“After three seasons, Mark Blakeman will leave the Tucson Symphony Orchestra in late May for a job in his native Oklahoma,” writes Cathalena Burch in Friday’s (3/3) Arizona Daily Star. “Blakeman, who served as TSO chief executive officer and president since August 2014, has been named the Marilynn and Carl Thoma Executive Director of the new McKnight Center for the Performing Arts at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater … expected to open in 2019…. The cornerstone of Blakeman’s tenure has been his initiatives to bring young audiences to the Music Hall. Soon after he arrived, Blakeman, with the Board of Trustees’ support, launched the TSO Family Series that builds on the audiences of the TSO’s popular Just For Kids series. Blakeman said the family-friendly series, now in its second season, has helped bridge the gap between Just For Kids, which is geared toward really young children from toddler to elementary school, and kids 6 and older. He also and initiated TSO TEAMtix, with funding from the Marshall Foundation. That program provides free tickets to middle and high school band, orchestra and choir students, offers free tickets for students and a companion to TSO classics and MasterWorks concerts.”
Posted March 8, 2017
