Karina Bharne, newly named executive director of the Orlando Philharmonic. Photo by Susan Newsom.
In Thursday’s (10/19) Orlando Sentinel (Florida), Matthew J. Palm writes, “The Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra has hired a new executive director, the first woman to hold the top administrative post in the nonprofit’s 31 seasons. Karina Bharne, who has served as executive director of Symphony Tacoma in Washington since 2018, will lead the orchestra’s business, the organization announced Thursday. On the artistic side, music director Eric Jacobsen is contracted to remain with the Philharmonic until the end of the 2025 season…. Bharne will be the organization’s fourth executive director … Bharne’s appointment means, for the first time, all the top leaders of the organization are women…. She previously worked for the former San Antonio Symphony as director of orchestra personnel and later vice president and general manager before eventually serving … in 2018 as an interim executive director…. Bharne also has held leadership roles with Goh Ballet in Vancouver, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Aspen Music Festival and School in Colorado, and the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts, outside Washington, D.C. She earned an MBA from Eastern Washington University and a master of arts management from Carnegie Mellon University, where she received her bachelor’s degree. She was also selected to participate in the League of American Orchestras’ Emerging Leaders Program.”
