Advertising, Best Practices, Arts Management, Brand Values, Business of Opera, Business Partnership, Business Development, C-Suite, Corporate Governance, San Francisco, Technology James Mowdy Advertising, Best Practices, Arts Management, Brand Values, Business of Opera, Business Partnership, Business Development, C-Suite, Corporate Governance, San Francisco, Technology James Mowdy

San Francisco Symphony CEO and Board Chair: Please repair your brand or resign

(San Francisco, CA) - Esa-Pekka Salonen’s announced 2025 departure from San Francisco Symphony still stuns, even several months on. With this piece, OI aims to:

  • Explore the known why behind the financial crisis

  • Explain why we oppose the company’s devastating, short-sighted cuts

  • Provide guidance on how this legacy brand could begin repairing its self-inflicted wounds

Given his stature as the Bay Area’s classical music journalist, we first relied on San Francisco Chronicle’s Joshua Kosman and his reporting. Kosman’s first piece laid out the situation, Salonen’s terse statement, SFS musicians’ vocal support of their Maestro, as well as their demand for audited financials from CEO Mark Spivey and Board Chair Priscilla Geeslin...

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Best Practices, Brand Values, Business of Opera, Women in Business, C-Suite, Performing Arts, Corporate Governance, OI Insights, Classical Voice, Digital Media, Opera, Opera Innovation James Mowdy Best Practices, Brand Values, Business of Opera, Women in Business, C-Suite, Performing Arts, Corporate Governance, OI Insights, Classical Voice, Digital Media, Opera, Opera Innovation James Mowdy

OI Interview | Allison Swenson, Opera Omaha’s New General Director

(Santa Fe, NM) - We were thrilled when we heard about Allison Swenson’s move to Omaha as General Director, but a little sad, too. Allison’s been an incredible force at Santa Fe Opera for many years, and it’s been wonderful to watch her progress to leading that company’s robust and successful development arm. However, in opera as in any other business, the only way is up. So, this progression to General Director at one of the Midwest’s most important, vibrant and cutting edge small companies is absolutely in line with the professional that we’ve come to know and admire…

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Best Practices, Business of Opera, Unions, Working Conditions, COVID, Classical Voice, OI Insights, Opera Singer, Opera Innovation, Corporate Governance, C-Suite James Mowdy Best Practices, Business of Opera, Unions, Working Conditions, COVID, Classical Voice, OI Insights, Opera Singer, Opera Innovation, Corporate Governance, C-Suite James Mowdy

Has Central City Opera Lost The Plot?

Something’s apparently rotten in the state of Colorado. We first heard about Central City Opera’s entanglement with AGMA (American Guild of Musical Artists) via the latter’s 15DEC statement on Instagram, which was shared and commented upon by a few individuals across the opera spectrum. THE JIST: Per Eden Lane’s Colorado Public Radio story: “Founded in 1932, Central City Opera is one of the oldest opera companies in the United States. Now the company is in a bitter dispute with the labor union representing its performers…

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Opinion, Best Practices, ROI, Working Conditions, Diversity, Corporate Governance, New Opera, C-Suite Margaret Thompson Opinion, Best Practices, ROI, Working Conditions, Diversity, Corporate Governance, New Opera, C-Suite Margaret Thompson

Opinion: Opera Has An Access Problem

Opera is our favorite art form. We wouldn’t be here if that wasn’t true. However, three years of pandemic (and pandemic-light) brought opera industry failings into much sharper focus, including force majeured soloists, racial and gender disparities, YAP application fees, #MeToo and more. OI was also troubled by these issues, but committed to championing innovators, doing our best to also spotlight wrongs constructively in real-time.

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