“Mary Deissler, now president of the Chicago Academy for the Arts, will take over as president and CEO of the Charlotte Symphony on June 1, the group announced Friday,” writes Helen Schwab in Friday’s (4/1) Charlotte Observer (N.C.). “She’ll succeed Robert Stickler, who’s managed a two-straight-year move into the black for the symphony.” Interviewed about her plans, Deissler says, “I’m excited about really building on the legacy Bob [Stickler] is leaving: an orchestra that’s in good shape, ready to move forward, and working with [Music Director] Christopher Warren-Green, developing some programming … and then really expanding community engagement…. One could imagine building [the orchestra’s ‘Music and the Holocaust’] program.… We could start with the core of a really terrific program that’s ours, and make national connections.” Deissler hopes to build on a program that sends CSO musicians to Winterfield Elementary School, and wants to “look at surrounding towns and communities [with] folks who would be eager to come to hear the symphony if they didn’t have to drive to Charlotte…. Can we get residency performance series out there? The idea that you have to come to our hall and do what we want is old-fashioned. We can’t expect that anymore.”
Posted April 4, 2016
