Gift from Louise Nippert Called "Transformational"

Classical music in Cincinnati will remain one of the Queen City's crown jewels, thanks to a just-announced $85 million gift from philanthropist Louise Dieterle Nippert.
   To be called the Louise Dieterle Nippert Musical Arts Fund, the gift -- 75% of which is designated for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra -- will benefit the CSO and by extension, Cincinnati Opera and Cincinnati Ballet who utilize the CSO's services.

Louise Dieterle Nippert

According to a statement released by the CSO, the Nippert Fund "will help maintain the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra as a full-time orchestra presenting music at the world's highest professional level."
   CSO president Trey Devey, who made the announcement at a rehearsal of the orchestra Thursday evening at Music Hall, called the gift "transformational."
   Without it, "the CSO would be diminished over time.  Further budget cuts would likely have compromised the artistic product and the value we provide our patrons.
   "The CSO is a world class orchestra that has been operating with a second tier capital structure," said Devey.  "The Nippert Fund changes this imbalance."
   The CSO had a $3.8 million deficit in 2008.  The Nippert Fund will yield approximately $3 million in annual support for the orchestra.
   The CSO announced December 5 that it anticipated finishing the fiscal year ending August 31 in the black.  Contributing to that were reductions in operating costs, including contractual concessions by the musicians, across-the-board cuts in staff wages and benefits, attrition, retirements and layoffs, as well as increased contributions.
   Twelve percent of Nippert Fund is designated for Cincinnati Opera and five percent for Cincinnati Ballet.  In both cases, the gift is dedicated to maintaining the CSO as their resident orchestra.  These distributions will provide approximately $500,000 in annual support for the Opera and $200,000 for the Ballet.
   The CSO will restructure its season beginning in 2010-11 to provide four weeks for the Ballet. the statement said.  Cincinnati Opera performs with the CSO during the summer. 
   The remaining eight percent of the fund will be distributed on a case-by-case basis to professional musical organizations "consistent with Mrs. Nippert's longtime interests," the statement read, including the May Festival, Matinee Musicale, Linton Chamber Music Series, Chamber Music Cincinnati and others.  These distributions, to be determined by the board of the Greenacres Foundation, will yield $300,000 in annual support.
   Mrs. Nippert, born Louise Dieterle in Cincinnati, is a professionally trained singer.  Winner of the 1987 Post-Corbett Award for Lifetime Achievement for her contributions to the arts, she, along with her husband, the late Louis Nippert, endowed chairs at the CSO and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.  Many of her gifts have remained anonymous.
   In 1988, the Nipperts founded Greenacres Foundation to convert their property in Indian Hill into an education center where classes and field trips are held free of charge.  The  mission of the foundation is environmental, cultural and arts education. 
   Mrs. Nippert's devotion to the CSO and her belief in its pivotal position in the city's musical life was expressed in her remarks upon being named a "Great Living Cincinnatian" by the Cincinnati Regional Chamber in 1995:
   "The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is most important to me because it is the basis for all the good musical things that happen here."
   CSO music director Paavo Järvi, who led the CSO on a two-week, highly successful tour of Japan in October, praised Mrs. Nippert for her farsightedness:
   "Louise Nippert has been a tremendous supporter and champion of our orchestra for many years and I thank her for this remarkable gift from the bottom of my heart.  I conduct orchestras around the world and can say with confidence that the CSO is one of the very best anywhere.  Mrs. Nippert has made a wise investment that will pay off in great music-making in Cincinnati for many years to come."