Topic: League News

League Webinar: “Leadership Strategies During Periods of Unpredictability”

Posted on September 19, 2025 by - News Briefs

The landscape for orchestras is shifting in these uncertain and volatile times—and leaders who adapt quickly are the ones positioning their organizations to thrive. On Thursday, September 25, the League of American Orchestras and La Piana Consulting will present “Leadership Strategies During Periods of Unpredictability”, a 60-minute webinar that offers strategies to help orchestra executives proceed with clarity and confidence when the path ahead isn’t always clear.

The webinar will show how crisis leadership principles can transform uncertainty into opportunity, offer communication approaches that build rather than erode trust, and explore scenario-mapping techniques that help organizations stay three steps ahead. Through real-world case studies and interactive discussion, participants will emerge with a clear roadmap for strengthening their organization while protecting what matters most: people, mission, and community. Speakers: Humberto Camarena, Senior Consultant, La Piana Consulting, and Ali Carella, PhD, Senior Consultant, La Piana Consulting.

“Leadership Strategies During Periods of Unpredictability” takes place on Thursday, September 25 at 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time/Noon Pacific Time. If you can’t attend the webinar live, register to receive the recording. Questions? Please contact League Member Services at member@americanorchestras.org. Learn more and register at “Leadership Strategies During Periods of Unpredictability.”

League of American Orchestras Offers Free Membership to Students

Posted on September 17, 2025 by - News Briefs

The League of American Orchestras is offering students the opportunity to jumpstart their careers with free memberships and leadership programs. Student membership is best suited for those who are currently enrolled in high school or college (including undergraduate and advanced degree programs) and is also open to recent graduates. Students who join the League for free enjoy many benefits: member savings on all League events, including the National Conference; free online student programming and member forum; the latest orchestra news; connection with a national network of 2,000 organizations and individuals, and much more. The League of American Orchestras champions the vitality of music and the orchestral experience, supports the orchestra community, and leads change boldly. Learn more about the League’s free student memberships at americanorchestras.org/students.

For deeper engagement with the orchestra field, League student members currently enrolled in an academic program can consider applying to the League’s Student Leadership Council. The council’s mission is to lead, advocate, and champion student member voices and ideas as the League supports the career entry and progression of the next generation of orchestra professionals and promotes a thriving future for orchestras. Benefits include mentorship and network building opportunities to further career progression, access to the League’s jobs listings site, and complimentary registration for the League’s National Conference, as well as support with necessary travel expenses. The application deadline for the Student Leadership Council is September 28. Learn more at americanorchestras.org/students.

Review: Chelsea Komschlies’s “Mycelialore” at Grant Park Music Festival

Posted on August 28, 2025 by - News Briefs

In the August 14 Third Coast Review (Chicago), Louis Harris writes, “The Grant Park Orchestra played an excellent concert at Jay Pritzker Pavillion on Wednesday evening…. Giancarlo Guerrero was his typically perky self at the podium, and the orchestra’s prowess was on full display for … Clayton Stephenson’s stellar performance of Franz Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1 [and] a powerful performance of Camille Saint-Saëns’ Symphony No. 3 … The concert started with a recent work [Mycelialore] that set to music a phenomenon found in nature…. Composer Chelsea Komschlies explained the unusual fungal root structure of mushrooms, known as a mycelium. These fungal roots can spread great distances in the ground, forming an interconnected organism that connects trees and other plants. She … imagined what it could sound like if the interconnected mushrooms and plants could communicate via the mycelium…. She used a large orchestra enhanced by electronica….. The effect that Komschlies created of mushrooms talking to each other was startling…. She added a very charming melody, later interspersed with moments of cacophony…. With Mycelialore, Chelsea Komschlies was very effective in setting nature to music.” Mycelialore was commissioned by the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation Orchestral Commissions Program, an initiative of the League of American Orchestras in partnership with the American Composers Orchestra.

League Webinar: “How to Keep Revenue Up as Donor Counts Decline”

Posted on August 14, 2025 by - News Briefs

Orchestras across the country are taking a hit to their donor bases. Yet many orchestras have sustained fundraising growth by inspiring their most loyal donors—from $100 to $100,000—to give more. On Tuesday, August 19, the League of American Orchestras will present “How to Keep Revenue Up as Donor Counts Decline,”  a 60-minute webinar that will provide clear, actionable steps to retain and grow core donors while continuing to engage and convert new supporters despite a challenging environment. The result? Immediate cash flow and a more resilient Annual Fund. Catherine Heitz New, Chief Executive Officer of RSC Associates, will draw on RSC’s proven methods—tested across orchestras of all sizes—to show how to increase individual giving revenue and ensure your orchestra remains strong in a shifting landscape. The content of this webinar was developed by the League and RSC Associates.

Full participation in “How to Keep Revenue Up as Donor Counts Decline” is applicable for 1.0 point in Category 1.B -Education of the Certified Fund Raising Executive International application for initial certification and/or recertification.

“How to Keep Revenue Up as Donor Counts Decline” takes place on Tuesday, August 19 at 3:00 p.m. Eastern/Noon Pacific Time. If you can’t attend the webinar live, register to receive the recording. Questions? Please contact League Member Services at member@americanorchestras.org. Learn more and register at https://americanorchestras.org/event/how-to-keep-revenue-up-as-donor-counts-decline/.

New Members Join League of American Orchestras Board of Directors

Posted on August 13, 2025 by - News Briefs

Rei Hotoda, Blake-Anthony Johnson, Barbara McCelvey, Pamela Mayo, Jessica Phillips, Elizabeth Shribman, and Dr. Regynald G. Washington have joined the League of American Orchestras Board of Directors; each will serve a three-year term. Board officers for 2025-26 are Alan Mason, Chair; Marissa Eisemann, Aaron A. Flagg, and Kjristine Lund, Co-Vice Chairs; William L. Gettys, Secretary, and Chris Doerr, Treasurer.

In addition, Ex-Officio Directors for 2025-26 have been announced. They are: Martha A. Gilmer, President and CEO, San Diego Symphony Orchestra—San Diego, CA; Jennifer Boomgaarden Daoud, President/CEO, Omaha Symphony Orchestra—Omaha, NE; Anwar Nasir, Executive Director, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra—New Orleans, LA; Paul Jarrett, Executive Director, Akron Symphony Orchestra—Akron, OH; Elizabeth “Libby” Watson, Executive Director, Adrian Symphony Orchestra—Adrian, MI; Lindsey Nova, Executive Director, Three Rivers Young Peoples Orchestras—Pittsburgh, PA; and Darlene Clark, Volunteer Council President, Houston Symphony League—Houston, TX.

Melanie Clarke and Mary Carr Patton have been elected to the Emeritus Board.

Read the complete news release here.

The only national organization dedicated to the orchestras and their communities, the League of American Orchestras includes nearly 25,000 musicians, conductors, orchestra staff, board members, volunteers, and business partners working with a membership of 2,000 world-renowned orchestras, community groups, summer festivals, student and youth ensembles, conservatories and libraries, businesses serving orchestras, and individuals who love symphonic music.

Facing Generational Change Among Orchestra Audiences

Posted on July 16, 2025 by - News Briefs

In the July 1 Kiplinger Retirement Report, Elizabeth Mehren writes, “Across the country, in large city symphonies and small community orchestras alike, classically trained musicians are performing before steadily aging audiences. The older-and-older-audience phenomenon is real, says Simon Woods, president and CEO of the League of American Orchestras in New York…. ‘Virtually every orchestra in the country has been thinking about how to attract younger audiences.’… Earlier generations have faced similar challenges … But today, rising production costs, shrinking subscriptions and an explosion of free or low-cost cultural alternatives that mean young audiences never have to leave their homes have added new wrinkles to an enduring problem…. ‘In the past, there was an assumption people would turn to classical music in their later years, but this is no longer quite so simple. There’s so much competition for peoples’ time, and orchestras have to work that much harder,’ Woods says…. A League of American Orchestras report shows ‘remarkable strides’ between 2015-16 and 2023-24 in increasing the representation of living, minorities and female and nonbinary composers while the proportion of works by living composers doubled at orchestras … Between 2019 and 2023, ticket sales among Gen X rose from 20% to 31%, according to the League of American Orchestras, nearly matching the percentage bought by Baby Boomers.”

Obituary: Lee Marks, Longtime General Counsel for the League of American Orchestras, 89

Posted on July 14, 2025 by - News Briefs

On Thursday (7/10), LevineFuneral.com reported that Lee Marks, a lawyer who represented the League of American Orchestras as well as other clients, “died peacefully at home on July 8, 2025 … Lee Robert Marks was born in Queens, NY on October 22, 1935 … Lee received his bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the University of Michigan and his law degree from Harvard Law School…. He spent four years in the State Department as a special assistant to the Legal Advisor …  He [joined] a boutique Washington DC law firm … where he spent the next several years working with clients as diverse as the Ford Foundation, the government of Israel, Stavros Niarchos, and the Kappel Commission on the USPS. At the beginning of the Carter administration, he went back to the State Department as the senior Deputy Legal Adviser … In 1981, Lee met Lisl Zach, whom he married in 1985. In 2007 Lisl was offered a faculty position with Drexel University, and the couple moved to Philadelphia…. In 1997, Lee joined a Miami-based firm as the founding and managing partner … Lee was an Adjunct Professor of Law at the Temple University Law School … Lee was active in the arts and served on the boards of directors of several performing arts organizations including the League of American Orchestras, whose general counsel he was from 1967 to 2010. He also served as counsel for the White Nights Foundation of America (supporting the Mariinsky Theatre), and as treasurer of the Washington National Opera. He was on the board of the Washington Bach Consort and the Washington Chorus.”

League Webinar: “The State of Philanthropy in America in 2025”

Posted on July 11, 2025 by - News Briefs

On Tuesday, July 15, the League of American Orchestras will present “The State of Philanthropy in America in 2025,” a 60-minute webinar that will review the latest data on giving behavior, examine the impact of past disruptions to philanthropy, and reveal ways that orchestras can remain resilient. The speaker is Laura MacDonald, Founder and Principal, Benefactor Group.

In most years, charitable giving grows. For decades, it has grown an average of 6% per year. Giving has declined only five times since 1967 (although it hasn’t always kept pace with inflation). Even the headwinds of a pandemic and social tumult in 2020 and 2021 didn’t diminish charitable giving. But these are extraordinary times with the volatility of the market, economic disruptions like tariffs, and political polarization, leaving many fundraisers worried that we may soon face declines in giving.

“The State of Philanthropy in America in 2025” takes place on Tuesday, July 15, at 2:00 p.m. Eastern/11:00 a.m. Pacific Time. If you can’t attend the webinar live, register to receive the recording. Learn more and register at https://americanorchestras.org/event/the-state-of-philanthropy-in-america-in-2025/.

Full participation in “The State of Philanthropy in America in 2025” is applicable for 1.0 point in Category 1.B – Education of the Certified Fund Raising Executive International application for initial certification and/or recertification.

Questions? Please contact League Member Services at member@americanorchestras.org.

At the League’s National Conference: Music and Wellness, Innovation, Community Connections, Sustainability, and More

Posted on June 18, 2025 by - News Briefs

In Tuesday’s (6/17) Classical Voice North America, James Bash writes, “Marin Alsop, music director laureate of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and chief conductor of the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Ravinia Festival, and the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, was named recipient of the Gold Baton Award at the League of American Orchestras’ 80th National Conference held [in Salt Lake City] June 11-13…. Entitled ‘Ascend,’ the conference drew constituents from the League’s 630 [member] orchestras, which include all 50 states, Canada, and seven countries … Along with administrative staffs, attendees included composers, conductors, consultants, and musicians. A cornucopia of exhibitors, representing diverse facets of the orchestral industry from acoustic engineering to travel companies, lined the hallways … At a panel discussion on the benefits of music led by soprano Renée Fleming, Assal Habibi, associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Southern California, described how music stimulates the brain and activates good social bonding…. The session on ‘Building a Compelling Case’ featured a huge success story from the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra about how they … raised $50 million. Another inspiration was Connecticut Orchestra Month, in which 29 orchestras throughout the state quickly put together a campaign to celebrate orchestral music. A third innovative story highlighted the Louisville Symphony Orchestra, which built connections with small towns and venues throughout Kentucky and worked with the state government to receive $4.3 million to perform concerts throughout the state…. Daniel Crupi, executive director of the Asheville Symphony Orchestra, thanked the League for helping it to recover from disastrous flooding the previous year. The League’s CEO and president, Simon Woods, and its board chair, Alan Mason, reaffirmed the organization’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.”

Above: watch conductor Marin Alsop’s remarks from the Opening Session of the League of American Orchestras’ 2025 National Conference, where she received the Gold Baton Award. Read the PDF transcript of her talk on the League’s website.