“The Board of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra has announced the appointment of Craig Whitehead as interim CEO of the company, following Emma Dunch’s surprise resignation last Friday,” writes Hugh Robertson in Wednesday’s (12/15) Limelight (Australia). “Whitehead will begin in the role immediately, with the board stating that they will make a permanent appointment after conducting an international search during 2022. Dunch’s contract had two years left to run. Whitehead was most recently CEO of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra from 2019-2021. Before that he was CEO of the West Australian Symphony Orchestra for ten years from 2008-2018, and has also served as Chief Executive of WA Opera and as General Manager of Brisbane’s La Boite Theatre Company…. 2022 will be a big year for the SSO, with the appointment of Simone Young as Chief Conductor and the orchestra’s return to the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall following its $275 million refurbishment. That refurbishment, and the six-month delay in its reopening, was a major source of contention between Dunch and the NSW government, which promised to give the orchestra $10 million, paid in two instalments, to cover its projected ticket revenue losses and removal costs, but to date has only paid half that.”
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