“Melissa Ngan, founder of the Chicago-based new music group Fifth House Ensemble, project consultant to the Cleveland Orchestra, among others, is to succeed Edward Yim as president and CEO of the American Composers Orchestra (ACO),” writes Susan Elliott in Monday’s (2/8) Musical America (subscription required). “Yim has been chief content officer for WQXR since September. Jesse Rosen, recently retired CEO of the League of American Orchestras, has been serving as interim. Last week, longtime ACO Music Director George Manahan said he would be stepping down in July. Ngan, of Brazilian/Cambodian descent, has a broad background in cultivating new and diverse audiences; in her 15 years at Fifth House Ensemble, she oversaw the commissioning of over 200 new works and more than 35 training programs annually. She starts at ACO February 16 and will be working in collaboration with its Artistic Director Derek Bermel. She is a professional flautist who graduated from the Eastman School of Music and Northwestern University…. Ngan noted ‘this time of reinvention for our field’ and said she was looking forward to advancing ‘shared values of diversity, disruption, and discovery…. Now, more than ever, we need new ways to listen, and to be heard.’ ”
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