October 2019 4 From the President

Dear Friends:

Welcome to the 2019–20 season of Your Orchestra. Some season highlights to share as we launch the new season.

We celebrate Beethoven’s 250th birthday with BeethovenNOW: all of the symphonies in consecutive weeks, uniquely paired with new compositions, and all five piano over three weeks, the first of which takes us back to the Academy of Music, our original home, for our first subscription series there since 2001.

In WomenNOW, women innovators and creators take center stage. The world premiere of Valerie Coleman’s Umoja launches our celebration of the range, creativity, and power of women in music during the opening weekend of the season. We also feature a world premiere by Orchestra Composer-in- Residence Gabriela Lena Frank. Nine further works by women composers Jessica Griffin receive their first performances, including music by Lera Auerbach, Lili Boulanger, Elena Firsova, and 19th-century trailblazer Louise Farrenc, who demanded, and won, equal pay as a teacher at the Paris Conservatory. Five women conductors take the podium, including Karina Canellakis in her Orchestra debut, and many women soloists are featured, including pianist Yuja Wang, violinist Leila Josefowicz, and soprano Angel Blue.

Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s brilliant music-making, boundless energy, and musical curiosity is realized through many concerts, in particular Bach’s transformative Mass in B minor and Richard Strauss’s revolutionary opera Elektra, in a season of great vocal works that also includes Gershwin’s classic Porgy and Bess; Peter Lieberson’s Neruda Songs, set to love poems and written for his wife; and Ravel’s fairy-tale opera L’Enfant et les sortilèges.

Following the extremely successful 2019 Tour of China this past spring, the Orchestra once again takes its artistry on the road when it embarks on an eight-concert Tour of Asia in October–November, traveling to Taipei, Kyoto, Tokyo, Incheon, and Seoul. The relationships we have built around the world continue to inspire us, and it is incredible to share with the rest of the world the unique chemistry between Yannick and the Orchestra that you witness here at home.

As I reflect on my first year with The Philadelphia Orchestra, perhaps the most inspiring aspect is the depth of musical culture we have here: an orchestra at its best, in an ever-flourishing partnership with a music director who is a leader in the field, and whose mission—together—is to share the passion, beauty, and joy of music with you.

And, of course, we will continue to deepen our important work in the communities of Philadelphia. This is indeed #YourPhilOrch and we are delighted that you are part of our Orchestra family. We hope that the music you experience this season brings you greatest joy.

With warmest best wishes,

Matías Tarnopolsky President and CEO #YourPhilOrch 6 Music Director

Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin will lead The Philadelphia Orchestra through at least the 2025–26 season, an extraordinary and significant long-term commitment. Jessica Griffin Additionally, he became the third music director of New York’s Metropolitan Opera in August 2018. Yannick, who holds the Walter and Leonore Annenberg Chair, is an inspired leader of The Philadelphia Orchestra. His intensely collaborative style, deeply rooted musical curiosity, and boundless enthusiasm, paired with a fresh approach to programming, have been heralded by critics and audiences alike. has called him “phenomenal,” adding that under his baton, “the ensemble, famous for its glowing strings and homogenous richness, has never sounded better.”

Yannick has established himself as a musical leader of the highest caliber and one of the most thrilling talents of his generation. He has been artistic director and principal conductor of Montreal’s Orchestre Métropolitain since 2000, and in summer 2017 he became an honorary member of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. He was music director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic from 2008 to 2018 (he is now honorary conductor) and was principal guest conductor of the London Philharmonic from 2008 to 2014. He has made wildly successful appearances with the world’s most revered ensembles and has conducted critically acclaimed performances at many of the leading opera houses.

Yannick signed an exclusive recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon (DG) in 2018. Under his leadership The Philadelphia Orchestra returned to recording with four CDs on that label (a fifth will be released in October). His upcoming recordings will include projects with The Philadelphia Orchestra, the Metropolitan Opera, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, and the Orchestre Métropolitain, with which he will also continue to record for ATMA Classique. Additionally, he has recorded with the Rotterdam Philharmonic on DG, EMI Classics, and BIS Records, and the London Philharmonic for the LPO label.

A native of Montreal, Yannick studied piano, conducting, composition, and chamber music at Montreal’s Conservatory of Music and continued his studies with renowned conductor Carlo Maria Giulini; he also studied choral conducting with Joseph Flummerfelt at Westminster Choir College. Among Yannick’s honors are an appointment as Companion of the Order of Canada; an Officer of the Order of Montreal; Musical America’s 2016 Artist of the Year; the Prix Denise-Pelletier; and honorary doctorates from the University of Quebec in Montreal, the Curtis Institute of Music, Westminster Choir College of Rider University, McGill University, the University of Montreal, and the University of Pennsylvania.

To read Yannick’s full bio, please visit philorch.org/conductor. 8 The Philadelphia Orchestra 2019–2020 Season

Yannick Nézet-Séguin Violas Flutes Music Director Choong-Jin Chang, Principal Jeffrey Khaner, Principal Walter and Leonore Annenberg Chair Ruth and A. Morris Williams Chair Paul and Barbara Henkels Chair Kirsten Johnson, Associate Patrick Williams, Stéphane Denève Principal Associate Principal Principal Guest Conductor Kerri Ryan, Assistant Principal Rachelle and Ronald Kaiserman Erina Yashima Judy Geist Chair Assistant Conductor Renard Edwards Olivia Staton Lina Gonzalez-Granados Anna Marie Ahn Petersen Erica Peel, Piccolo Conducting Fellow Piasecki Family Chair First David Nicastro Oboes David Kim, Concertmaster Burchard Tang Peter Smith, Associate Principal Dr. Benjamin Rush Chair Che-Hung Chen Jonathan Blumenfeld Juliette Kang, First Associate Rachel Ku Edwin Tuttle Chair Concertmaster Marvin Moon Elizabeth Starr Masoudnia, Joseph and Marie Field Chair Meng Wang English Horn Ying Fu*, Associate Concertmaster Joanne T. Greenspun Chair Marc Rovetti, Assistant Cellos Concertmaster Hai-Ye Ni, Principal Clarinets Barbara Govatos Priscilla Lee, Associate Principal Ricardo Morales, Principal Robert E. Mortensen Chair Yumi Kendall, Assistant Principal Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Jonathan Beiler Wendy and Derek Pew Chair Hirono Oka Foundation Chair Samuel Caviezel, Associate Richard Amoroso Richard Harlow Principal Robert and Lynne Pollack Chair Gloria dePasquale Sarah and Frank Coulson Chair Yayoi Numazawa Orton P. and Noël S. Jackson Socrates Villegas Jason DePue Chair Paul R. Demers, Bass Clarinet Larry A. Grika Chair Kathryn Picht Read Peter M. Joseph and Susan Jennifer Haas Robert Cafaro Rittenhouse Joseph Chair Miyo Curnow Volunteer Committees Chair Elina Kalendarova Ohad Bar-David Bassoons Daniel Han John Koen Daniel Matsukawa, Principal Julia Li Derek Barnes Richard M. Klein Chair William Polk Mollie and Frank Slattery Chair Mark Gigliotti, Co-Principal Mei Ching Huang Alex Veltman Angela Anderson Smith Holly Blake, Contrabassoon Second Violins Basses Kimberly Fisher, Principal Harold Robinson, Principal Horns Peter A. Benoliel Chair Carole and Emilio Gravagno Jennifer Montone, Principal Paul Roby, Associate Principal Chair Gray Charitable Trust Chair Sandra and David Marshall Chair Joseph Conyers, Acting Jeffrey Lang, Associate Principal Dara Morales, Assistant Principal Associate Principal Hannah L. and J. Welles Anne M. Buxton Chair Tobey and Mark Dichter Chair Henderson Chair Philip Kates John Hood Jeffry Kirschen Mitchell and Hilarie Morgan Michael Shahan Ernesto Tovar Torres Family Foundation Chair David Fay Shelley Showers Booker Rowe Duane Rosengard Joseph Brodo Chair, given by Robert Kesselman Trumpets Peter A. Benoliel Nathaniel West David Bilger, Principal Davyd Booth Marguerite and Gerry Lenfest Paul Arnold Some members of the string Chair Lorraine and David Popowich Chair sections voluntarily rotate Jeffrey Curnow, Associate Dmitri Levin seating on a periodic basis. Principal Boris Balter Gary and Ruthanne Schlarbaum Amy Oshiro-Morales Chair Yu-Ting Chen Anthony Prisk Jeoung-Yin Kim Robert W. Earley Christine Lim Trombones Timpani Harp Nitzan Haroz, Principal Don S. Liuzzi, Principal Elizabeth Hainen, Principal Neubauer Family Foundation Dwight V. Dowley Chair Patricia and John Imbesi Chair Chair Angela Zator Nelson, Associate Matthew Vaughn, Co-Principal Principal Librarians Eric Carlson Robert M. Grossman, Principal Blair Bollinger, Bass Trombone Percussion Steven K. Glanzmann Drs. Bong and Mi Wha Lee Chair Christopher Deviney, Principal Angela Zator Nelson Stage Personnel Tuba James J. Sweeney, Jr., Manager Carol Jantsch, Principal Piano and Celesta James P. Barnes Lyn and George M. Ross Chair Kiyoko Takeuti Dennis Moore, Jr.

Keyboards Davyd Booth *On leave Musicians Behind the Scenes Elina Kalendarova Where were you born? In Tashkent, USSR. What piece of music could you hear over and over again? Gary Gold Brahms’s Symphony No. 1. What is your most treasured possession? My family. What’s your favorite Philadelphia restaurant? M Restaurant at the Morris House. Tell us about your instrument. I have a Venetian violin by Sanctus Seraphin, ca. 1738, which was in a collection in Paris for 70 years before I bought it. Prior to that it was owned by Joseph Szigeti and Charles Munch. What’s in your instrument case? Two bows, rosin, pencils, and a practice mute. If you could ask one composer one question what would it be? I would ask Ravel if he would consider writing a violin . What piece of music never fails to move you? The second movement of Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major. When did you join the Orchestra? In March 2002. Do you play any instruments? Piano, at a completely different level though. What’s your favorite type of food? I like all Southern-European cuisines. What books are on your nightstand? Hard copy or e-reader? A hard copy of Staying Connected to Your Teenager by Michael Riera. Do you speak any other languages? Russian. Do you have any hobbies? Putting my father’s music manuscripts in Finale printable format. Do you have a favorite movie? The Great Dictator by Charlie Chaplin. Is there a piece of music that isn’t in the standard orchestral repertoire that should be? Bartók’s Hungarian Sketches, Barber’s Medea’s Dance of Vengeance, Ginastera’s Concerto per Corde, all of Scriabin’s symphonies.

To read the full set of questions, please visit www.philorch.org/Kalendarova. 10 Beyond the Baton This Month Yannick Talks about Mahler’s Symphony No. 5.

What makes it so special for you to conduct this work now, after Chris Lee having led it with The Philadelphia Orchestra for the first time in 2010? For any conductor, and I would also say many orchestra players, Mahler’s Fifth Symphony represents the ultimate joy of being in an orchestra. It’s the quintessential Mahler. It has everything we associate with Mahler, of course starting with the famous Adagietto [fourth movement], which is at the heart of the piece. The intimacy and the hoping, sighing, reflecting, jubilating quality of the strings—it’s really unlike any other piece in the repertoire. It is very typically Mahler as it has movement from darkness to brightness, with a very somber funeral march (which is also very famous, initiated by the trumpet and then taken up by the whole orchestra); a very tumultuous middle section; and the third movement, which is more of an dance that is also very closely associated with Mahler’s Austrian roots and which features the principal horn. So it’s famous for every instrumental group.

I had the great fortune to conduct this work very early on in my relationship with The Philadelphia Orchestra. That was the first concert I conducted after I had been named music director. So as music director designate, my first rehearsal in October 2010 started with the first few notes of the Fifth. I think this memory will be for all my life in my brain, but most importantly in my heart and in my soul. To be able to revisit that close to 10 years later I think will be fascinating for our audiences and for me and for the musicians, to see how far we’ve grown together since that first encounter with this wonderful symphony.

Mahler’s Fifth Symphony will be performed October 17–19.

To read previous Beyond the Batons, please visit www.philorch.org/baton. 12 WomenNOW In the 2019–20 season, a woman’s place is on The Philadelphia Orchestra’s stages, leading from the podium, performing in the spotlight, and commanding the repertoire. By Margie Smith Holt

Gabriela Lena Frank, the Orchestra’s composer-in-residence, who will write a new work to be performed “in dialogue” with Beethoven’s First and Ninth symphonies this season. Mariah Tauger Ravel. Bartók. Frank.

Gabriela Lena Frank remembers well what it was like, as a young composer, to have one of her pieces paired with the work of musical giants.

“I felt daunted then,” she says. “And it was my father who said, ‘You shouldn’t feel daunted. Look at this: Frank, and Ravel, and Bartók. Look, your name is with them. And that should be inspiring.’ That changed me forever.”

Seeing her name on a program with famous composers from history may have been new. But being in the company of male composers—and white male composers at that? That was the status quo. Coming of age in the 1990s, she Nineteenth-century never had a woman composition teacher in school. Nor did composer, pianist, and she have a composition teacher of color. teacher Louise Farrenc, whose Second Symphony “When you talk about being a woman, women’s rights, will be performed by Yannick you also have to talk about race,” she says. “The fact that and the Orchestra in I was a woman of color, often the only one in the music January/February. school and/or the department during my years of training, was something that was always a challenge. There would be times when I felt that I was qualified for something but I would not be selected because I didn’t look like what a composer in a European art tradition should look like. And my response to that was to just work harder.

“Nowadays, there’s so much more conversation about what it means to be of color, or to be a woman, to be disabled, to be trans,” she says, “and it’s really as a result of this kind of discussion that the industry is following.”

As the new composer-in-residence for The Philadelphia Orchestra’s current season and beyond, Frank is a linchpin of WomenNOW, the Orchestra’s multi-faceted programming initiative designed to put female artists in what Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin calls “their rightful place at center stage—as conductors, as composers, and as soloists.”

“This is a celebration of women innovators and creators,” said President and CEO Matías Tarnopolsky in announcing WomenNOW as a major “pillar” of the Orchestra’s 120th season. “We’re delighted that women’s music features so significantly on our season.”

“This is a great moment,” says Yannick. “I want to make it clear that this a new commitment for the future. That every Philadelphia Orchestra season should be the reflection of the diverse and beautiful communities that we represent.”

“Diversity is key. Whether it be diversity of opinion, heritage, or gender,” says composer Valerie Coleman, whose world premiere work launches WomenNOW. 14 WomenNOW Pete Checchia

Composer and flutist The Orchestra commissioned a symphonic expansion Valerie Coleman (far left) is of her Afro-Cuban inspired Umoja—meaning “unity” in joined by oboist Jonathan Swahili—for opening weekend. “Many women composers Blumenfeld, Principal who have come before wrote thought-provocative works Bassoon Daniel Matsukawa, that challenged standard convention, with a greatness not French horn player Shelley fully realized until people were ready to listen.” Showers, and clarinetist Socrates Villegas to perform Frank says The Philadelphia Orchestra has been listening— a selection from her Umoja and providing opportunities for women composers. at the 2019–20 season The seeds for her current residency were planted eight announcement this past years ago, when she was commissioned to compose a March in Verizon Hall. The new work for Yannick’s inaugural season in 2012. After world premiere of Coleman’s giving the world premiere of Concertino Cusqueño in orchestral version of Umoja, Philadelphia, Yannick took the piece to Carnegie Hall, which was commissioned by Saratoga, and on tour to Asia, in addition to programming The Philadelphia Orchestra, it on one of the Orchestra’s annual Martin Luther King, Jr., launches the WomenNOW Tribute Concerts. celebration. Frank’s voice is a powerful one. Female, yes, but she’s also, in her words, someone who is “mixed-race, daughter of a Jew, daughter of a Latin-American immigrant, daughter of Chinese immigrants” who grew up in a liberal, hippie campus town and writes symphonies for a living. “To me, that’s very American!” she says.

She is also hearing impaired—born partially deaf, but with perfect pitch—which perhaps makes her uniquely qualified for one of her roles as composer-in-residence: curating a series of new works in honor of the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birthday. 16 WomenNOW

As part of BeethovenNOW, another cornerstone of the Orchestra’s 2019–20

Mathias Bothor season, Yannick will lead the entire cycle of Beethoven symphonies over a four- week period in the spring (March 12–April 5, 2020), each program paired with an original work in “response” to the symphonies—a love letter, a work of dissent, or a reflection on contemporary struggles and aspirations— illuminating the genius and relevance of Beethoven today. Frank’s commission will be “in dialogue” with the Ninth Symphony, which Beethoven wrote when he was completely deaf. Other symphonies will be juxtaposed with new works by three emerging composers from Frank’s Creative Academy of Music: Iman Habibi, Jessica Hunt, and Carlos Simon.

“Beethoven lived in a world where the dominant voice was male … and white,” says Conductor Karina Canellakis Yannick. “Celebrating his legacy in 2020 means paying makes her Philadelphia attention to the voices of today.” Orchestra debut in February. Audiences will hear compositions by 11 women this season, ranging from the world premiere commissions of Coleman, Frank, and Hunt to underappreciated works by other living composers, to the rarely heard masterpieces of women composing in the 19th (Louise Farrenc) and early 20th centuries (Lili Boulanger).

“We have to understand that women have been composing for a very long time,” says Frank. “This is just merely giving them the platform that has been denied.” WomenNOW means women will have an unprecedented showing on the podium. Five women—some returning, some making debuts—will guest conduct the Philadelphians this season. Two more join the Orchestra family: Erina Yashima, succeeding Kensho Watanabe, is now the Orchestra’s assistant conductor. And Lina Gonzalez-Granados has been named conducting fellow, a new position that, Tarnopolsky says, “speaks volumes to The Philadelphia Orchestra’s and Yannick’s commitment to education and to cultivating the next generation of conductors.” 18 WomenNOW

Margie Smith Holt is an Women will also be well represented on stage as Emmy-winning journalist soloists, and in the repertoire. More than 13 and managing partner of instrumentalists and vocalists will be featured, re:Write, a writing and including sopranos Angel Blue and Christine Goerke; storytelling business with a special focus on the pianists Hélène Grimaud and Yuja Wang; and violinist arts. She was also the Leila Josefowicz. host of The Philadelphia Orchestra’s Global Concert Josefowicz’s performance adds another dimension to Series. the WomenNOW theme: She performs John Adams’s Scheherazade.2, a piece written for her by Adams (who also conducts the Philadelphia premiere) and inspired by the plight of women throughout history.

“I imagine a Scheherazade who is not just a clever and inventive wife caught in an impossible situation, but rather an empowered woman, both sensuous and capable of fighting back,” says Adams.

Other repertoire centerpieces that tell women’s stories include George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess (conducted by Marin Alsop); a rare presentation of Ravel’s L’Enfant et les sortilèges (conducted by Stéphane Denève), featuring a libretto by 20th-century writer Colette; and a symphonic Pete Checchia Pete staging of Strauss’s Elektra, with Yannick conducting and powerhouse Goerke singing the title role of a tormented daughter.

Throughout her residency, Frank will remain a presence in Philadelphia’s communities. She’s working on a commission for the 2020–21 season, a symphonic piece focused on Latin-American creation myths, for which she is partnering with other Philadelphia arts organizations.

Beyond the stage, the Orchestra is also a partner in Drexel University’s Vision 2020 initiative. Founded and administered by Drexel’s Institute for Women’s Health and Leadership, Vision 2020 marks the 100th anniversary of women’s right to vote in America, and examines what’s still needed for women to achieve true equality.

Frank says it’s shocking to realize how much further there is to go. But in that shock, there is opportunity.

“This is a positive development that we’re looking at ourselves,” she says. “This is a beautiful thing to open the doors.” P

Yannick and Gabriela Lena Frank go over the score to her Concertino Cusqueño, a work commissioned by the Orchestra for his inaugural season as music director in 2012. 21 New Conducting Appointments The Philadelphia Orchestra welcomes new Assistant Conductor Erina Yashima and Conducting Fellow Lina Gonzalez-Granados. Ms. Yashima will serve as cover conductor for, and provide assistance to, Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin and guest conductors, in addition to participating in residency, touring, and educational activities. Ms. Gonzalez-Granados will assist Nézet-Séguin and guest conductors on special projects in addition to leading select community programs.

Ms. Yashima started her musical studies at the Institute for the Early Advancement of the Musically Highly Gifted in her hometown of

Todd Rosenberg Todd Hannover, Germany. After studying conducting in Freiburg and Vienna, she completed her studies at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin. She has been studying and working with Riccardo Muti since 2015. She was winner of the Chicago Symphony’s Sir Georg Solti Conducting Apprenticeship and one of three finalists in the prestigious 2018 Nestlé and Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Award. She will make several debuts this season, including the Chicago Symphony’s School and Family Concerts, the San Francisco Symphony’s Family Concert, and the Rostov State Philharmonic in her Russian debut. She also leads new productions of Handel’s Rinaldo at the Glimmerglass Festival and Mozart’s Don Giovanni at the Teatro di Pisa in Italy, and returns to the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and to the State Philharmonic of Cluj- Napoca Romania.

Ms. Gonzalez-Granados was born and raised in Cali, Colombia. She earned a master’s degree and graduate diploma from New England Conservatory and is pursuing a doctoral degree at Boston University. From 2017 to 2019 she was the Taki Leona Campbell Photography Leona Concordia Fellow, a position created by Marin Alsop to foster the talent of female conductors. This year she also becomes conducting fellow of the Seattle Symphony. Her engagements this season include The Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Seattle, San Diego, Principality of Asturias, and Stamford symphonies. She was the first Latina conductor to lead a major production in a U.S. opera house, at Tulsa Opera. She was a finalist for the 2019 Sir Georg Solti International Conducting Competition and attended the Tanglewood Conducting Seminar, a master class at the Lucerne Festival with Bernard Haitink, and the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music. In 2014 she founded the Unitas Ensemble, a Boston-based chamber orchestra specializing in Latin-American music. 20 Two New Orchestra Recordings The Philadelphia Orchestra began recording in 1917, and over the ensuing years it became the most recorded orchestra in the United States. The ensemble adds to its catalogue with two new releases.

Decca has released the premiere recording of Wynton Marsalis’s with Nicola Benedetti and conductor Cristian Măcelaru, taken from live performances in Verizon Hall in November 2017. The Concerto draws on Western violin music from the Baroque era to the 21st century and explores Benedetti’s and Marsalis’s common musical heritage in Celtic, Anglo, and Afro-American folk music and dance. As Peter Dobrin noted in his concert review in the Philadelphia Inquirer, “Four movements long, his [Marsalis’s] concerto speaks in easy tones, guiding us through familiar American vernacular sounds. It fishes in some of the same waters as Gershwin and Copland. Benedetti negotiated the stream of variegated material with great sensitivity to style.”

The Orchestra’s cycle of the complete piano/orchestra works of Rachmaninoff with Daniil Trifonov and Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin on the Deutsche Grammophon label comes to a conclusion when their final recording, the First and Third concertos, is released October 11. The recording is paired with Trifonov’s solo piano transcription of Rachmaninoff’s “The Silver Sleigh Bells” and his arrangement of the composer’s Vocalise. Trifonov follows in the footsteps of the composer, who also recorded all his piano/orchestra works with the Philadelphians in the first half of the 20th century.

The recordings can be purchased through various music retailers and digital music services. 43 In the Spotlight A Monthly Profile of Orchestra Fans and Family

Are you reading this in Verizon Hall, waiting for the concert to begin? If so, pay close attention just before the house lights go down. As the musicians get ready to tune, before the conductor strides on stage, see if you can spot the woman looking around—maybe stage right, behind the piano or percussion—checking to make sure everything’s in place. If she has long dark hair, that’s Michelle Zwi, the Orchestra’s associate personnel manager, and when she’s working, things don’t get started until she says so.

“If you’re a regular at the orchestra, you’ve seen me walking around stage making sure musicians are in their chairs and ready to go,” says Michelle. “Some of the most human and beautiful moments are in that 40-second period after I give the OK for the lights to go down, when they’re about to tune, and the Orchestra’s quiet and it’s just the core operations staff, the conductor, and the soloist backstage. It’s a little dark, it’s quiet, and it’s filled with a super-intense energy.” Michelle Zwi Michelle describes her job as a cross between HR and artist management. “Personnel is responsible for letting the Orchestra members know what, when, and where they’re playing,” she says. She coordinates auditions, manages payroll and other administrative tasks, travels with the Orchestra on tour and to Vail and Saratoga, keeps concerts and rehearsals running on schedule, and hires subs and extra musicians. Short a violinist? If someone’s out sick, it’s Michelle’s job to make sure a replacement is in that seat. “It’s like this administrative jigsaw puzzle,” she says, of keeping track of 100 moving pieces—each with their own distinct personality. “Luckily I love puzzles!”

Michelle’s background makes her a perfect fit for the position. A conservatory-trained oboist, she had a decade-long career as a professional musician. (You can hear her on pianist Gabriela Montero’s Latin Grammy-winning Ex Patria recording with the Orchestra of the Americas, and on the soundtrack of the video game Final Fantasy XV.) She understands “the nitty- gritty” of a musician’s day-to-day life. But, she stresses, she’s just one part of a phenomenal operations team that includes production, logistics, and personnel. “It really takes a village,” she says. “Only with our combined efforts can we help make this beautiful music happen.”

For more on Michelle Zwi’s story visit www.philorch.org/zwi.