The Musart Society
THE MUSART SOCIETY of the Cleveland Museum of Art is a group particularly dedicated to supporting musical performances at the CMA. Since 1946 the Society's members have made annual contributions which supplement the Department's budget and enable the Museum to present outstanding musical performances to Cleveland audiences. The Musart Society regularly seeks out new members in order to continue its work in enriching the community's cultural life.
The Musart Society also supports the Gala Music Series, has partially underwritten Aki (the Museum's biennial festival of new music), and helps to maintain the Museum's keyboard
instruments. It purchased a fortepiano for the Museum in 1980, a French double harpsichord in 1983 (dedicated in memory of Walter Blodgett, Curator of Musical Arts from 1941 to 1974, who was instrumental in founding the Society), an Italian harpsichord in 1994 (dedicated in memory of performer and teacher Doris Ornstein), a stage organ console for the McMyler Memorial Organ (dedicated to curator of musical arts, Karel Paukert), and a German harpsichord in 2000 (dedicated to Vincent M. Arnold, member of the founding committee of the Musart Society). In addition, it commissioned compositions from Barbara Kolb, Donald Erb, Curtis Curtis-Smith, William Albright, James Primosch, Jean Guillou, and Werner Jacob for the Museum's 75th anniversary in 1991.
Instrument Collection