In The Tuscaloosa News (Alabama) on Sunday (2/8), Mark Hughes Cobb writes, “Most if not all of the Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra’s executive directors have been musicians, those with extra skills in management and administration, in addition to teaching and performance craft. But Jenny Mann may be the first full-time TSO musician who’s simultaneously held the top job…. She took the job Dec. 19 after Jessica Davis-Tagg left to join her husband at Indiana University, where he’d been offered a faculty position. ‘I think it will be an advantage from the standpoint of knowing what questions to ask,’ said Mann, assistant professor of bassoon at the University of Alabama, principal bassoonist with the TSO and a member of the Cavell Reed Trio and Capstone Woodwind Quintet, among others. ‘I know well what sort of literature I can steer [Music Director Adam Flatt] toward, because I know what our strengths are.’ ” Mann’s first concert as both principal bassoon and executive director is the February 8 Valentine’s Day-themed concert featuring Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture, Gershwin’s Cuban Overture, and Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini with pianist Simon Mulligan.
Posted February 11, 2015
