Orchestras Canada

As Orchestras Canada’s own nominating committee for the 2012-13 year swings into action, we’ve been thinking a lot about boards of directors – and we’d like both to recommend a few of our favourite resources on boards to you, and ask for your top picks, too. Here’s our list:

The resources section of Orchestras Canada’s website includes an entire page of carefully selected governance resources from around the web. And it features How To Get The Board You Need, a terrific publication – in both official languages – written for Orchestras Canada by Canadian arts consultants Margaret Genovese and Dory Vanderhoof. The first edition was a best-seller back in the days when we actually ran a publications service, and the second edition is even better. Plus, it’s available as a free download! You can discover this page for yourself, here.

Lowell Noteboom, chair of the League of American Orchestras and past chair of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, has written a comprehensive, elegant and enjoyable guide to orchestra governance entitled Good Governance for Challenging Times. Providing “a brief history of nonprofit governance models, an overview of governance responsibilities, and an introduction to the role musicians can play in collaborative governance”, Mr. Noteboom’s article can be found here.

The Harvard Business Review website is a wonderful resource for anyone interested in management and leadership issues, whether in the for-profit or not-for-profit worlds. One of our favourite HBR articles from times past – The New Work of the Non-Profit Board, by Taylor, Chait and Holland, can be read on-line free with registration or downloaded for $6.95 USD. You can find it here.

The Cleveland Orchestra has announced the appointment of Dory Vanderhoof (of Toronto consulting and executive search firm Genovese Vanderhoof) as their Interim Chief Development Officer.

The Quinte Symphony has announced the appointment of Marilyn Lawrie as their General Manager, effective January 11.  An experienced arts professional with a strong background in theatre, opera and music, Ms Lawrie served as Concert Manager and General Manager of the Quinte Symphony from 2004-08, leaving the role to work as Director of Outreach and Production at Opera Lyra Ottawa.  Speaking about the appointment, Quinte Symphony board chair Judith Chalmers said, “we feel so fortunate to be able to work with Marilyn again at this important moment in Quinte Symphony’s history.”

Orchestra News conveys hearty congratulations to two Canadian conductors who have recently received accolades for their work in major American cities – Yannick Nezet-Seguin for his work conducting a new production of Bizet‘s Carmen at the Metropolitan Opera in New York; and Bernard Labadie, who led Les Violons du Roy and the Chapelle de Quebec in performances in New York and Los Angeles. 

You can read the New York Times review of Maestro Nezet-Seguin’s work here. You can also read an interview with him in Opera News here. You can read the LA Times review of the Violons du Roy performance here.