In Sunday’s (9/15) Dallas Morning News, Scott Cantrell reports, “Jonathan Martin is a soft-spoken man, given to thoughtful utterances. One year after he took over as president and CEO of the Dallas Symphony Association, with the 2013-14 concert season opening Thursday, he’s pretty clear about the orchestra’s accomplishments and challenges.… ‘The pieces that we need to make it work are all in place: the musicians playing at the level they’re now playing, Jaap, a pretty great hall, a community that’s growing as fast as any in America, stabilized leadership on the administrative side. And we’ve got a plan.’… Administratively and financially, though, the DSO has struggled. Counting interims, Martin is the ninth person to head the administration in a dozen years. That turnover, plus a major recession that sapped ticket sales, fundraising and endowment income, has taken a toll. After a couple of years of multimillion-dollar deficits, a 2012-13 deficit expected to be ‘well under a million dollars,’ according to Martin, is ‘a meaningful improvement.’ … Martin says a rebranding is in the works, as well as a more integrated program of media access, from CDs to downloads to a revamped website. ‘If we can get people to come into the hall, they’ll come back. But we’ve got to get them into the hall.’ ”
Posted September 17, 2013
