“Only an hour and-a-half prior to the Stamford Symphony’s opening season gala in September, President and CEO Russell Jones roamed around the Palace Theatre attending to the night’s fine details in shorts and a T-shirt,” writes Anna Reguero in Sunday’s (11/11) Connecticut Post (Bridgeport). “It’s Jones’ unassuming look that also informs his leadership goals…. Jones wants the Stamford Symphony to appeal to the people who might not go to hear an orchestral concert…. Jones kicked off the first-ever Symphony on Tap event in early October … at the Half Full Brewery to hard-to-reach Millennials. In December, the orchestra [will] present an interactive family concert … in an afternoon time-slot to accommodate parents…. He’s inviting … veterans [and] emergency service workers to enjoy a concert on the house. He hopes many of these groups will then take a chance on their core classical programming, but that’s not the main goal…. ‘Crucially, we want to try and serve more elements of the community,’ he says…. Stamford resident Lisa Welch, 54, a patron of the orchestra … says there’s been a dramatic change of audience since Jones began a year ago. ‘We were shocked at how many young people were here,’ she says.”
Posted November 13, 2018
