Boston Symphony Orchestra President and CEO-designate Gail Samuel, photographed on February 17, 2021 at Copley Square. Photo by Aram Boghosian
“Gail Samuel, a longtime executive with the Los Angeles Philharmonic … was named Thursday as the next president and chief executive of the Boston Symphony Orchestra,” writes Malcolm Gay in Thursday’s (2/18) Boston Globe. “The appointment ends a lengthy international search to replace Mark Volpe, who announced early this year that he would retire after leading the BSO for more than two decades. Samuel, 53, will start her new role June 21, becoming the eighth president—and first woman—to lead the BSO in its 140-year history. In Los Angeles, Samuel has filled a variety of key posts during her quarter-century career with the LA Phil.… She currently serves as the orchestra’s chief operating officer and president of the Hollywood Bowl.… In Boston, she will oversee the BSO’s sprawling cultural footprint, including the symphony orchestra, the Boston Pops, Tanglewood, and variety of new initiatives aimed at expanding the organization’s cultural reach…. Samuel … worked at Tanglewood early in her career, an experience she credits with helping set her trajectory as an arts administrator…. As president, Samuel will helm one of the country’s most storied symphony orchestras, replete with a $509 million endowment and a pre-pandemic operating budget of more than $100 million.”
