The Arts, Entrepreneurship and Higher Education
Thursday, April 9, 2015
David H. Stull Recital Hall, Oberlin Conservatory of Music
Wayne S. Brown is president and CEO of Michigan Opera Theatre.
Brown had been director of music and opera for the National Endowment for the Arts since 1997, where he managed NEA grants for music and opera projects and directed the NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship, the nation’s highest honor in jazz. Previously Brown served as producer of music programs for the Cultural Olympiad in Atlanta, Georgia, where he managed music events associated with the 1996 Olympics.
Brown has a long history of involvement with symphony orchestras in Louisville, Kentucky; Springfield, Massachusetts; and Detroit, Michigan. He is the former executive director of the Louisville Orchestra, where he was responsible for the planning, supervision, and administration of all facets of the organization. Under his leadership, the orchestra launched and exceeded a $10 million endowment campaign, established a significant regional touring program, and produced two international music festivals.
Brown was a founding member of the Magic in Music Advisory Committee for the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, has served on advisory boards for the Mellon and Ford Foundations, is a former vice chair of the American Symphony Orchestra League, and previously served as a member of the American Arts Alliance Board.
He began his role with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra as an administrative manager, and subsequently was named an assistant manager, where he was in charge of sales, community outreach, and the orchestra’s first Upper Peninsula tour. In 1979, Brown was instrumental in bringing about the first Classical Roots Concert in Detroit, an initiative that is now being celebrated by several communities throughout the nation.
He is a graduate of the University of Michigan, where he received a bachelor of music degree with a major in voice and a minor in business.
Flutist Claire Chase '01, a 2012 MacArthur Fellow, is a soloist, collaborative artist, and activist for new music. Over the past decade, she has given the world premieres of more than 100 new works for flute, many of them tailor-made for her. In 2014 she began Density 2036, a project to commission, premiere, and record an entirely new program of pieces for flute every year until 2036, the 100th anniversary of the eponymous and seminal piece by Varese. Also in the 2014-15 season, Chase is music directing and playing as soloist in a series of performances of Salvatore Sciarrino’s Il cerchio tagliato dei suoni for four flute soloists and 100 flute “migranti.”
Chase has performed throughout the Americas, Europe, and Asia, including debuts last season in Berlin, Frankfurt, Vienna, Paris, London, Sao Paolo, and Guangzhou. She has released three solo albums, Aliento (2010), Terrestre (2012) and Density (2013). In 2014, she was selected as an inaugural fellow of Project&, with which she will perform several new works exploring the relationship between language, music, and social interaction over the next several years.
Chase won first prize in the 2008 Concert Artists Guild International Competition. She cofounded the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) in 2001 shortly after earning a bachelor of music degree at Oberlin Conservatory of Music. She serves as the organization’s artistic director and CEO, in addition to playing in more than 50 concerts a year as an ensemble member. ICE has premiered more than 600 works since its inception and pioneered a new artist-driven organizational model that earned the company a Trailblazer Award from the American Music Center in 2010. Chase also was honored with Crain’s Business 40 under 40 Award in 2013.
Chase established the Pnea Foundation in 2013, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of the flute and its repertoire in the 21st century through commissions, community engagement, cross-cultural and interdisciplinary collaborations, and advocacy. She lives in Brooklyn.
Ruby Lerner is president and founding director of Creative Capital, a New York-based organization that supports, counsels, and funds innovative and adventurous artists across the country. Previously, Lerner was executive director of the Association of Independent Film and Videomakers and publisher of Independent Film and Video Monthly, among other leadership positions. She is a frequent speaker on innovation in the arts and serves on the Headlands Center for the Arts Advisory Council and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Innovation Circle, among others.
