The Giving Team helps sustain Symphony of Hope’s work through monthly giving. Ongoing support directly funds instruments, teacher stipends, student programs, and international initiatives. Together, we can expand access to music education and create lasting impact in communities around the world.
Doug McClure began playing the cello at the age of nine. After earning a Master’s Degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, he launched his professional career as an orchestral cellist with the San Francisco Ballet and San Francisco Opera Orchestras.
After several years of performing professionally in orchestras, Doug transitioned into a career as a soloist, a path that took him across the globe. Through music and media, he became widely known as an ambassador of peace, reconciliation, and goodwill, using the cello as a bridge between cultures and nations. His performances reached world leaders and international audiences in a wide range of settings, often broadcast globally through major media outlets.
Throughout his career, Doug performed for numerous heads of state and government leaders, including King Juan Carlos I of Spain, King Abdullah of Jordan, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, and the former Prime Minister of Israel, among many others. In 2000, he was invited to Rome to perform for Pope John Paul II at the Vatican Millennium Jubilee, where more than 300,000 people were in attendance and an estimated 200 million watched worldwide via live satellite broadcast.
In the years that followed, Doug continued to perform for leaders around the world, including the Presidents of Kenya, Indonesia, Bolivia, the Congo, Brazil, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, and Pakistan, as well as the Prime Minister of India. He also performed for national parliaments in India and Israel, and at special gatherings of U.S. Senators and members of Congress in Washington, D.C. His work frequently intersected with diplomacy, culture, and global leadership, carrying the unifying power of music into influential spaces.
Doug was also the founder and visionary behind Symphony of Hope, a global music education and leadership initiative dedicated to empowering children through music. Under his leadership, pilot programs were launched with children and young people in North America, India, Germany, Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Kurdistan, Papua New Guinea, Native Hawaiian communities, and across the Pacific Island nations. Based in Kona, Hawai‘i, Symphony of Hope grew into a rapidly expanding international organization, touching hundreds of thousands of people worldwide through performances, education, and media.
In addition to performing, Doug was deeply committed to teaching, mentoring, and intentionally investing in the next generation of young musicians and leaders—passing on both musical excellence and a vision for using music as a force for connection and positive change.
Doug McClure passed away suddenly on August 29, 2024, while serving on an international Symphony of Hope project. His loss was deeply felt by his family, colleagues, students, and communities around the world. Doug’s legacy lives on through the countless lives he touched, the bridges he built between cultures, and the generations of young musicians and leaders he inspired. Through his unwavering commitment to excellence, compassion, and connection, he demonstrated the power of music to transcend borders and speak where words fall short. His vision continues through Symphony of Hope, where children around the world are being equipped with skill, confidence, and purpose—many carrying forward the same spirit of generosity and leadership that defined his life. Though Doug is no longer with us, the movement he began endures, resonating in every note played, every life changed, and every future shaped by his belief in the transformative power of music.
It Is Well With My Soul – Doug McClure, cello
Doug McClure in Amman, Jordan for King Abdullah II & Queen Rania
Song of the Birds – Pablo Casals at the UN, Doug McClure at the Vatican
