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$2 million gift allows Colorado Symphony to keep paying employees amid pandemic

The donation will cover musicians' and staff's salaries and healthcare benefits through June as the pandemic puts a damper on live performances.

DENVER — An anonymous gift of $2 million will allow the Colorado Symphony to pay its musicians and staff well into 2021 as the COVID-19 pandemic puts a damper on live performances.

The donation, received in late December, will cover employees' salaries and healthcare benefits through June, according to a post on the symphony's Facebook page.

"We’re incredibly grateful to this anonymous donor for this very generous gift," said Jerome H. Kern, CEO, and chair of the board of trustees in the post. "This significant donation will help maintain our operations as we continue to work towards the time when we can perform with audiences in Boettcher Concert Hall."

"The Colorado Symphony, like many performing arts organizations and other entities around the country, are in a fight for their lives as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to hamper a return to normal operations," publicity and community relations manager Nick Dobreff wrote on the orchestra's website.

"In response, audiences, donors, and philanthropic supporters have given back in record numbers, helping the Colorado Symphony Association (CSA) to an end of year giving campaign success story, the likes of which the organization has never seen before," Dobreff wrote.

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Dobreff said CSA hopes that it will have the resources to pay musicians and staff until outdoor concerts can begin again in the summer and vaccination efforts allow for indoor concerts' resumption.

"As the orchestra embarks on what will be another year of challenges, we remain determined to fulfill our mission of bringing live symphonic music to patrons across the state and preserving this art form for generations to come," Dobreff wrote. 

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