The Philadelphia Orchestra in performance at the Kimmel Center’s Verizon Hall. Photo: Kimmel Center/Philadelphia Orchestra.
“The Philadelphia Orchestra and Kimmel Center have initiated a corporate alliance that would consolidate their governance under a single parent company,” reports Peter Dobrin in Friday’s (6/18) Philadelphia Inquirer. “While not a full merger, the new structure promises the orchestra greater control over the Kimmel—its landlord—than is currently the case. Philadelphia Orchestra president and CEO Matías Tarnopolsky will become leader of the new parent company upon finalization of the deal, and Kimmel president and CEO Anne Ewers will retire. The affiliation was approved Thursday afternoon by the respective boards of the two organizations…. While pressures brought on by the pandemic sparked talks toward the move, the benefits of the new structure are independent from the pandemic shutdown…. ‘All of these things we just do in parallel lines we need to start doing together,’ said Tarnopolsky, citing the goal of increased artistic collaborations between the orchestra and Kimmel, as well as coordinated branding and marketing, fund-raising, and renovation and scheduling of the Kimmel’s spaces…. Some implications of the new governance structure are not yet known. The center’s seven other resident companies—which include Pennsylvania Ballet, Philadanco, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and others—were informed of the change in the past week.”
