EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR METROPOLIS ENSEMBLE New York, New York Metropolis Ensemble

The Aspen Leadership Group is proud to partner with Metropolis Ensemble in the search for an Executive Director. The Executive Director will seek and obtain diverse sources of revenue for Metropolis Ensemble, a dynamically evolving 21st century orchestra. Utilizing a proven track-record of fundraising, the Executive Director will catalyze growth, expand upon the Metropolis Ensemble's successful list of national and International partner-presenters including Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Metropolitan Museum, Celebrate Brooklyn, Hollywood Bowl, Sounds from a Safe Harbour, and Nonesuch/New Amsterdam/Naxos Records, and partner with the Artistic Director in the acquisition of a permanent space to house the Ensemble. For over a decade Metropolis has served as an incubator for today’s most outstanding emerging composers and performers to present bold new work. The organization has commissioned over 150 works of music from a dynamic mix of emerging composers. New music projects have been presented by BAM’s Next Wave Festival, Hollywood Bowl, Creative Time, Lincoln Center “Out of Doors” and “American Songbook” series, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute, The Met Museum, (Le) Poisson Rouge, The Wordless Music Series, The Public Theater, The Phillips Collection, and Celebrate Brooklyn. In 2013, Metropolis made its Off-Broadway debut with a new children’s opera by David Bruce at New Victory Theatre on 42nd Street, produced in collaboration with The Royal Opera House of London II and The Opera Group. Metropolis Ensemble thrives in a state of creative flux. Resident Artists and Composers rotate in and out and eventually become Alumni; new talent is constantly brought in; every presentation’s concept and many venues are different; and most of Metropolis Ensemble’s music is new. Through its unique collaborative process, Metropolis Ensemble exists to support ascending contemporary classical performers and composers, often engaging them with other bleeding-edge cultural innovators and artists. Metropolis Ensemble events result through intense small group collaborations between its Resident Artists, Composers, and Grammy Award-nominated Artistic Director Andrew Cyr, Metropolis Ensemble's driving force. By bringing together young composers and instrumentalists through its Resident Artist Program, Metropolis Ensemble empowers emerging classical talent with the right resources to create new platforms and launch sustainable careers. Through this model of collaborative and foundational support, Metropolis is investing in the present and future vibrancy of classical music. In recent seasons, Metropolis-affiliated artists have received some of the highest accolades, including The Guggenheim Fellowship, The Pulitzer Prize, The Rome Prize, Grammy Awards and Nominations, and many of the top competition prizes world-wide.

HIGHLIGHTS, COLLABORATIONS, AND RECOGNITION Recent Metropolis highlights include founding and operating a pop-up event space in Lower Manhattan entitled 1 Rivington, home to 60+ chamber music concerts and events since 2017. Additionally, Metropolis Ensemble was presented in back-to-back national summer festivals: Hollywood Bowl (opening for Bon Iver, music by William Brittelle) in 2018 and this past June, Celebrate Brooklyn (featuring the music of Emily Wells). This season, Metropolis Ensemble will make its Asia and European debuts: performing the Cambodian Premiere of Bangsokol: A Requiem for Cambodia, to mark the 40th Anniversary of the expulsion of the Khmer Rouge regime; their debut in Cork, Ireland is part of the international festival Sounds from a Safe Harbour, curated this year by the hit band, The National. Other recent activity includes the performance-art project S.S. Hangover by artist Ragnar Kjartansson, (music by Sigur Ros composer Kjartan Sveinsson), presented by Creative Time and seen by over 100,000 people in Central Park and two new studio albums on Nonesuch and New Amsterdam Records. Embodying the fluidity of today’s music scene, Metropolis Ensemble has also collaborated with a wide- array of artists who defy classification, including several large-scale concert productions with Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, presented at BAM and Philadelphia’s Verizon Center. Metropolis has also performed with artists such as Wye Oak, Deerhoof, San Fermin, BabX, Emily Wells, Sonnymoon, Tom Krell and How to Dress Well, David Murray, Jeremy Ellis, Razel, and DD Jackson. In 2014, Metropolis performed on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon alongside the Grammy-winning hip-hop group The Roots. Metropolis Ensemble also appeared with The Roots on their critically acclaimed 2014 album on Def Jam Records “and then you shoot your cousin” and “Undun.” An agile, evolving collective of composers and performers, Metropolis Ensemble has won national and international recognition for its studio recordings, including winning Canada’s prestigious Juno Award for Best Classical Composition in 2013 for Vivian Fung’s Violin Concerto (Kristin Lee, solo violin). In 2010, Metropolis Ensemble received its first Classical Nomination Grammy Award for Avner Dorman’s Mandolin Concerto, with soloist Avi Avital. And in 2014, producer David Frost received a Classical Producer of the Year Grammy Award for work that included Metropolis Ensemble’s recording of the music of Brooklyn-based composer Timo Andres, recorded at Tanglewood’s Ozawa Hall and released on Nonesuch Records. Metropolis Ensemble’s most recent studio album entitled “Spiritual America” (music by William Brittelle), was released in May of 2019 in a new collaboration with Nonesuch and New Amsterdam Records (also made in collaboration with the indie-band Wye Oak and The Grammy-Award Winning Brooklyn Youth Chorus). Metropolis Ensemble also collaborated in the studio with artist Emily Wells, developing a co-commission for composer Michi Wiancko with Saint Paul’s Liquid Music Series, to create and record Wells’ latest album project entitled, “This World is Too___For You.”

REPORTING RELATIONSHIPS The Executive Director will report to the Artistic Director, Andrew Cyr.

PRINCIPAL OPPORTUNITIES Thirteen years ago, I, along with a group of musical artists and friends from different backgrounds, created Metropolis Ensemble with the goal of reimagining what an orchestra can be: a continuously self- renewing community, equally comprised of composers and performers, working together in a spirit of deep collaboration. To date, our award-winning studio recordings have embraced genres from hip-hop to neo-classical; we have commissioned hundreds of new works, imagined new concert platforms, and fostered collaborations with young artists who blossom into leaders of our artform; we created an education program which has reached thousands of NYC middle-school students; and we continually succeed in reaching new and expanded audiences. And we are most proud of building from the ground-up, a vibrant community dedicated to creating extraordinary opportunities for emerging talent, respected for the musical integrity and openness of its artists and performances, and admired for our creation of original musical experiences which are deeply engaging for musicians and audiences alike. In the near term, the Executive Director will have the special opportunity to be a full thought partner to me, Metropolis Ensemble’s leading young artists, and our passionate board of directors. In this period, we will together design and implement a plan to transition Metropolis from a visionary and award- garnering start-up, into a robust, self-sustaining organization that realizes its potential to become an international exemplar for what we offer to, and create with, our musician, composer, partner, and audience constituents. Within five years, the successful candidate will be proud to have played a decisive leadership role in achieving the following: the creation and acquisition of a one-of-a-kind musical arts hub and permanent space dedicated to the creation, presentation, and recording of new work; the establishment of deep partnerships with other ground-breaking nonprofit and arts education organizations to extend Metropolis Ensemble’s culture of innovation beyond the concert hall; the expansion of our successful track-record of diversity in programming to also include our growing staff and board; a successful collaboration with our artists, composers, and innovative founder to creatively develop methods and events that will have strategically expanded our community of major donors and supporters. The successful candidate will be an independent thinker and thrive in an atmosphere of creative flux. In addition, they will draw on personal and successful experiences as a proven and innovative fundraiser, manager, and community organizer. Finally, the successful candidate will have both a passion for, and track-record of, growing arts-based organizations. –Andrew Cyr, Artistic Director

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES The Executive Director will • work with the Artistic Director and key members of the board of directors to develop an annual fundraising plan that implements strategies to meet funding needs for general operating and special project funding including such activities as: cultivating and soliciting individuals with the capacity to make major gifts, seeking grants from foundations and corporate support, building an endowment, as well as soliciting planned and capital gifts; • implement a comprehensive donor stewardship program including an acknowledgement plan, donor recognition events, and donor communications; • conceive of creative and meaningful fundraising and donor events; • create compelling communications materials that will convey the full scope of Metropolis Ensemble’s activities and objectives; • leverage Metropolis Ensemble’s considerable reach throughout the industry to form new partnerships that will create fresh opportunities; • manage and grow staff and programs; • expand upon the current portfolio of national and international partner-presenters; • work closely on board-development and fundraising with the Artistic Director; and • create and maintain a culture of philanthropy within the organization.

KEY LEADERSHIP Andrew Cyr Artistic Director Grammy-nominated conductor Andrew Cyr, a “prominent influence in the world of newly emerging music” (Washington Post), is a leader in the rapidly growing contemporary music scene. His passion for creating new platforms for outstanding emerging composers and performing artists led him to found Metropolis Ensemble in 2006. Cyr's work as conductor has been described by Esa-Pekka Salonen as "...precise, rhythmically incisive and fluid. He made complex new pieces sound natural and organic.” In addition to championing new work from the next generation of composers, Cyr has also led performances and recordings with a broad range of artists who defy classification, including Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, Ragnar Kjartansson, Emily Wells, Wye Oak, Deerhoof, and the Paris band BabX, among others. Recent engagements include the presenters such as Cité de le Musique, Paris, France, The Met Museum, Hollywood Bowl, Australia’s Melbourne Festival and BAM’s Next Wave Festival (conducting the US Premiere of Bangsokol: A Requiem for Cambodia), Arts Emerson. In 2014, he led an orchestral performance at Radio City Music Hall debut as part of Dave Chappelle's much-heralded comedy show, NYU’s Symphony Orchestra at The Skirball Center for Performing Arts, as well as his first appearance conducting Metropolis Ensemble on The Tonight Show. In 2013, Cyr made conducting debuts with The Colorado Symphony (along with mandolinist Avi Avital) and led the American Premiere of a new opera by David Bruce at New Victory Theatre, co-produced by The Royal Opera House II and The Opera Group. Cyr's work as a recording artist leading Metropolis Ensemble in their first studio album, which featured Avner Dorman's Concertos, earned him a Classical Nomination in the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards. In 2013, a work commissioned and recorded with Metropolis Ensemble, Vivian Fung's Violin Concerto, was the winner of Canada's prestigious Juno Award for Best Classical Composition (Naxos). A third studio album was recorded at Tanglewood’s Ozawa Hall and released to critical acclaim on Nonesuch Records, featuring works Metropolis Ensemble commissioned from Brooklyn-based composer Timo Andres. New studio album releases for the spring of 2019 include a collaboration with Emily Wells and a second album on Nonesuch Records (also with New Amsterdam Records) featuring the music of William Brittelle (with Wye Oak and The Brooklyn Youth Chorus). Upcoming appearances in 2019/20 include his LA Music Center debut and performances in Cambodia, Taiwan, and Mass MoCA. Cyr is a native of Fort Kent, Maine, and holds music degrees from Bates College, the French National Conservatory (Etudes Supérieures), and Westminster Choir College. His musical mentors include conductors Dr. Joseph Flummerfelt, Kenneth Kiesler, and Kynan Johns, and organists Pierre Grandmaison, Marion Anderson, and Harvey Burgett. For his contributions to the field of new music, Cyr was awarded a Robert Rauschenberg Fellowship in 2014.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS Metropolis Ensemble seeks an Executive Director with • experience securing major gifts via high net-worth individuals and foundations; • a proven track-record of growing and inspiring a talented and engaged board of directors; • experience transitioning a dynamic start-up into a cultural institution; • an ability to structure and navigate complex mergers and partnerships with other nonprofits; • experience growing and managing staff, experience in fiduciary matters regarding nonprofits, and best stewardship practices; and • a demonstrated passion for the creative arts. A bachelor's degree or comparable experience is required for this position. At least five years of experience in fundraising is preferred.

DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION Metropolis Ensemble posits that the heart of the classical music tradition lies in the practice and cultural systems involved in creating new music – works from this tradition that are now considered worthy of repeat performances frequently have in common a shared sense of experimentation and the integration of new forms, techniques, and perspectives. As an organization dedicated to making classical music that is of and for the time we live in, diversity and inclusion must exist at the starting place of our process. A critical mass of ideas, backgrounds, and perspectives demonstrates that equity and representation infuse vitality and cultural relevance into the artist and audience communities alike.

SALARY & BENEFITS Metropolis Ensemble offers a competitive and comprehensive salary and package of employee benefits.

LOCATION This position is located in New York City.

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS All applications must be accompanied by a cover letter and résumé. Before submitting your materials, please read them over for accuracy. Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the successful candidate has been selected. To apply for this position, visit: Executive Director, Metropolis Ensemble. To nominate a candidate, please contact Floyd Akins: [email protected].

All inquiries will be held in confidence.