Preparing for Returning Audiences

WELCOME HOME

We ’ re working hard to get We’re working hard to get Severance Hall ready for you! Severance Hall ready for you!

FOR MORE THAN ninety years, Severance Hall has welcomed music lovers and the culturally curious from Northeast Ohio and across the globe. This October, after an eighteen-month hiatus, public performances by The Cleveland Orchestra resume on the concert stage. No one is anticipating this return more than Severance Hall’s dedicated corps of volunteer ushers. This group has helped welcome tens of thousands of concertgoers to the Orchestra and its cherished home. In anticipation of the upcoming season, a number of ushers shared what they are most looking forward to, along with treasured memories from past seasons.

Also in anticipation and preparation for this return, the summer months have seen Severance Hall bustling with maintenance activity, including physical upgrades to the landmark building’s façade stonework, installation of energy-graded and sound deadening windows throughout, new roofi ng for better waterproofi ng, and a brand-new HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) system for both the Concert Hall and Reinberger Chamber Hall, with improved air fi ltration and quieter operation. Usher Susan Burke at Severance Hall

During my twenty-two seasons of ushering, it’s been my pleasure to welcome fi rst-timers. Whether they are locals or out-of-towners, the smiles on their faces as they look around the Hall remind me yet again what a treasure we have. I encourage them to explore each fl oor and the Green Room and to notice the many designs of lotus fl owers, reportedly Mrs. Severance’s favorite. In seasons to come, I look forward to telling guests that the architect of the Hall was also involved in the design of the city’s Hope Memorial Bridge, which supports Cleveland’s ‘original’ Guardians. —Dolores Brown, usher since 1999

At every concert, we see at least one or two people hunched over by the east staircase of the Grand Foyer, and I’ll go up to them and say ‘I’ll bet you’re looking for the screw in the fl oor.’ And, of course, they are. It’s quite diffi cult to fi nd because it blends into the terrazzo fl oor. How did it get there? The story is that the screw fell in by accident during the laying of the fl oor and the workers decided to leave it there to get up the nose of John Severance, who was a perfectionist. I have a little laser pointer on hand just for this purpose. —Susan Burke, usher since 2011

I love talking to fi rst-time visitors to the Hall. They come upstairs and are amazed at the beauty of it, and many ask permission to walk around and take pictures. That’s before they hear the Orchestra play! A year ago, when only a few guests could come during sociallydistanced fi lming sessions, I ran into an old colleague. He was alone because his wife was suff ering from a rapidly progressive illness, and they were both exhausted. After the concert, he came out with a huge smile on his face, reenergized and feeling he could push on for another week and do what had to be done. —Joan Delahay, usher since 2013

One of my fondest memories is from an Education concert performed for elementary school children, ages 8-10 years old. We ushered a group of girls to the balcony and, as soon as they sat down, their eyes opened wide when they viewed the fabulous Concert Hall. One young lady exclaimed, “This is like a place for a queen!” The expression on her face was priceless. —Marlene Dirksen, usher since 2009