december 2016 THE INNOVATORS Musical America30 Professionals of the Year 1. MISSY MAZZOLI & ELLEN REID FOUNDERS ON THE COVER LUNA COMPOSITION LAB 2. CHRISTOPHER KOELSCH 1 2 3 4 5 6 PRESIDENT AND CEO LOS ANGELES OPERA 3. ALAN FLETCHER PRESIDENT AND CEO ASPEN MUSIC FESTIVAL AND SCHOOL 4. THOMAS KNIFIC 7 8 9 10 11 12 PROFESSOR OF DOUBLE BASS HEAD OF JAZZ STUDIES COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS WESTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY 5. JANE COVNER ASSOCIATE JAG ENTERTAINMENT 13 14 15 16 17 18 6. MELVIN STECHER AND NORMAN HOROWITZ EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION 7. STEPHEN WADSWORTH 19 20 21 22 23 24 DIRECTOR OF OPERA STUDIES, ARTIST DIPLOMA IN OPERA STUDIES, VOCAL ARTS THE JUILLIARD SCHOOL HEAD OF DRAMATIC STUDIES METROPOLITAN OPERA LINDEMANN YOUNG ARTIST DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM 8. BETH MORRISON 25 26 27 28 29 30 CREATIVE PRODUCER BETH MORRISON PROJECTS 9. JAMES GINSBURG PRESIDENT CEDILLE CHICAGO 10. HELEN EATON CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER SETTLEMENT MUSIC SCHOOL 17. 24. 11. HAD MITH JOSH SHAW CHRISTIAN THOMPSON C S ARTISTIC DIRECTOR ARTISTIC ADVISOR, ORCHESTRE NATIONAL DE LYON CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER PACIFIC OPERA PROJECT DIRECTOR, VERBIER FESTIVAL ACADEMY LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC 18. 25. 12. AUL CHWENDENER FRED BRONSTEIN JONATHAN PALANT P S DEAN FOUNDER/CONDUCTOR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR PEABODY INSTITUTE DALLAS STREET CHOIR ALL-STAR ORCHESTRA 19. 26. 13. UILL AILEY ROBERTO PROSSEDA PAOLA PRESTINI Z B PIANIST COMPOSER ARTISTIC DIRECTOR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR/CREATIVE DIRECTOR EL PASO PRO-MUSICA 20. NATIONAL SAWDUST PROFESSOR OF CELLO NICK SQUIRE RECORDING ENGINEER UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT EL PASO BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA 27. ARTISTIC DIRECTOR TROY PETERS MUSIC DIRECTOR NORTHWEST BACH FESTIVAL 21. ADRIAN FUNG YOUTH ORCHESTRAS OF SAN ANTONIO (YOSA) VICE PRESIDENT, INNOVATION 14. KATIE WYATT TORONTO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA 28. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR RICHARD SCERBO CELLIST/PRODUCER DIRECTOR KIDZNOTES THE AFIARA QUARTET NATIONAL ORCHESTRAL INSTITUTE + FESTIVAL EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR EL SISTEMA USA 22. DAVID B. DEVAN 29. ED HARSH GENERAL DIRECTOR AND PRESIDENT PRESIDENT AND CEO 15. WILLIAM RANSOM OPERA PHILADELPHIA NEW MUSIC USA ARTISTIC DIRECTOR EMORY CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY OF ATLANTA 23. NADIR ASLAM AND 30. BILL PALANT 16. BENJAMIN MITCHELL RISTIN LSON FOUNDER AND MANAGING DIRECTOR K O E´TUDE ARTS FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT FOUNDERS KALEIDOSCOPE CHAMBER ORCHESTRA MOUNT SINAI CONCERTS FOR PATIENTS Introduction “I think that true innovation happens by creating space for artists to dream, explore, succeed and, if necessary, Stephanie Challener Publisher and Managing Editor fail without worry.” So says Beth Morrison, new-music- theater composer/producer/imprasario and one of Musical Susan Elliott America’s Top 30 Professionals for 2016. Morrison, creator Editor, MusicalAmerica.com News and Special Reports of the annual Prototype Festival, is an ideal fit for this [email protected] year’s category: The Innovators. With input from our readers and colleagues, we chose individuals who have Joyce Wasserman generated new ideas, launched or notably advanced a business, programmed a Senior Account Manager 732-851-6988 ß [email protected] new series, or all of the above. We received more nominations than ever this year, so it wasn’t easy winnowing them down to a mere 30. Winners range from high Frances Wan profile to no profile, from big earners to volunteers. They are women composers Design Director | Database Publishing Specialist who mentor teenage girls to follow in their footsteps; opera company general managers who are pushing the envelope and bringing in new audiences; a cellist Howard Roth who plays in neo-natal units; a conductor who leads choirs of homeless men and Business Consultant women; a pianist bringing back the pedal piano by commissioning new works for it; a competition in which everybody wins; a publicist who creates a press kit with Sedgwick Clark origami cranes to promote a show called Wings. Features Editor, Musical America Directory They not only innovate, they inspire us. Their ideas and the courage to follow them through, no matter how off-the-wall, controversial, or otherwise out of the box, Robert E. Hudoba Manager of Listing Services keep us moving forward, spur us on to stay creative and keep the field of performing [email protected] arts vital and exciting. Kudos to every one. Regards, Carolyn Eychenne (Europe) Advertising Sales Representative Susan Elliott 33.1.39.58.14.01 ß [email protected] Editor, Special Reports Andrea Rancati (Italy) Advertising Sales Representative 39.02.703.00088 ß [email protected] Debra Kraft Account Coordinator [email protected] PUBLISHED BY PERFORMING ARTS RESOURCES, LLC PO Box 1330, Hightstown, NJ 08520 609-448-3346 ß [email protected] www.musicalamerica.com ß SpECIal REPORTS 2016 ß ©2016 all RIGHTS RESERVED. 3 The Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta CELEBRATES of Chamber Music at Its Best 24 years “The musicians [of the Vega String Quartet] took real risks in their music making . playing that had a kind of clean intoxication to it, pulling the listener along.” —The New York Times DornBrothers Photography DornBrothers Through a wide variety of performance and educational activities, the Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta is creating new generations of passionate and educated music lovers who will cherish and support this great art forever. At the heart of the Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta is the Quartet-in-Residence program, held by the international award-winning VEGA STRING QUARTET—the only professional quartet ever to make Atlanta its home base. The Vega String Quartet’s residency at Emory is supported by the Rebecca Katz-Doft Chamber Music Endowment. The world’s greatest music performed by some QH#VNCPVCoUơPGUVTGUKFGPVOWUKEKCPUCPFLQKPGF by internationally known guest artists in the most beautiful concert venues in Atlanta. Visit vegaquartet.com for more information and check out the Chamber Music Society’s entire season at arts.emory.edu/ecmsa or write [email protected]. T h ie NNOVATORS Welcome to our annual year-end Top 30 MA Professionals Special Report. This year, we asked the field to nominate the top innovators of the field; people who have recently generated new ideas, launched or notably advanced a business, programmed a new series, or all of the above. Our queries generated numerous responses, and it wasn’t easy winnowing it down to a mere 30. Here they are; wish them a well-deserved, hearty congratulations! ZUILL BAILEY Artistic Director El Paso Pro-Musica Professor of Cello, University of Texas at El Paso Artistic Director, Northwest Bach Festival With degrees from the Peabody Institute and the Juilliard School, and homeless shelters. Bailey is also artistic director for the cellist Zuill Bailey has performed and recorded with orchestras Sitka Summer Music Festival/Series and Cello Seminar in Alaska. all over the United States, as well as in Austria, Israel, and South In nearby Eagle Mountain, he gives annual performances with the Africa. But he has cast a wider net, far beyond the concert hall, women’s orchestra of the Hiland Mountain Correctional Center. determined to make classical music accessible to all, even in non- Whether in school districts, low-income neighborhoods, or in traditional settings. prisons, Bailey is committed to bringing people together through He performs for thousands of students in schools every year. music. As he notes, “It is a great pleasure for me to be able to Acknowledging the effects of music on newborn babies, he has share the gift of music through concerts as well as help engage played in local neo-natal intensive care units. In Spokane, WA, communities. Nothing is as powerful and as enriching as watching where Bailey is artistic director of the Northwest Bach Festival, how classical music inspires, heals, educates, and unites us all. I am and in Mesa, AZ, where he is guest artistic director for the Mesa honored to continue doing my part as an ambassador for music and Arts Center, he has provided music in hospices, oncology centers, to share the joy that it brings to everyone.” —Bruce Hodges continued on p. 6 www.musicalamerica.com ß SpECIal REPORTS 2016 ß ©2016 all RIGHTS RESERVED. 5 T h ie NNOVATORS FRED BRONSTEIN Dean Peabody Institute In the two years that Fred Bronstein has been dean of Peabody embrace other things to create audiences and resources. Orchestras Institute, he has been emphasizing the need for change in classical need to be educators, advocates, communicators. Music schools also music education. “What I tell people is that you still have to come out need to be thinking about how to develop audiences and people’s of a conservatory a great player, but that’s not enough anymore,” he connections with music.” says. “It’s a competitive world out there. You have to be developing Among the Breakthrough Plans’ initiatives are a new system skills to create your own path and be successful in different ways.” for faculty contracts and evaluations; a realignment of executive Bronstein came to Peabody, which is part of Johns Hopkins staffing; the use of market research analysis to inform admissions University, from the symphony orchestra world, having been and recruitment; acoustical upgrades in the primary performance CEO of the Omaha, Dallas, and St. Louis Symphonies. In St. Louis, space; the addition of Baltimore Symphony Music Director Marin after financial woes led to a work stoppage over the musicians’ Alsop to the faculty; symposiums with thought leaders in the contract, he engineered a turnaround that put the orchestra on business, from The New Yorker music critic Alex Ross to Blair Tindall, sound footing. Parallels exist between the situation there and author of the novel Mozart in the Jungle, to director Peter Sellars; what the new dean faced at Peabody, whose enrollment had been and grants to faculty and students to foster innovative ideas. declining in recent years.