“For Melanie C. Clarke, executive director of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, it was a case of the student becoming the teacher,” writes Pat Summers in Friday’s (1/15) Princeton Packet (New Jersey). “She had earned that right. Earlier this month, Ms. Clarke returned to the Leadership Academy of the League of American Orchestras, where in 2006 she had taken an invaluable, 11-day seminar about orchestra management. This time, she went as a guest faculty member to teach ‘Managing a Smaller Budget Orchestra.’ … Ms. Clarke will soon occupy her front row, side balcony seat in Princeton University’s Richardson Auditorium with more than her usual delight: Rossen Milanov, the object of the orchestra’s long and comprehensive search for a new music director, debuts as PSO’s music director—only the third in the organization’s 30-year history. That search for an artistic leader—together with maintaining the orchestra’s momentum at the same time—was only one of those challenges Ms. Clarke faced and then led staff, trustees and musicians through. … Her own management style is ‘inclusive,’ Ms. Clarke says of how she cultivates a team approach so everyone has as much stake in PSO concerts as the musicians do.”
Posted January 19, 2010
