Funds to bring the ensemble for an annual residency have been donated and raised by Daniel R. Lewis, former board chairman of the now-defunct Florida Philharmonic Orchestra. Lewis has previously given $12 million to the Cleveland Orchestra, and endowed a chair for a young composer.

The Cleveland Orchestra's annual stay in Florida will begin to address the problem of the new center's lack of resident orchestra. Performances by such local ensembles and presenters as the New World Symphony and the Concert Association of Florida would occupy only a fraction of the center's schedule.

The Florida Philharmonic, which would have occupied the resident-orchestra position, filed for bankruptcy in 2003.

Some former orchestra members expressed some dissatisfaction with the news of the Cleveland Orchestra concerts. T. Geoffrey Hale, a former bassoonist with the orchestra and the musicians' union representative, told the Sun-Sentinel, "It's a shame that some out-of-town orchestra is going to open the new performing arts center. There'll never be another orchestra in Miami if this happens."