MICHAEL BLACKIE has been appointed executive chef, effective March 9, at Ottawa’s National Arts Centre, where he will have culinary responsibility for the NAC’s Le Café and its restaurants and catering departments. Born in Leicestershire, England, and raised in Montreal, Blackie has for the past three months been head chef at the award-winning Perspectives Restaurant, part of the Brookstreet resort in Kanata, Ontario. He has held important posts at the Founders Club and Westin Harbour Castle, both in Toronto; with Mexico’s Pierre Marques resort; and with the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Hong Kong.
Category: Who’s In
Administrative: Carnegie Hall
NAOMI GRABEL has joined the staff of Carnegie Hall as director of marketing and creative services. She comes to Carnegie with nearly twenty years of experience in the arts industry, most recently as director of marketing and development at Australia’s Sydney Opera House. Prior to that she held positions as vice president of marketing and communications at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia, and as managing director of Philadelphia’s Wilma Theater. Grabel holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in theater administration from Yale University and a bachelor’s in English and Communications from the University of Pennsylvania.
Administrative: Austin Symphony Orchestra
Austin Symphony Orchestra President Joe R. Long has announced the appointment of GALEN WIXSON as executive director, effective March 16, 2009. Wixson is currently executive director of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra in Little Rock, and has previously held that post at the Symphony of Southeast Texas (Beaumont, Tex.), the Reno Philharmonic, Manhattan Center for the Arts, and the American String Teachers Association. He holds a master’s degree in management from Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz School of Public Policy, and earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in cello performance from Wichita State University.
Artistic: New Jersey Youth Sym
The New Jersey Youth Symphony has announced the appointment of DAVID COMMANDAY as artistic director, effective June 1, 2009. Commanday has been music director of the Peoria Symphony Orchestra for the last eight years, and since 2003 has served as music director of the Peoria-based Central Illinois Youth Symphony, prior to which he was music director of the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra. He has led all-state orchestras in Massachusetts and Vermont and has taught and conducted at Harvard University, Boston University, MIT, and Virginia Commonwealth University. Commanday is also a performing cellist and active guest conductor. He holds a diploma in orchestral conducting from the Vienna Hochschule für Music, where he graduated with highest honors. (Photo: Vicki Taufer)
Board Leadership: Wichita Sym
SUSAN F. KOSLOWSKY, senior vice president of Emprise Bank, was elected to a two-year term as president of the Wichita Symphony Society Board of Directors at its annual meeting on January 21. She has been a member of the WSS board since 2002, serving in a variety of leadership capacities during her tenure.
Artistic: São Paulo Sym
YAN PASCAL TORTELIER has been named principal conductor of the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra, a post recently left vacant by the sudden departure of JOHN NESCHLING, who had led the orchestra for twelve years. The appointment calls for Tortelier to conduct eight programs in São Paulo in 2009 and twelve in 2010. He has just concluded three years as principal guest conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and is currently conductor emeritus of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, for which he served as principal conductor from 1992 to 2003. In recent years Tortelier has worked with such European orchestras as the London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Oslo Philharmonic, Filharmonica della Scala Milan, Radio Filharmonische Orkest Holland, and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. North American engagements have included the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and San Francisco Symphony.
Administrative: Roosevelt University
Roosevelt University has announced the appointment of HENRY FOGEL as dean of its Chicago College of Performing Arts and distinguished professor of the arts, effective July 1, 2009. Currently senior advisor to the League of American Orchestras and a consultant for a number of orchestral and musical organizations, Fogel served as the League’s president and CEO from 2003 through June 2008. Prior to assuming the chief administrative post at the League he was chairman of its Board of Directors. He has led some of the most prestigious orchestral institutions in the United States, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (1985-2003) and the National Symphony Orchestra (1981-85).
“Henry has given the orchestra field a lifetime of extraordinary service,” said League President and CEO Jesse Rosen. “His accomplishments extend well beyond the League and the orchestras he led to thousands of musicians, administrators, and volunteers throughout the country. The higher education community is fortunate to now have Henry.”
Fogel’s professorship extends his faculty affiliation with Roosevelt’s Chicago College of Performing Arts, where he has taught a course in orchestral studies for the past five years. Roosevelt University President Chuck Middleton praised Fogel for his “wisdom, dedication to his colleagues, operational acumen, and ability to raise the bar on the achievement of everyone around him.” University Provost and Executive Vice President James Gandre, who served as the CCPA’s dean from 2000 to 2007, noted that Fogel “is not only a passionate advocate for the next generation of conductors, performers and educators, but he has a true commitment to increasing community engagement.”
Administrative: Metropolitan Opera
VANESSA ROSE-PRIDEMORE has been promoted to associate director, patron program and membership at the Metropolitan Opera. A 2006 graduate of the Orchestra Management Fellowship Program of the League of American Orchestras, Rose-Pridemore is a former member of the League’s Development Department staff, and a freelance violinist.
Artistic: Utah Sym
The Utah Symphony has appointed GERALD STEICHEN principal pops conductor; his arrival comes as Keith Lockhart prepares to step down as music director in May of this year. Steichen, currently music director of the Ridgefield (Conn.) Symphony and associate conductor of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, has conducted such U.S. organizations as the Boston Pops and New York Pops; the Utah, New Jersey, Hartford, Wheeling, and Eastern Connecticut symphony orchestras; and the New York City Opera Orchestra. He has also led the NDR Orchestra (Hanover, Germany), Oslo’s NRK Orchestra, and the Tokyo City Symphony. A native of Oklahoma, Steichen holds degrees from Northern Oklahoma College, Oklahoma City University, and the University of Southern California.
Administrative: Juilliard
The Juilliard School has announced the appointment of composer and administrator VIRGINIA ALLEN as associate dean for administration. Allen has taught conducting at Juilliard, co-founded and conducted the Juilliard Trombone Choir, and served as executive director of Juilliard’s Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies. She was the first woman conductor of the U.S. Army Field Band and The Soldiers’ Chorus in Washington, D.C., the U.S. Military Academy Band at West Point, the U.S. Army Forces Command Band in Atlanta, and the West Point Glee Club. Allen holds a bachelor’s degree in education and a master’s in performance from The Catholic University of America, and is currently completing a doctoral degree at Teachers College, Columbia University.