In the Business section of Sunday’s (4/11) New York Times, Amy Zipkin profiles Los Angeles Philharmonic President and CEO Deborah Borda in a first-person essay. “My first memory of loving music was listening to ‘Eine kleine Nachtmusik’ by Mozart on my Victrola when I was 4. … After graduating with a music major from Bennington College in Vermont in 1971, I went to London for graduate study at the Royal College of Music. Then I moved to Greenwich Village and became a jobber, playing freelance mostly for the ballet, various orchestras and one Broadway show. I played violin in a string quartet and was the one who would initiate the agreements, sign the contracts and decide what performance was next. In the summer of 1976, I applied to the Marlboro Music Festival to be the assistant to the scheduling director. It was secretarial in nature, but I attended the programming meetings. It was a coup de foudre, a lightning strike, and love at first sight.” Following stints in leadership positions at the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and New York Philharmonic, Borda was appointed executive vice president and managing director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2000 and promoted to president and C.E.O. in October 2003.
Posted April 13, 2010
