The Fort Price Symphony Orchestra’s 2022-23 season raises the curtain on a transformative “recent vision,” defined by heightened artistic excellence and directed at international acclaim.
The driving force behind this ambitious initiative is philanthropist Mercedes Bass, chairwoman of the orchestra board and a longtime classical music aficionado.
“There is no such thing as a reason that Fort Price mustn’t have the most effective,” she said in an interview. “You may’t just have a vision. You could have to have a plan and it’s our hope that we are going to reach our goal.”
A native of Tehran, Iran, Bass was born right into a well-to-do family, which followed the Old World tradition of enrolling children in piano lessons at a young age as a part of a classics-driven education.
“We all the time had classical music by Russian composers playing at home,” recalled the previous wife of Sid Bass, a member of Fort Price’s billionaire Bass family. “It was a part of our life and world.”
After completing her education in England and a bachelor’s degree in business in Switzerland, she emigrated to the USA. In 1988, she married Sid Bass after which moved to Fort Price in 1992.
“After I got here to Fort Price with my husband, I desired to do something for my recent city,” she recalled.
He passion and knowledge of music, each orchestral and opera, had deepened through the years, making the Fort Price Symphony Orchestra the perfect alternative for her philanthropy.
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Since she shared a love of classical music together with her mother-in-law, Nancy Lee Bass, she saw patronage of the orchestra as a solution to carry on the family legacy.
Nancy Lee Bass also learned to play piano as a toddler and was a generous supporter of many cultural organizations, including the Fort Price Symphony Orchestra. Along with other contributions, Nancy Lee and Perry Bass donated $8 million to the symphony in 1991.
“My mother-in-law had a really, very strong love of classical music and he or she encouraged me to grow to be involved with the symphony,” Mrs. Bass said.
The Nancy Lee and Perry R, Bass Performance Hall is called of their honor and has served as host of the symphony, the Texas Ballet Theater, the Fort Price Opera and the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Nancy Lee Bass was an avid supporter of the Van Cliburn competition and served on its advisory board.
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Mercedes Bass’ vision for the symphony involves putting all of the obligatory elements in place to create a world-class organization.
Counting on her own keen sense of how classical music should sound, she developed a plan that might bring together the best musicians, outstanding business leadership and a shared organizational goal of world-class stature.
“She is so inspirational to me, in what she knows about music and leadership,” said high-powered Fort Price attorney Marianne Auld, chair of the symphony’s executive committee. “Fort Price is an awesome city and has long supported the humanities.”
“Along with her leadership, we could put the symphony on the international map,” Auld said. “And Fort Price could be higher for it.”
For Auld and others, there isn’t a yet another committed or qualified than Mrs. Bass to guide the symphony to recent heights. She’s a longtime patron of the humanities whose generosity included a $25 million donation that she and Sid Bass made in 2006 to Recent York’s Metropolitan Opera. On the time, it was the biggest individual donation to the opera, in line with The Recent York Times.
Her leadership roles include serving as an Aspen Institute trustee and on the Aspen School advisory board; vice chair and member of the manager committee of the Carnegie Hall Corp. Board of Trustees; and vice chair in addition to a managing director and a member of the manager committee of the Board of Directors of the Metropolitan Opera. She also has served on the board of trustees of the American Academy in Rome.
Besides being board chair of the Fort Price Symphony, she is vice chair of the Artistic Initiatives, Joint, and Strategic Planning committees.
The cornerstone of turning her symphony vision into reality was the hiring of Keith Cerny as president and CEO; Maestro Robert Spano as music director; and Kevin John Edusei as principal guest conductor.
“Thank goodness for the board, they took charge, provided leadership and put us on a path forward,” Mrs. Bass said.
Cerny was hired in January 2019 to fill the position that had been vacant since Amy Adkins left to grow to be president of All Saints Health Foundation 18 months earlier.
He brought expertise in each music and business, making him the perfect candidate for the role. Music has been an element of his life since he began singing with the San Francisco Boys Chorus. Then got here piano lessons and performances as a pianist and conductor with organizations within the San Francisco area during his teens.
After studying music and physics as an undergrad on the University of California at Berkeley, he was awarded a Fulbright fellowship in London, where he studied and worked as a pianist, vocal coach and conductor.
Afterwards, he earned his MBA from Harvard University and a Ph.D in econometrics and development policy from Open University within the U.K.
His skilled accomplishments include serving as executive director and CFO of the San Francisco Opera; general director and CEO of the Dallas Opera; and general director and CEO of the Calgary Opera in Canada.
Within the interim between the departure of Adkins and the arrival of Cerny, Mrs. Bass said she took on a bigger role to maintain the orchestra operating easily, helping to beat financial challenges on the time.
“Keith has brought in an entire recent business model,” Mrs. Bass said. “Unfortunately, we didn’t have the knife that would cut the butter until we found Keith.”
For his part, Cerny said when he first met Mrs. Bass, “I used to be struck by how ambitious she was and is” in addition to her commitment to artistic quality.
Once he arrived, Cerny was tasked with finding a substitute for renowned conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya, who was stepping down after his 20th season as music director, and in addition with filling staff vacancies and developing a technique to “make every 12 months stronger than the 12 months before” by way of musical quality.
But just as Cerny was completing his first 12 months, the organization was faced with the unexpected challenges of the pandemic shutdowns.
Several live shows scheduled for the 2019-2020 season were canceled as was the 30th season of the favored Live shows within the Garden.
Once restrictions were lifted, the organization wasted no time getting the orchestra back to performing live.
“Mrs. Bass and I moved heaven and earth to get back on stage,” Cerny said.
The 2020-21 season began in September 2020 with a modified schedule and reduced audience capability to accommodate social-distancing. Safety precautions were put in place, including mandatory masking and temperature screenings, and plenty of performances took place at Will Rogers Memorial Auditorium, a more spacious venue than Bass Performance Hall.
The orchestra benefited from $8.1 million in government assistance, including Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Shuttered Venue Operators Grant funds.
“We’re very proud that we never needed to cut salaries or let anyone go,” Mrs. Bass said.
Equally vital, she noted, the organization administered greater than 1,200 COVID-19 tests on musicians and staff with a positivity rate of lower than 1 percent.
The organization’s successful recent business model helped make re-opening for live audiences possible as did philanthropic support from Mrs. Bass; the Kleinheinz Family Foundation for the Arts and Education; Ed Schollmaier, in memory of Rae Schollmaier; and plenty of other donors.
The symphony was able to take care of a balanced budget and successfully get well, Cerny said. The 2022-23 fiscal 12 months budget is $15.1 million, a rise of $700,000 over the 2021-22 budget of $14.4 million.
“We face inflation like everyone else,” Cerny said. “But we’ve been very careful to not let our expenses grow too quickly. Post-COVID, our ticket sales were down and that put increased pressure on fundraising.”
The 2021-22 season helped usher in pre-pandemic normalcy with a return to Bass Hall, 10 symphonic live shows and 7 pops live shows. The season also saw the return of the Live shows within the Garden series.
But the largest announcement of that season was that Robert Spano would grow to be the following music director of the orchestra. Spano, who has served the symphony as principal guest conductor since 2019, became music director designate in April 2021 and music director on Aug. 1, 2022.
Spano was ending his final season as music director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in 2021, a position he had held since 2001. He was planning to retire.
But Mrs. Bass, who had known and admired Spano for a few years, had other plans for his future. Besides his role with the Atlanta Symphony, Spano had served since 2011 as music director of the Aspen Music Festival and School, where Mrs. Bass’ leadership roles gave her an up-close view of Spano’s talent. She saw a possibility to try to influence the completed and world-renowned conductor, pianist, composer and teacher to affix the Fort Price Symphony.
The conversation initially began when Mrs. Bass told him she was searching for a successor for Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Spano said. He agreed to grow to be principal guest conductor.
“I knew Mercedes well and was completely happy to do this for her,” Spano said. “The primary time I got here to conduct, I had a beautiful time.”
Yet, he wasn’t able to make a deeper commitment. “I wanted a minute,” he recalled.
Finally, over dinner, Mrs. Bass recalled, she asked Spano whether he had made up his mind.
“He desired to retire and conduct opera,” she said, “but he said: ‘Why not?’”
Spano said he was captivated by Mrs. Bass’ determination and bold plans for the symphony.
“It was incredibly exciting and I desired to be a part of it,” he said. “I used to be seduced and couldn’t say no.”
He committed to an initial three-year term, becoming the tenth music director within the orchestra’s 110-year history.
Along with conducting a lot of the symphonic live shows, Spano oversees the orchestra and music staff and works closely with Cerny to define the orchestra’s artistic vision and broaden audiences.
“We’re definitely on a mission,” Spano said.
Other key organizational changes this season included the hiring of completed German conductor Kevin John Edusei to succeed Spano as principal guest conductor.
“I used to be so completely happy to just accept the offer,” said Edusei, who made his debut as a guest conductor with the orchestra in September 2021. “I sensed an awesome deal of ambition and commitment and with Robert Spano onboard, it was a simple alternative.”
Also, nine recent musicians were hired this 12 months – two additions to the musician core and 7 to fill vacancies.
“Our goal is so as to add one tenure-track position a 12 months,” Cerny said.
The present season also adds additional symphonic performances, increasing from 10 to 11 programs, in addition to additional pops programs, increasing from seven to eight.
Spano will conduct six of the symphonic programs, music director laureate Miguel Harth-Bedoya will conduct one and Edusei will conduct two live shows. Guest conductors can even be featured this 12 months.
This 12 months’s symphonic season spanned the musical spectrum, including highlights similar to the season opener, A Recent Musical Era Begins: Brahms, Beethoven and Schubert, followed by an all Rachmaninoff program; an American jazz tribute, A Trip to Harlem;highlights of Richard Wagner; and A Trip to St. Petersburg: Glinka, Glazunov and Tchaikovsky.
Headlining a stellar lineup of soloists this season is cellist Yo-Yo Ma; pianists Joyce Yang and Jorge Federico Osorio; and violinist Gil Shaham.
Upcoming within the spring is a singular A Night on the Ballet program featuring the orchestra and Texas Ballet Theater performing together. The collaboration is a component of a symphony initiative to make use of visual imagery to “heighten the audience experience,” Cerny said.
The season also features a Family Series, a Chamber Music Series and the Meet the Composer lecture and question-and-answer series.
This season’s pops series lineup included “Queens of Soul,” the music of Rodgers and Hammerstein, the music of Star Wars, the music of the Beatles and music of Motown.
There are still many events ahead, including headline live shows similar to Three American Tenors, a performance of arias and Broadway favorites performed by three tenors and the orchestra.
For Mrs. Bass, this season launches her dream of taking the Fort Price Symphony to the following level. She is hoping the orchestra eventually can be invited to perform in Europe, South America and beyond.
“We actually have a Class A orchestra,” she said. “We would like the entire country and the world to know what an awesome orchestra Fort Price has.”