Baltimore chief lands new job
NewsThe former Baltomore Symphony president Peter Kjome, who survived a financial crisis by a lick of toothpaste before departing at the end of 2021 has added a new entry to his CV.
It’s a bit lower down the scale.
He’s the new president and CEO of the Phoenix Symphony, in Arizona.
He succeeds Suzanne Wilson, who is moving with her family to London. His music director will be Tito Munoz.
Why is Phoenix lower down the scale than Baltimore? So tiring to see this constant puffery of the ‘big 10’ orchestras over the others.
Baltimore is not in the Top 20 nowadays among U.S. and Canadian orchestras, while Phoenix ranked about 40th for the last normal fiscal year, 2019. The two orchestras were founded in 1942 and 1947, respectively.
How exactly are you measuring top 20? By budget size? Baltimore would still be in it. By season length? Baltimore is one of 15 orchestras in the US with a 52 week season? By artistic quality? If so, then you probably haven’t heard Baltimore lately… or any of its numerous recordings.
Honestly, I’m not sure where you’re getting your info.
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
22nd, at $28.5 million
source: Form 990 for FY 2018
Phoenix Symphony Orchestra
38th, at $14.2 million
source: Form 990 for FY 2019
Not that budget equals quality, but the Phoenix budget is about 1/3 of the Baltimore budget.
Both by length of season, size of orhestra, and total budget, Phoenix IS down the scale. If you’re not in the US orchestra business, you may not know this.
Well, considering that orchestras in the USA are ranked by the LAO based on their budget size, Phoenix is way down the list from Baltimore. It’s an accurate statement in that regard.
It comes from people who haven´t heard the orchestras they judge…..Phoenix is indeed a very fine orchestra.I heard them a few times under James Sedares and Herrmann Michael
Phoenix is a much bigger (about 10 times Baltimore’s population) and wealthier city than Baltimore. There’s a lot more potential (and fewer obstacles) to building an orchestra there.
Allow me to correct myself before someone else does. Phoenix population is more like double Baltimore’s, not 10 times. Oops.
Baltimore has the misfortune of being in between Philly and DC.
But I bet if given a chance, most musicians in Phoenix would take their same seat in Baltimore over staying in Phoenix.
Phoenix is filled with retired people whose ties remain with their city on the East Coast or Rust Belt.
As San Antonio proved, the population size of the city doesn’t matter. Plenty of cities have huge populations by virtue of the city annexing large swaths of land over its history.
Baltimore has the budget it has because most of its audience comes from the surrounding, wealthy counties. It also plays weekly at Strathmore, in Bethesda. Bethesda’s in Montgomery County, which is one of the wealthiest in the US. Baltimore also has a long history of philanthropy going back many decades.
Greater Phoenix (and primarily Scottsdale) has of course become a hub of business, mostly of financial services. But the orchestra has not yet had the visionary leadership to harness that wealth and turn itself into a cultural powerhouse. Maybe one day, but it won’t happen overnight.
We can agree there’s a ton of potential in Phoenix, but it won’t be getting close to Baltimore anytime soon.
In the U.S., though, orchestras don’t tend to do all that well in warm-weather cities – with a few exceptions like LA, Dallas, Houston, and Atlanta, and San Diego. Big cities like Jacksonville, Orlando, Phoenix, and Tampa may all have professional orchestras (all of them probably very good) but not on the scale or with the public support their population would suggest. Miami (aside from the New World Symphony) and San Antonio don’t have one at all.
I hate to say this because I wish them well, but: If Kjome tries to cut down Phoenix, the same way he did in Grand Rapids and later Baltimore – famously resulting in the 2019 lockout – Phoenix is in big trouble.
You are spot on. This may not end well the same stuff is tried in Phoenix.
Interesting that Musical America’s headline reads: “Former Baltimore CEO Finds Lower Stakes.” I imagine that Mr. Kjome is pleased to be gainfully employed and there are never going to be a lot of CEO openings in the multi-million dollar orchestras, certainly nowhere near as many as in orchestras of Phoenix’s size.
Let’s remember that Mr. Kjome’s very first orchestra management job was in 2008.
If your orchestra’s conductor is currently a candidate for the Oakland Symphony (presumably as a second gig?), I’d venture an opinion that your orchestra isn’t in the same conversation with Baltimore’s. That said, I agree that size and wealth give Phoenix tremendous potential.
Interestingly, he is not a candidate for the Oakland Symphony, although he is a guest conductor with them this season. That orchestra seems to have let the newspapers run with the assumption that all guests are candidates when some are actually not.
Phoenix has about a half dozen staff members. It’s on life support and has been for years. Baltimore and Phoenix shouldn’t even be mentioned artistically in the same sentence. Any musician in America would know this. So yes, this is a huge step down for this gentleman.
This “ranking” of orchestras by annual budget size is ridiculous. By that logic seven or eight US orchestras are “better” than Cleveland… Ummm, no.