In Friday’s (5/6) Honolulu Star-Advertiser (password-protected), Vicki Viotti interviews Jonathan Parrish, executive director of the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra, the recently founded successor to the Honolulu Symphony. Parrish is a horn player with the orchestra. “Jonathan Parrish had a moment to reflect this week, right after the close of the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra’s 2013-2014 concert series and the soon-to-be announced full season for the next year.… Fresh on his mind was the acknowledgements given at the closing concert to the orchestra’s musicians, who have invested many years in this organization and its predecessor, the Honolulu Symphony. Question: How did you come to take this position? Is it unusual for a member of the orchestra to have the top management job? Parrish: I would say a number of executive directors of orchestras are former musicians, in that they studied music at some time. But to be a professional musician in an orchestra and then become the executive director of that orchestra is pretty unusual—until the last couple of years, when there have been three or four situations.… What continues to motivate us is that we just feel that Hawaii deserves to have a professional orchestra…. It’s something that’s been part of the community, woven into the fabric of the community for decades. It’s our job to continue that legacy.”
Posted June 10, 2014
