“Brandon Knisley, vice president of patron engagement at the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, has to be a great juggler,” writes Alex Greene in Wednesday’s (9/8) Memphis Flyer (TN). “He’s intimately involved in the mission of the MSO as it marches on into the 21st century…. Today’s MSO … has evolved by leaps and bounds … Q: How would you describe [the MSO’s] mission now? Brandon Knisley: Right from the beginning, [CEO] Peter Abell and I lined up on what we wished for the musicians and what we thought an orchestra is for a city….. How do we make the music education program better? How do we partner with the library system and their literacy program? To do these things, you have to make it possible for artists to live here.… We want to raise money to ensure that we can pay musicians to live here. And endowment funding is how we’re really trying to do that…. Art and music should be used as instruments for intentional inclusion…. Pretty much every program on our new season features composers who are either women or people of color. Or we have an artist who is a person of color. It’s just something we do.”
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