall (this time to the tune
of $220 million), resulting in the Max M. Fischer Music Hall, which includes 135,000 additional
square feet of performance, rehearsal, and administrative space. The renovation was underwritten
by the same Max Fischer who was an original member of “The Detroit Renaissance,” and was
completed at the insistence of his son-in-law and former DSO Board chairman, Peter D.
Cummings. According to Cummings,
the thesis [for the project] was that in many ways the challenges and problems of the Detroit
Symphony were urban challenges, neighborhood challenges…. We’ve gone from being an arts
organization focused inward to a cultural citizen looking outward. We’re creating a hive of
activity here, and the more we have, the more it will beget.66
The new venue features new performance and recording spaces for jazz and chamber music, but
maintains the architectural integrity of the original Hall, going as far as to include a metal
cornice on the new addition to mimic the original building’s details.67
63.63 Please visit www.sphinxmusic.org for more information regarding Dworkin and his work on promoting diversity
through music, or an article entitled “In Pursuit of Diversity in Our Orchestras” (Aaron Dworkin, “In Pursuit of
Diversity in Our Orchestras,” February 8, 2007 http://www.polyphonic.org/article.php?id=102 (accessed December 8,
2008).
64.64Heiles, America’s Concertmasters, 214.
65.65Presumably referring to a 1994 recording that features fully orchestrated jazz numbers, as well as the obvious
symphonic and jazz-related history of Orchestra Hall (Stages: 75 years with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra).
66.66 Kinzer, “Concerto for Orchestra and Hopeful City,” E1.
67.67 This most recent renovation was completed by Diamond, Schmitt, and Co. of Montreal (Hill and Gallagher, AIA
Detroit).
54 | voiceXchange
Perhaps most significantly, this latest iteration of Orchestra Hall continues to foster crosscultural interaction through its programming, marketing initiatives, and collaborations. The
orchestra itself presents a jazz concert series (Bank of America Paradise Jazz Series), which is
chaired by their Jazz Creative Director, Wynton Marsalis. Recently, the DSO H has teamed up
with the Detroit Public Schools and public television to help build the $122.5 million Detroit
High School for the Fine, Performing & Communicative Arts (known popularly as DSA).
Musicians from the Orchestra serve as mentors to DSA students, many of whom are African
American, and participate in Detroit’s eleven Civic Ensembles (a relationship that has existed
since 1970). According to Don Schmitt, managing architect of the Hall’s latest expansion, “what
makes it all work is to value the heritage and history…. We want to honor history, retain it, and
use it as a vehicle to bring new facilities to the [entire] community.”68 This move towards
inclusive community acculturation is mirrored by the success of the University Cultural Center
Association, which acts as an umbrella entity for the over 60 arts and culture organizations that
call the area home. By developing, maintaining, and promoting the area, along with advocating
for tax relief and advantageous legislative initiatives, Midtown Detroit is becoming a remarkable,
if unlikely, cultural destination.69
In July of 2006, Orchestra Hall served as the home to a set of performances to celebrate a
festival titled “Concert of Colors: Metro Detroit’s 14th Annual Diversity Festival.” According to
musicologist Charles Hiroshi Garrett, this iteration of the annual “musical celebration of
diversity and difference” was the first held at a classical music venue.70 Garrett goes on to say
that while “the festival itself may have temporarily dislodged the symphonic tenets of Orchestra
Hall [… the] mix of repertory placed classical and popular pieces on the same ground.”71 While
this analysis is centered around a single artist’s performance, the same collection of diverse
influences and cultures might be linked directly to Orchestra Hall, itself a participant in and
proponent of cross-cultural and multi-genre expression.
Although this history suggests an ever-growing diversity of and collaboration between arts
communities in Detroit, the issues raised herewith continue to spark debate and, at times,
divisive discourse. An 1989 article featured in The New York Times chronicles the Detroit
Symphony Orchestra’s newly implemented affirmative-action policy. Though the new system
aimed to increase the presence of deserving African-American classical musicians in Detroit, as
well as increased state funding, the result was nation-wide anger and confusion, with the most
68.68 “Saving Detroit’s Orchestra Hall.” September 10, 2003
http://www.mlui.org/growthmanagement/fullarticle.asp?fileid=16542 (Accessed May 14, 2009).
69.69 According to UCCA president Sue Mosey, these efforts rely on national preservation tax credits, the Neighborhood
Enterprise Zones initiative (which freezes property taxes at 50% their normal rat for new or improved old properties),
the Obsolete Property Tax Abatement Program (which keeps taxes at pre-restoration levels for up to 12 years), and the
Brownfield Investment Single Business Tax Credit (Crowell, Guy, and Schneider, A civic gift: historic preservation,
community reinvestment, and smart growth in Michigan.
70.70 Garrett, Struggling to Define a Nation, 210.
71.71Ibid, 212.
Mauskapf, Trouble in Paradise? | 55
vocal opposition stemming from the African-American community. James DePriest, a highly
regarded black conductor who had been courted by the DSO, only to reject them in favor of the
Oregon Symphony Orchestra, had this to say: “It’s impossible for me to go to Detroit because of
the atmosphere. People mean well, but you fight for years to make race irrelevant, and now they
are making race an issue.”72 What was intended as a means of cultural and racial diversification
was seen as a politically motivated initiative that attempted to breakdown the colorless barrier of
artistic excellence.73 The issues addressed above, then, are complex and utterly conditional.
Multiculturalism, in its most pure form, is dependent on the assumption that those involved are
willing participants interested in the development and diversification of their art. Twenty-firstcentury Detroit continues to face issues of cultural colonialism, segregation, and even isolation,
but if history may serve as a barometer for the future, there is reason to be hopeful.
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56 | voiceXchange
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58 | voiceXchange
Appendix
A list of organizations interested in using and/or renting Orchestra Hall (from Orchestra Hall
Use and Use-Revenue Study Committee, A study relating to the projected use of Detroit’s Orchestra
Hall (Detroit: The Committee, 1973): 24).
Austin Moro Band
Michigan State University
Cantata Academy
Musical Offering
Christopher Ballet
Oak Park Symphony Orchestra
City of Detroit: Parks and Recreation Department.
Oakland County Community College
Dearborn Symphony Orchestra
Oakland University
Detroit Chamber Music Society
Orpheus Club of Detroit
Detroit Community Symphony Orchestra
Piccolo Opera Company
Detroit Metropolitan Orchestra
Pontiac Symphony Orchestra
Detroit Orchestra Leaders Association
Redford Civic Symphony
Detroit Society for the Arts and Culture in Education
Strata, Inc.
Detroit Symphony Orchestra
Tuesday Musicale of Detroit
Eastern Michigan University
University Center for Adult Education
Grosse Pointe Symphony Orchestra
University of Detroit
Henry Ford Community College
The University of Michigan
Highland Park Community College
The University of Michigan–Dearborn
Interlochen Center for the Arts
Village Chamber Players
Livonia Youth Symphony Society, Inc.
WDET-FM
Macomb County Community College
Wayne County Community College
Marygrove College
Wayne State University
Metropolitan Arts Complex, Inc.
Western Michigan University
Michigan Conservatory of Music
Women’s Symphony of Detroit
Michigan Society of Architects, A.I.A.