National Conference Luncheon
Friday June 13, 2008

League Chairman of the Board, Lowell J. Noteboom
Honoring Bruce Clinton

Watch the speech (Streaming)


(Photos below: Mark T. Osler/PJeye.com) 

Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you all for being here.

Today, we have the great pleasure of honoring Bruce Clinton, one of this country’s most dedicated and generous supporters of the orchestra field, a great friend of the League, and an inspiring patron of several of our member orchestras.

I remember well the first time I arrived at the twin high-rise apartment towers on the shore of Lake Michigan that Bruce owned and managed. There was beautiful classical music playing not only in the elevators, but in the lobby, in all of the corridors, and in all levels of the parking structure. I knew that I was in a controlled environment and that the guy who controlled it loved great music.

I also quickly learned that Bruce Clinton was a very generous fellow. When my home orchestra, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, began to explore a multi-year residency at the University of Chicago several years ago, it was Bruce who was our cheerleader and internal advocate with the University. And it was Bruce who provided free housing in his apartment complex for the entire orchestra during our residencies.

Anyone who knows Bruce knows that he is a person of incredible energy, enthusiasm, and optimism. He is someone who gets things done and makes things happen. In the years Bruce has been on the League board, he has helped us address a number of challenges. He always finds a way to say yes when I ask him to do something, and I have asked on a regular basis. Bruce is also a person who sees opportunity and is always ready to bring people and organizations together when something good can result.

Bruce and his wife, Martha, have made a tremendous difference in the many organizations in which they are closely involved, including the symphony orchestras in the three cities in which they maintain homes: Chicago, Denver, and Miami. Their generosity has been showered upon the Colorado Symphony Orchestra here in Denver, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra for their Miami Residency, the New World Symphony and, of course, the League of American Orchestras.

When word that we were honoring Bruce today spread to those cities, the letters began coming in. I want to share a couple of brief quotes from those letters with you:

From Doug Adams, CEO of the Colorado Symphony:

“Your energy, enthusiasm and eloquence have been inspirational…You have enriched the lives of everyone associated with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra.”

And from the Colorado Symphony’s Music Director, Jeff Kahane:

“I want to express the most profound gratitude not only for your immense generosity, but equally important, the spirit of total dedication to the highest artistic and ethical values that you bring to your involvement with classical music.”

Michael Tilson Thomas, artistic director of the New World Symphony in Miami, had this to say about Bruce’s role in helping to build the new facility there:

“So many people have selflessly given their time and expertise to this endeavor, [but] you are unique among them. You love orchestral music, understand the complex nature of orchestral institutions, appreciate the New World Symphony’s approach to education, and have expertise in construction and development that is proving to be essential.”

But, here is my favorite. It comes from our friend Don Randel, former president of the University of Chicago and now the President of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation:

“It was my great good fortune to get to know Bruce Clinton during my years as president of the University of Chicago, and it is a friendship that, I am pleased to say, continues to this day. I must also say it was my very great good fortune to get to know, and to know still, Martha. Of the many good things one could associate with Bruce, surely Martha is the greatest. He could not possibly be all bad or she would never have married him, but perhaps I digress.

“[Bruce] is the kind of enlightened citizen and supporter of the arts that this country needs in much greater abundance. May he long continue to be in this respect a powerful model for others to emulate.”

So Bruce, my friend, would you please join me here on the stage?

In celebration of your exceptional generosity and devotion to the League and to orchestras across the country, I am pleased to present you with these tokens of our appreciation with our deepest thanks for all that you have helped make possible.