“After a nearly two-year search, the Oregon Symphony has hired a heavy-hitting fundraiser from the Los Angeles Philharmonic to shake things up as president and chief executive officer,” writes David Stabler in Thursday’s (5/22) Oregonian (Portland). “Scott Showalter replaces Elaine Calder, who returned to Ontario, Canada in 2012 to be near her family.… Said the boyish-looking Showalter Wednesday, ‘I do think the potential around the Oregon Symphony and Portland can be strengthened.’ … In recent years, the Oregon Symphony … musicians agreed to forgo $315,000 in pay—2.5 weeks’ salary—to balance the budget. They also agreed to waive a 2.6 percent salary increase this season…. The orchestra lost funding for its annual Waterfront Park concert last September. It nixed last year’s return to Carnegie Hall, cut three staff positions and reduced salaries for 22 of 33 staff members…. Showalter has spent 20 years raising money, he said. Before joining the LA Philharmonic in 2012, he served as Associate Vice President of the University of Chicago, where he oversaw the work of 13 development divisions…. Previously as the Associate Dean of Stanford Law School, he led a record-setting $250 million campaign…. He begins July 1 and will quickly launch into contract negotiations with the musicians, whose contract expires in August.”
Posted May 23, 2014
