music enables a person to convert what oth-
erwise would be a world in black and white 
to a world in color. I get enormous pleasure 
out of music, and I find classical music, at 
the very least, calming and soothing.
” 
Cummings’ interest in classical music 
firmed up when he was in his 40s and trav-
eling to Europe in the early 1990s, a time 
before mass access to iPhones and iPads.
“I bought a bunch of cassettes while I 
was in Europe, and they turned out to be 
Mozart piano concertos,
” he recalled. “It 
may have been the time or it may have 
been the place, but I never heard anything 
so beautiful. When I got back to Detroit, I 
decided to go to a concert at Orchestra Hall. 
“I started going to concerts regularly, 
and then at one concert, I ran into Alan 
E. Schwartz, who was a board member. 
The following week, he gave me a call and 
asked if I would go on to the board of the 
symphony, and I said that I would. One 
thing led to another, and I became active 
and started working on different strategies 
to enhance the neighborhood. That evolved 
into the Orchestra Place Project.
”

A BIG IMPACT
Cummings’ many initiatives being hon-
ored include his role in the $250 million 
development of the DSO campus and 
neighborhood. He led in mapping out a 
$60 million, 135,000-square-foot addi-

tion to Orchestra Hall. He also led the 
development of the Peter D. and Julie 
F. Cummings Cube (The Cube), which 
accommodates more intimate concerts 
and spotlights cabaret singers, chamber 
groups and music of importance to vari-
ous cultures. 
Leadership roles in DSO campaigns 
also have been among his service high-
lights as affecting the transformation of 
the area.
“When I went on the board, there was 
the original Orchestra Hall, which had 
been restored enough so there could be 
performances but not restored any way 
beyond that,” said Cummings, who was 
educated at Yale University, the University 
of Toronto and the Owner/President 
Management Program at the Harvard 
Business School.
“Where The Max (Max M. and 
Marjorie S. Fisher Music Center) is now 
there was a municipal park which was 
(described as) poorly cared for. To the 
south of Orchestra Hall, there was the 
old Winkelman’s warehouse, which was 
being used by the orchestra for storage 
purposes. 
“The Orchestra Place concept devel-
oped from a desire to enhance the neigh-
borhood now known as part of Midtown. 
Orchestra Place built a project with 
enough critical mass to anchor the south-
ern end of Midtown and to act as a cata-
lyst for the redevelopment and enhance-
ment of the lower Midtown district.”
Cummings, active with the Palm Beach 
Synagogue and Jewish Federations in 
Detroit and Palm Beach, is committed to 
Israel and expressed pride in 
the presence of Jewish board 
membership in the DSO.
“Peter brings vision, pas-
sion and an unwavering 
bubble of energy to get it 
done,” said Mark Davidoff, 
who also has served as a 
DSO chairman. “I think each 
chair somehow becomes chair at the right 
time for who that person is and what is 
brought to the role. 

“In Peter’s era, the symphony was 
still trying to re-cement its place and its 
homestead, dealing with the city’s renais-
sance at the same time. Peter brought 
this vision to reposition the orchestra 
to be an outward-facing organization,” 
Davidoff added.
“Peter’s hallmark in his chair role has 
really opened the aperture to the orches-
tra to serve the broadest perspectives and 
segments of the community possible. 
That has served us since his tenure as 
chairman and true today in the service 
forever in the future.”
Cummings’ participation with the 
DSO is supported by his wife, Julie, and 
was among the important interests of his 
late in-laws, Max and Marjorie Fisher, 
and other family members. 
“When Mr. Fisher died in 2005, Mrs. 
Fisher picked up the support of the insti-
tution,” Cummings said. “Phillip Fisher 
did a three-year stint as chairman and 
was, in his own way, a transformational 
chairman. He created a culture that was 
much more collaborative and trusting.” 
As Cummings thinks about the 
upcoming recognition program, he 
reveals a personal friendship with 
Feinstein first developed during a time 
of the pianist’s performances in north-
ern Michigan and later in Palm Beach. 
Cummings said it was entirely happen-
stance finding out who would be per-
forming.
Part of Cummings’ commitment to the 
DSO has him experiencing other orches-
tras in other cities, both in the United 
States and Europe. He has served on the 
board of the New York Philharmonic.
“It’s a gratifying feeling to be recog-
nized for the vision of Orchestra Place, 
not only the vision for facilities but a 
vision for what would happen within the 
facilities,” Cummings said.
“My goals for the Detroit Symphony 
include continuing to thrive as an 
engaged institution in the city of Detroit. 
I also want to develop new audiences and 
establish its long-term sustainability as a 
major urban orchestra.” 

Mark 
Davidoff

in the DSO

Peter Cummings

Details 
The Heroes Gala and Benefit Concert will be held Saturday, June 17, at the Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Music 
Center, 3711 Woodward, Detroit. Information about the 7 p.m. concert tickets, starting at $29, can be obtained at dso.
org and (313) 576-5111. A black-tie gala will follow the concert.

JUNE 15 • 2023 | 67

