“When a performing arts group enjoys artistic and financial stability for as long as Music of the Baroque, it’s almost always because there’s a sharp, well-connected people person pulling the administrative strings,” writes John von Rhein in Tuesday’s (5/9) Chicago Tribune. “Few CEOs in classical music in Chicago have managed that feat quite as adroitly as MOB’s executive director, Karen Fishman. While not a musician herself, for nearly two decades Fishman has kept the midsize organization’s many working parts operating in sync, the books balanced, the musical reputation solid and the customers coming back for more.… Building on what MOB founders Thomas Wikman and Lucille Ollendorff achieved and carrying it in new directions has been a privilege and a pleasure for her, she says.… This weekend’s season finale, Georg Philipp Telemann’s oratorio ‘The Day of Judgment,’ will be the final concerts she will oversee.… To her lasting credit, she brought in the team that has kept MOB’s artistic level consistently high under her watch—music director Jane Glover, principal guest conductor Nicholas Kraemer and chorus director William Jon Gray.” Fishman’s successor is expected to be announced by the end of May.
Posted May 10, 2017
