Augusta Symphony competitors

Martha A. Gilmer was named Chief Executive Officer of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra in October 2014 and leads the institution in realizing all areas of its mission: expanding its programming, increasing its community engagement, heightening its artistic profile, and building its capacity to share transformative experiences. Working with the Board and staff, Gilmer created the strategic plan that has been guiding the Symphony since 2016. Among the major changes she has initiated are the appointment in 2018 of the internationally acclaimed Rafael Payare as SDSO’s 13th Music Director and the appointment in 2019 of the distinguished Edo de Waart to serve as the first principal guest conductor in SDSO’s century-long history. She initiated the Symphony’s annual festival that includes partnerships with many organizations throughout the city, inaugurated the Jazz @ the Jacobs series, and rebranded the Bayside Summer Nights series. Expanding on SDSO’s summer programming and community outreach, she partnered with the Port of San Diego to develop the Symphony’s first permanent outdoor venue, The Shell®, along with integral improvements and upgrades to Embarcadero Marina Park South, while overseeing the fundraising campaign that secured 99 percent of the project cost from private sources. Known for her history of collaborating with many of today’s most talented guest artists and composers and for her commitment to contemporary music, Gilmer has engaged leading guest artists for their San Diego premieres, commissioned new works, and presented important West Coast premieres. Martha Gilmer came to SDSO from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, where in the course of a three-decade career she rose to the position of Vice President for Artistic Planning and Audience Development. At the CSO, she developed long-term relationships with many of the most outstanding artists and composers of our time and developed a host of innovative programs connecting the orchestra with new audiences in Chicago and around the world. She is a graduate of the Northwestern University School of Music and has been active as an alumna, serving on the Visiting Committee and the Dean Search Committee and delivering the 2000 commencement address. She frequently writes and lectures about music.

Mark Hanson joined the San Francisco Symphony as Executive Director in September 2017 and was given the title of Chief Executive Officer in 2018. During his tenure, the SFS experienced a period of exciting change and forward progress, including a new multi-year financial plan that put the organization on a path to restoring stability. In 2018, the SFS negotiated a new four-year musician contract that cemented the San Francisco Symphony’s leadership position among American orchestras. A unique housing shared-equity program to help combat the Bay Area’s high cost of housing was also introduced. Also in 2018, the San Francisco Symphony launched a multi-constituency DEI Workgroup with representatives from the Board, Orchestra, and staff. Over the following two years, the DEI Workgroup focused its efforts primarily on internal culture change, capacity building, and learning but recently led the development of the SFS’s first ever DEI Plan which intends to seed deeper engagement in this work across the rest of the organization. Important to its audience development efforts, the San Francisco Symphony announced a new partnership with Stanford University to present an annual series of concerts at Stanford University’s Frost Amphitheater in 2019 that continues once again this summer. With a seating capacity of more than 6,000, Frost Amphitheater provides the San Francisco Symphony with a long-desired summer home in the heart of Silicon Valley. These important institutional developments were accompanied by the appointment of Esa-Pekka Salonen as Music Director, an outcome that The New York Times reported as “the talk of the music world.” One of the most influential and creative forces in music, Salonen began his tenure as Music Director in September 2020, teaming up with eight new San Francisco Symphony Collaborative Partners from various cultural disciplines. While the 2020-2021 season was significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the San Francisco Symphony under Mr. Hanson launched a new on-demand streaming service, SFSymphony+, featuring original digital content now being viewed throughout the Bay Area and the world.

Marie-Helene Bernard is a President/CEO at Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. She has worked as CEO/Executive Dir at Handel and Haydn Society.