The Seattle Symphony has named RAFF WILSON vice president of artistic planning, effective April 13. Wilson goes to Seattle from the Sydney Symphony, where he was most recently director of artistic planning. From 2010 to 2017, Wilson was director of artistic planning for the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, where he led the search for Music Director Jaap van Zweden, reestablished the orchestra’s symphonic chorus, and cast the first presentation of Wagner’s Ring Cycle by a Chinese orchestra. Wilson was integral to the creation of Hong Kong’s assistant conductor position and developed the orchestra’s three-year composer residency. Wilson has developed innovative concert projects combining orchestra, words, and imagery, among them Sinfonia Antartica, which focused on Robert Falcon Scott’s Antarctic expedition using original source materials and music by Ralph Vaughan Williams; A Night at the Speakeasy, which featured singing, dancing, and burlesque from the time of Prohibition; and staged concert performances of Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He previously worked with Boosey & Hawkes and Alfred Publishing in support of Australian composers, orchestras, and music education. Wilson holds a bachelor of arts degree in languages from the University of Sydney and studied as a singer in London and Sydney.
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