Dallas Symphony president and CEO Kim Noltemy reflects on five years at the orchestra

Since becoming a member of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra as president and CEO in 2018, Kim Noltemy has made a dramatic influence.

Over her tenure, the orchestra has appointed a brand new music director, launched an annual symposium for girls in classical music and took over administration of the Meyerson Symphony Heart. Each DSO musicians and workers have described in interviews a sea change led by Noltemy.

The Dallas Morning Information lately despatched Noltemy some questions over e mail, asking her to mirror on her fifth yr. The next transcript has been edited for size and readability.

1. What have been among the highlights of your time to date?

In fact, an enormous spotlight was once we have been in a position to persuade Fabio Luisi to change into our music director. Taking on the administration of the Meyerson Symphony Heart was additionally actually necessary for the way forward for the orchestra and the constructing!

I’m additionally happy with the work now we have performed in the neighborhood together with launching of the Younger Musicians program, modeled on the profitable El Sistema initiative, together with committing to play a whole bunch of free concert events round Dallas yearly to carry the music to our neighborhoods.

The collaboration with the orchestra, board and workers to play concert events week after week in the course of the pandemic interval felt like an enormous triumph, regardless of the stress of testing, social distancing, masking and restricted audiences.

Our ladies’s initiatives are being acknowledged throughout the nation, from the Ladies in Classical Music Symposium to the hiring of Gemma New [as principal guest conductor] and our composers-in-residence [Julia Wolfe and Angélica Negrón].

Throughout the pandemic, our funding in expertise and digital manufacturing led to connections and help from new audiences on-line and on tv with partnerships with Bloomberg Media and PBS — we have been even nominated for a nationwide Emmy. We now have all been very busy…

2. How did you win — and hold — the belief of DSO musicians and workers?

I’ve the best respect for the extremely gifted musicians on the DSO, and it’s a essential a part of my job to do every part potential to make sure the optimum surroundings for them to carry out. Whereas they play as a 90+ individual ensemble, it is very important understand that every individual has completely different must be their finest on stage.

Likewise, I’ve such admiration for our workers staff who’re really dedicated to the trigger and assist facilitate all that’s wanted for achievement, together with backstage operations, inventive planning, facility administration, recruiting and managing folks, instructional initiatives, fundraising, PR, IT, accounting, advertising and customer support.

We every have a job we play to carry pleasure to folks by means of nice music, and all of us perceive the transformational energy of music to encourage, consolation and create group. As troublesome because the pandemic was, I feel it introduced the administration staff and the musicians nearer collectively.

3. Maybe the largest problem for performing arts teams these days is bringing again audiences submit pandemic. You’ve talked about that ticket gross sales in the previous few months are approaching pre-pandemic ranges, and that they’ve usually been promoting late and near live performance performances.

How is the DSO attempting to draw new and returning audiences? And the way is the orchestra attempting to make up for drops in subscription gross sales?

I’m comfortable and relieved to see our attendance rebound. It’s worrying for gross sales to be so final minute, however we’re getting used [to it]. We now have been very profitable at attracting new attendees, however now we have to persuade them to come back a number of occasions per yr.

We’re additionally specializing in our model and advertising as we assess strategic messaging to present subscribers and cultivating new subscribers throughout all communities of North Texas. It’s fairly difficult to buck the declining curiosity in subscriptions (a nationwide pattern), however after all, we are going to provide nice advantages and repair, along with the unbelievable music.

4. Over the previous a number of years, the DSO has dramatically diversified its live performance packages, each with its visitor artists and work choices.

The orchestra’s demographics, although, stay primarily white. How has the DSO tried to draw and rent various orchestral candidates? Are you able to share updates on the method?

The DSO conducts screened auditions so those that are within the course of are nameless to the audition panels. We’re competing in opposition to all the highest orchestras for the most effective gamers, with the target that we entice musicians of coloration to audition. As extra musicians of coloration audition, the percentages are significantly increased they are going to win our auditions.

For the final 30 years, now we have made main investments and outreach in training to younger musicians of coloration by means of our Younger Strings program, and orchestras all through the nation have comparable packages. As increasingly more of these college students research music in school, we anticipate to see optimistic leads to the audition course of by way of extra range.

The truth is that musicians should be selective in selecting the auditions they take for each money and time, and so to handle the cash element, one in every of our board members began a fund to offer journey stipends for the primary two rounds of auditions, which helps embrace extra individuals who in any other case must forgo our auditions.

We additionally work with Sphinx and observe the Nationwide Alliance for Audition Help protocols to make the auditions as open and inclusive as potential, whereas sustaining the anonymity of the candidates.

The opposite factor that most individuals don’t understand is that orchestral musicians obtain tenure, and normally hold their jobs till they retire. This is without doubt one of the the explanation why diversifying skilled orchestras is such a gradual course of.

Regardless of these challenges, each the DSO administration and musicians are dedicated to attracting gifted musicians of coloration to the DSO audition course of. Additionally, our dedication to training and mentorship of scholars of coloration will make a big effect in the long term.

5. Looking forward to the following 5 years on the DSO, are there any plans, expectations or targets you’ll be able to share? What can listeners anticipate?

We now have three thrilling new initiatives that we are going to announce quickly!