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