David Hyslop takes up his 17th orchestra
OrchestrasThe veteran CEO has been appointed Interim Executive Director of the Albany Sympphony, his 17th post in a 58-year career.
Hyslop, 81, is former CEO of the Minnesota Orchestra, Saint Louis Symphony, and Oregon Symphony.
“We are so fortunate to welcome David Hyslop as our interim executive director. He is one of
the great figures in the world of orchestra management, and we are thrilled to have a person of
such broad experience and insight guide us through this very important transition period. He is
also a dear friend, with whom I worked extensively at the Minnesota Orchestra many years ago,”
said David Alan Miller, Albany Symphony music director and conductor. “We are deeply honored
that David has agreed to help us build a strong future for the Albany Symphony.”
Someone really needs to do a decent job of creating/developing true leaders in the orchestra world so there’s less reliance on interims which Serbs to be on the rise these days. The talent in the field is appalling. Nowhere near what it was even 15 years ago, and in my opinion, the organization most charged with building future managers has been-and is-failing. And I’m speaking of the lack of good talent across multiple areas of orchestra management, not just the top desk/CEO.
I never knew Hyslop is a Serb. Amazing.
It’s a thankless job. The ED is expected to raise millions of dollars almost singlehandedly, while the board does nothing. When that doesn’t happen, the ED is fired and new one is brought in, to raise millions. A vicious cycle, to say the least.
By “organization most charged,” I guess you’re referring to the League of American Orchestras? Their “management fellowship” program is like the Mafia, a guaranteed job for life. When one of the “fellows” fails, they find him another job because the League has invested so much time and effort.
It’s not thankless; they get paid handsomely.
Maybe where you live, but at many smaller orchestras they’re not always paid even adequately, especially if they’re also trying to retain competent staff.
Thank goodness for David Hyslop! There are, in fact, many very talented CEOs toiling away in cities like Pittsburg, Atlanta, Houston, etc. They are the ones working to save American orchestras from demise post-Covid with the added challenge of not having the deep-pocket donors of the Big 7. No one hears about them because The NY Times, LA Times, Washington Post (and yes, even Norman) don’t think they are doing anything worthy since they are not in the Big 7 cities. The new trend to hire up from within is why the biggest orchestras are struggling to make a go with green CEOs who have little to no experience with actually running an orchestra. 15 years ago, potential CEOs gained experience in the trenches of the smaller markets with the understanding that the major jobs would be available to them and that they would have the know-how to run the big budget bands. Now there seems to be an odd prejudice against hiring anyone below the Big 7. With the exceptions of Philly and NY, top jobs are going to hires with very little actual CEO experience with negative outcomes. With this trend, why would any young Arts administrator want to go to a small market like Albany if the chance for real career advancement is now nearly non-existent? The development of new leaders as already happened; it’s the Boards that need to be educated.
Well said!!
It’s a skewed system. Rigged for failure from the start. A mediocre conductor with a mediocre cadre of musicians can still produce something that makes the board members swoon. As long as they can “talk a good game” (a British accent helps in North America). Besides, music is all subjective. There are no metrics to judge its quality.
The manager, on the other hand, regardless of their level of knowledge, skill, wisdom, is often saddled with mediocre-at-best support staff (A manager is only as good as the team they manage and now add lazy and “pre-offended” Millennials) and since there are metrics by which they can judged (number don’t lie) and as the lightning rod of the organization, are the first to get burned.
I would offer a solution. The Music Director and the Executive Director get evaluated by the Board annually but only as a team. Together, not separately in other words. Thus, their level of cooperation in producing something that on the one hand is subjective, but also has hard numbers associated with it is really what’s up for judgement.
After all, if they can’t work together, what can you really expect the outcome to be?
An interesting thought there are very few music directors who fully understand the business side of things. I mean no disrespect when I say that. That’s just the way it is. They certainly don’t learn about the “business” side of the music business in school.
All the positive things I wrote on the occasions of 14,15 and 16 still apply. Dear David, don’t stop, don’t stop!!
John : Thanks and you keep going too !