“Anne Parsons moved from New York City to take over the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in 2004, in an era when the city’s great cultural institutions, hobbled by debt and declining audiences, looked like candidates for the endangered species list,” writes Michael Hodges in Tuesday’s (10/22) Detroit News. “Last year the DSO celebrated its sixth budget surplus in a row.” Following a 2010-11 strike and financial upheaval, “musicians and management have… staked out a collaborative model that’s the envy of other orchestras. Both attendance and ticket sales have surged…. Audiences … are now dotted with students, taking advantage of a $25 annual Soundcard that provides free access to all Orchestra Hall programming. The Davidson Neighborhood Concert Series now brings the orchestra to communities across the Metro area…. The three-week, February music festivals … have been hugely successful…. Parsons’ work has won national notice. At the League of American Orchestras in New York, President and CEO Jesse Rosen said simply, ‘Anne has been instrumental in leading America’s orchestras into the 21st century.’ … Detroit Institute of Arts Director Salvador Salort-Pons [says], ‘The DSO’s robust community outreach has served as a model for us here at the DIA.’ ”
Posted October 24, 2019
In photo: Anne Parsons, president and CEO of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Photo by Todd McInturf / The Detroit News
