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Ukranian-American conductor Nikolai Sokoloff got the program up and running as the music director, after the Cleveland Orchestra was founded in 1918. Right out of the gate, the orchestra was touring the eastern United States, recording albums, and performing on radio broadcasts.
In its first season, the Cleveland Orchestra performed in Grays Armory, then later at Cleveland's Masonic Auditorium, until it finally arrived at its permanent home, Severance Hall, in 1931, where it remains today. - Severance Hall was paid for mostly by a man named John Long Severance and his wife Elisabeth Dewitt Severance, as a gift to the people of Cleveland, who also helped to raise money for the hall. It was one of the first halls to be built with radio broadcasting capabilities. Unfortunately, John Severance died only a few weeks before the groundbreaking ceremonies.
- From 1933 to 1943, the Cleveland Orchestra's second Music Director, Artur Rodzinski, took over, and despite the financial difficulties of the Great Depression, he increased the orchestra's radio broadcasts and renewed a recording schedule.
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The next director, Erich Leinsdorf, was frequently absent, due to this service in World War II. European conductors often filled in for him, and one of those was George Szell.
Szell took over in 1946 and remained music director until his death in 1970. During his directorship, major changes took place. He fired 12 musicians and 12 more walked away on their own. His intense rehearsals became legendary, and he would fire a musician on the spot for making too many mistakes, or simply questioning his authority. During the 1950s however, it was evident that Szell's work had paid off. The intense precision and flawlessness of the Cleveland Orchestra's performances led to its first international tour in Europe, and established it as one of America's best orchestras. - Pierre Boulez took over in 1970 after Szell's death for a couple years, and then Lorin Maazel took over in 1972 for a decade. Maazel continued the Cleveland Orchestra's tradition of international touring and is responsible for broadening the orchestra's repertoire by adding 20th-century compositions, a risky move for a classical orchestra.
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Christoph von Dohnányi took over in 1984 and oversaw a massive refurbishing and modernization of Severance Hall. A project costing more than $36 million, it included the construction of a new concert stage, an expanded backstage and newer technological capabilities. Von Dohnányi remained music director until 2002, when Franz Welser-Möst took over. He remains in the position to this day.
Under the direction of Franz Welser-Möst, the Cleveland Orchestra continues to tour throughout Europe and Australia, in addition to regular performances in Severance Hall. It is still regarded as one of America's greatest orchestras, and the musicians persist in maintaining their reputation for excellence.
