RUSSELL JONES REACHES OUT
STAMFORD SYMPHONY LEADER FINDS WAYS TO BRING THE COMMUNITY CLOSER
Only an hour and- a- half prior to the Stamford Symphony’s opening season gala in September, President and CEO Russell Jones roamed around the Palace Theatre attending to the night’s fine details in shorts and a T- shirt, not the typical ostentatious garb of a top executive about to appeal to donors. His staff was already dressed to impress while setting up brochures and name tags, and the second- floor atrium of the theater was already sparkling from decorations in place for cocktail hour.
But it’s Jones’ unassuming look that also informs his leadership goals that have defined his tenure with the Stamford Symphony over the past season, when he took the reins from longtime president and CEO Barbara Smith- Soroca.
Jones wants the Stamford Symphony to appeal to the people who might not go to hear an orchestral concert.
“No one who comes to the orchestra ever has an issue with the product,” he said in between giving directions to the bartenders to create a whiskey- and- ginger- ale drink special for the night based on the preferences of Conrad Tao, the awe- inspiring 24- year- old pianist who performed a recital at the gala.
“People come and they say, ‘ Wow, I had no idea, that was amazing.’ Our problem sometimes is in the way we present concerts, the timing of concerts: ‘ Why can’t I take a drink in, people aren’t telling me enough about what I’m listening to,’ and crucially. ‘ where’s the after party and can I meet the artists?’ ”
Jones’ answer has been to create a number of community- based initiatives that gets the orchestra out of the concert hall and invites the community in.
Following a Stamford Innovation Week performance in mid- September by electrified violinist Martha Mooke, Jones kicked off the first- ever Symphony on Tap event in early October that served music and beer at the Half Full Brewery to hard- toreach Millennials. In December, the orchestra teams up with the City of Stamford’s December Heights & Lights event to present an interactive family concert called “Jingle All the Way” in an afternoon time- slot to accommodate parents. They’ll hope to draw movie fans in January with a concert featuring classic and iconic movie scores and the orchestra might even leave their fancy tails at home and perform in jeans.
He’s inviting community groups — from veterans to emergency service workers — to enjoy a concert on the house.
He hopes many of these groups will then take a chance on their core classical programming, but that’s not the main goal.
“It doesn’t matter if they don’t come back in here to hear Sibelius,” he says. “Crucially, we want to try and serve more elements of the com- munity. And that means we have to change ourselves. So we have to think about our programming and we have to think about the different ways we present the orchestra because the wonderful thing about orchestras is that they’re so flexible.”
Stamford resident Lisa Welch, 54, a patron of the orchestra who was at the orchestra’s gala and who has been going to the symphony for the last 16 years, says there’s been a dramatic change of audience since Jones began a year ago.
“We were shocked at how many young people were here,” she says. “He’s brought new life into an old constituency.”
After rushing to his downtown Stamford apartment, Jones swooped back in for the gala — a cocktail hour, recital and then dinner on the Palace stage — donned in a white coat tuxedo with a black bow tie to shake hands and mingle with the donors he’s worked hard to attract as the orchestra’s chief fundraiser. It was the first gala he’s planned. With only three full- time staff members, Jones also has a hand in every arm of the organization, from marketing to educational initiatives.
It’s a all- encompassing role he’s prepared for after working in fundraising for the New York Philharmonic and also in roles at the League of American Orchestra and the Association of British Orchestras, orchestral advocacy groups that helped him hone best practices for orchestral management.
Additionally, he’s taken on artistic planning roles that would normally fall on a music director.
The orchestra is entering its second year of a search for the next conductor to permanently lead the orchestra and mold its artistic footprint. The Stamford Symphony invited five candidates to guest- lead the orchestra as interviews this season. The music director search is Jones’ top priority for the orchestra and he won’t settle until the fit is right.
“People don’t buy a ticket to come and watch me manage,” he says. But without a music director, programming and artistic direction is on his shoulders.
“That's the key partnership and that's what I'm looking forward to because we will have a figurehead, then we'll have a face of the symphony, then we'll have our leader.”
“CRUCIALLY, WE WANT TO TRY AND SERVE MORE ELEMENTS OF THE COMMUNITY. AND THAT MEANS WE HAVE TO CHANGE OURSELVES.”