When Szell began his tenure with The Cleveland Orchestra in October 1946, the ensemble was already a solid orchestra of national standing, but the quality of the orchestra had slipped during the World War II years. Szell's arrival electrified both audiences and orchestra members. Under Szell's supreme musicianship and high standards, and due to increased recording and touring, The Cleveland Orchestra came to be included among the "Big Five" symphony orchestras in the United States by the late 1950s. George Szell's tenure extended for 24 seasons, making him the orchestra's longest running music director. Born in Budapest, Hungary in 1897, Szell died in Cleveland in 1970.

The Cleveland Orchestra's first concert was a benefit for St. Ann's Parish (in Cleveland Heights) at Grays Armory on December 11, 1918. Adella Prentiss Hughes and the Musical Arts Association recruited Nikolai Sokoloff as conductor. A substantial gift from Mr. and Mrs. John L. Severance enabled the Association to build its permanent home in University Circle, five miles east of downtown Cleveland. Severance Hall opened in February 1931. At the end of its 50th season in July 1968, the Orchestra inaugurated its summer home, Blossom Music Center, in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. In 1992 the Orchestra became the first American orchestra to establish a residency at Austria's Salzburg Festival. After a two-year, $36.7 million renovation and restoration project, The Cleveland Orchestra reopened Severance Hall in January 2000. The Orchestra's seventh music director, Franz Welser-Moest, began his tenure in September 2002.