The League recently announced the 2009 class of its Orchestra Management Fellowship Program , the country’s premier leadership training program for orchestra administrators. Over the course of the next year, the five Orchestra Management Fellows will pursue an intense course of study, gain valuable hands-on work experience through residencies with a wide variety of host orchestras throughout the country, and acquire a comprehensive overview of the concert music industry. Since its inception in 1980, more than 165 Fellows have participated in the program.
Orchestra Fellowship Program graduates hold more than 55 leadership positions in American orchestras; 20 are currently executive directors. The Fellows for 2008-09 are: Naimah Bilal, Elizabeth Mahler, David Nischwitz, Rachel Sepulveda, and Nicholas Weege. (click here for their bios)
League President and CEO Henry Fogel commented, “For nearly 30 years, the League has strived to nurture tomorrow’s orchestral leaders, readying them for the unique challenges that American orchestras are facing. We can proudly say the Orchestra Management Fellowship Program has produced leaders who are supporting every facet of orchestral management across the country: artistic programming, education, administrative – even finance and technology. And it has to be said, without the continued generosity of the host orchestras, the program would not be the great success it has been over the last three decades.”
The Orchestra Management Fellowship Program, part of the League’s Orchestra Leadership Academy and begun in 1980, is widely recognized as one of today’s foremost arts leadership training initiatives. During the course of the program, participants work in various areas of orchestra management at host orchestras; meet executives in music publishing, artist management, arts criticism, and presenting organizations; study in classes and seminars with League staff and with management experts; and obtain support in career planning. Each Fellow will work as an orchestra manager for two months this summer at the Aspen Music Festival and School, and will then will have assignments at each of three host orchestras, where they will observe a variety of management practices, work on multiple tasks and projects for the host orchestra, and avail themselves of mentoring by executives and senior managers at each assignment.
The Fellows are selected through a competitive application and interview process that seeks highly qualified candidates who aspire to be leaders in the orchestra management field. Successful candidates are deeply committed to the orchestra field and to a career in orchestra management. In addition to academic study and workplace learning, Fellows receive an annual stipend, reimbursement for travel between assignments with host orchestras, and medical insurance.
Host orchestras are also chosen through a competitive process, which is based on the orchestra’s ability to provide mentorship and substantial experience in project administration. The host orchestras for 2008-09 will be determined by the end of this month.
Graduates of the League’s Orchestra Management Fellowship Program occupy significant leadership positions at orchestras and ensembles across the country, as well as at other arts organizations, not-for-profits, universities, public radio stations, and arts-related businesses. Among the graduates of the Orchestra Management Fellowship Program are: Fred Bronstein, President & Executive Director, Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra; Michelle Miller Burns, Director of Planned Giving, Chicago Symphony Orchestra; Synneve Carlino, Director of Public Affairs, Carnegie Hall; Bret Dorhout, Artistic Administrator, The Philadelphia Orchestra; Mark C. Hanson, President & Executive Director, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra; Jeff Haydon, Executive Director, Ojai Music Festival; Holly Hudak, Executive Director, Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras; Lynn G. Larsen, Personnel Manager, Boston Symphony Orchestra; J.L. Nave, Executive Director, Fort Wayne Philharmonic; Anne Parsons, President & Executive Director, Detroit Symphony Orchestra; Devin Thomas, General Manager, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra; Matthew VanBesien, Executive Director & CEO, Houston Symphony Orchestra; Kendra Whitlock, Vice-President & General Manager, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; Allison Vulgamore, President and Managing Director, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra; David Chambless Worters, President & CEO, North Carolina Symphony; Ed Yim, Senior Vice-President, Instrumentalists & Conductors Division, IMG Artists.
Full press release