Seattle 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.

Mark C. Hanson is a Chief Executive Officer at MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA and is based in San Francisco, California. He has worked as President and Executive Director at MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA. Mark attended Harvard University between 1994 and 1997 and Eastman School of Music between 1992 and 1994.

Kim Noltemy joined the Dallas Symphony Association (DSA) as President & CEO in January 2018. Since Noltemy’s arrival, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra has embarked on a bold, new strategic plan and has implemented numerous new initiatives that will have a long-term impact on the landscape of classical music in Dallas and the entire industry. Her visionary leadership guided the Dallas Symphony to become the first major American orchestra to perform for an in-person audience in their hall with their Music Director after the COVID-19 shutdown. During her tenure, the orchestra appointed renowned Music Director Fabio Luisi and Gemma New as Principal Guest Conductor. In May 2019, Noltemy successfully negotiated the transition of management of the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center from the City of Dallas to the Dallas Symphony Association. Noltemy began her term as President of the Dallas Arts District board in January 2020. She also serves on the boards of the Dallas Black Dance Theatre and Aging Minds, and she is a member of the Dallas Assembly, Dallas Summit, Dallas international Women’s Forum and Executive Women’s Roundtable. Noltemy was named as a D CEO Dallas 500 in 2020 and 2021, and was a 2020 finalist for the Dallas Morning News’ Texan of the Year. Recognizing the need for systemic change in the classical music community, in the fall of 2020, Noltemy introduced a comprehensive plan and commitment for equity, diversity and inclusion at the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. In 2018, she launched the DSO’s Women in Classical Music program, an initiative designed to elevate the role of women in classical music and increase female representation in the field through hiring women for senior artistic positions, creating an annual symposium, and ensuring that 50% of the DSO’s new commissions are composed by women. The orchestra unveiled the DSO’s Southern Dallas Residency in November 2018 which includes a very important educational initiative, Young Musicians. This program makes the transformative power of music education accessible to more than 500 children in Southern Dallas through free instruments and lessons. Since the pandemic shutdown in March 2020, Noltemy led the DSO through this period of change, pivoting quickly to provide music and service to the Dallas community. The DSO offered live, weekly concerts to small audiences in the Meyerson, as well as more than 150 outdoor chamber music concerts in neighborhoods all across Dallas. Noltemy embraced and expanded the DSO online presence, implementing a digital strategy for 2020/21 and beyond. In summer 2020, a state-of-the-art video studio and robotic cameras was installed in the Meyerson Symphony Center to capture and live-stream DSO performances and third-party events in the hall. The new online events will complement the in-person experience and expand the reach of the organization beyond its physical space.