“Thanks to a gift from Mal and Barbara Mixon, the contest’s first prize now entails an award of $75,000, up from the previous $50,000. This makes Cleveland’s top prize one of the largest of its kind in the world.”

In addition to its growing residencies in Vienna and Linz (music director Franz Welser-Möst’s hometown), the Clevelanders are working on launching ongoing partnerships with venues in Bratislava and Paris (at the soon-to-open Philharmonie).