Biographies

American Orchestra Forum Participants

John Adams is among the world’s highest-profile living composers. He was the San Francisco Symphony’s first ever Composer-in-Residence.
> See American Orchestra Forum content featuring John Adams.
 
Brent Assink is Executive Director of the San Francisco Symphony. He brings 30 years of experience in orchestra management to his role at the San Francisco Symphony helm as he continues to steer the organization in new directions.
> See American Orchestra Forum content featuring Brent Assink.
 
Mason Bates is a composer who bridges classical and popular music. His alter-ego, DJ Masonic, spins and mixes at clubs. Bates is 2011-12 guest composer in the San Francisco Symphony’s Project San Francisco initiative, and Mead Composer-in-Residence for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
> See American Orchestra Forum content featuring Mason Bates.
 
Lawrie Bloom plays Clarinet in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He is also Founder and Artistic Co-Director of the Chesapeake Chamber Music Festival and the Chesapeake Chamber Music Competition.
> See American Orchestra Forum content featuring Lawrie Bloom.
 
Deborah Borda is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, one of the largest music organizations in the United States.
> See American Orchestra Forum content featuring Deborah Borda.
 
Ben Cameron is Program Director for the Arts at the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. He supervises a $13 million grants program focusing on organizations and artists in the theater, contemporary dance, jazz and presenting fields.
> See American Orchestra Forum content featuring Ben Cameron.
 
Mark Clague is Director of the American Music Institute and Associate Professor of Musicology, American Culture, and Afro-American Studies, University of Michigan. He researches all forms of music-making in the United States, focusing on the functional aesthetic of music, critical geography, and the interrelationship of music and society.
> See American Orchestra Forum content featuring Mark Clague.
 
Anna Clyne is a composer of acoustic and electro-acoustic music. She is currently Mead Composer-in-Residence with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
> See American Orchestra Forum content featuring Anna Clyne.
 
Joseph Conyers is Assistant Principal Bass of The Philadelphia Orchestra. He is committed to education and community engagement through music and is a founder of Project 440 in Savannah, GA.
> See American Orchestra Forum content featuring Joseph Conyers.
 
Gustavo Dudamel is Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Gothenberg Philhamonic, and the Simón Bolvar Youth Orchestra, and alumnus, El Sistema, Venezuela. In these roles he continues to share his magnetic enthusiasm for music with audiences of all ages around the world.
> See American Orchestra Forum content featuring Gustavo Dudamel.
 
Margo Drakos is a concert cellist turned tech entrepreneur and Partner in the SwitchCase Group. She is Co-Founder of InstantEncore, a platform providing 21st-century tools for artists to harness the power of the internet.
> See American Orchestra Forum content featuring Margo Drakos.
 
Afa Sadykhly Dworkin is Vice President of Programming and Artistic Director, Sphinx Organization, Detroit. She handles oversight of all artistic affairs, including curricular design and artistic content, of the Sphinx Organization, a non-profit organization dedicated to the development of young Black and Latino musicians.
> See American Orchestra Forum content featuring Afa Sadykhly Dworkin.
 
Anthony Fogg is the Artistic Administrator of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Trained as a pianist, his career has combined performance with arts administration, and, in both aspects of his work, he has been a strong champion of contemporary composers.
> See American Orchestra Forum content featuring Anthony Fogg.
 
Martha Gilmer is the Vice President for Artistic Planning and Audience Development at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
> See American Orchestra Forum content featuring Martha Gilmer.
 
Gary Ginstling is General Manager of The Cleveland Orchestra. Prior to his appointment in Cleveland, he held executive positions with the San Francisco Symphony and the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra.
> See American Orchestra Forum content featuring Gary Ginstling.
 
Gary Hanson is the Executive Director of The Cleveland Orchestra. Under his leadership, the Orchestra is diversifying its activities both at home in Ohio and around the globe.
> See American Orchestra Forum content featuring Gary Hanson.
 
Neil Harris is Preston and Sterling Morton Professor Emeritus of History and Art History, University of Chicago. His work has focused on the evolution of American culture, high and popular, and on its supporting institutions.
> See American Orchestra Forum content featuring Neil Harris.
 
John Harbison is a composer and chair of the composition program at the Tanglewood Music Center. Since his college days at Harvard, when he was a frequent audience member at Boston Symphony Orchestra concerts, Harbison has become one of the most prominent composers affiliated with the BSO in its history.
> See American Orchestra Forum content featuring John Harbison.
 
Sunil Iyengar directs the Office of Research & Analysis at the National Endowment for the Arts. Since his arrival at the NEA in June 2006, the office has produced over 20 research publications, updated the NEA’s five-year strategic plan, and revised a federal survey about arts participation.
> See American Orchestra Forum content featuring Sunil Iyengar.
 
Dennis LaBarre is President of the Musical Arts Association, governing body of The Cleveland Orchestra.
> See American Orchestra Forum content featuring Dennis LaBarre.
 
Ludovic Morlot is Music Director of the Seattle Symphony and former Assistant Conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He also maintains regular relationships with the New York Philharmonic and Chicago Symphony Orchestra and has recently led the major orchestras of Philadelphia, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh.
> See American Orchestra Forum content featuring Ludovic Morlot.
 
Jesse Rosen is President and CEO of the League of American Orchestras, the only national organization dedicated solely to the orchestra experience.
> See American Orchestra Forum content featuring Jesse Rosen.
 
Jeremy Rothman is Vice President of Artistic Planning for The Philadelphia Orchestra. He works with other senior leaders of the orchestra to guide the artistic direction of the organization and also currently oversees all education and community partnerships.
> See American Orchestra Forum content featuring Jeremy Rothman.
 
Deborah Rutter is President of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association. Prior to joining the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, she was Executive Director of the Seattle Symphony.
> See American Orchestra Forum content featuring Deborah Rutter.
 
Ed Sanders is Group Marketing Manager of the Creative Lab at Google.
> See American Orchestra Forum content featuring Ed Sanders.
 
Elizabeth Scott is the Chief Media and Digital Officer at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. She was formerly a Vice President at Major League Baseball Productions.
> See American Orchestra Forum content featuring Elizabeth Scott.
 
Joshua Smith is Principal Flute of The Cleveland Orchestra. He also serves as head of the flute department of the Cleveland Institute of Music.
> See American Orchestra Forum content featuring Joshua Smith.
 
James Sommerville is Principal Horn of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Music Director of the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra in Canada.
> See American Orchestra Forum content featuring James Sommerville.
 
Michael Tilson Thomas is now in his 17th season as Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony. He and the Orchestra have been praised by critics for innovative programming and for bringing the works of American composers to the fore.
> See American Orchestra Forum content featuring Michael Tilson Thomas.
 
Stanford Thompson is a musician and educator who is passionate about using music education and performance for social innovation. A graduate of The Curtis Institute of Music, he is currently CEO of Play On Philly!, an organization that provides opportunities for personal development to children through the study of music.
> See American Orchestra Forum content featuring Stanford Thompson.
 

Matthew VanBesien is Executive Director Designate of the New York Philharmonic. He was previously Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Houston Symphony
> See American Orchestra Forum content featuring Matthew VanBesien.
 
Mark Volpe was appointed Managing Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1997 and has reaffirmed the BSO’s standing as one of the world’s greatest orchestras.
> See American Orchestra Forum content featuring Mark Volpe.
 
Franz Welser-Möst began his tenure as Music Director of The Cleveland Orchestra in 2002. His long-term commitment extends to the Orchestra’s centennial in 2018.
> See American Orchestra Forum content featuring Franz Welser-Möst.
 
Allison Vulgamore is President and CEO of The Philadelphia Orchestra. Prior to that, she served as President and CEO of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra for more than 15 years.
> See American Orchestra Forum content featuring Allison Vulgamore.
 
Steven Winn is a San Francisco arts journalist and critic. His writing covers a broad spectrum of cultural topics and he is a frequent interviewer for San Francisco’s City Arts & Lectures.
> See American Orchestra Forum content featuring Steven Winn.
 
Amos Yang is Assistant Principal Cellist, San Francisco Symphony, and alumnus, San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra. He has performed as soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States, the Far East, and Europe.
> See American Orchestra Forum content featuring Amos Yang.