Houston Chronicle Sunday

How Houston Symphony played to more than a million people through the pandemic

- By Chris Gray CORRESPOND­ENT Chris Gray is a Galveston-based writer.

According to Houston Symphony CEO John Mangum, last season the orchestra’s concerts, both in person and online, were seen by over a million people. By contrast, most U.S. orchestras of their caliber opted to go on hiatus.

Although he was named one of Houston’s most admired CEOs in the Houston Business Journal’s annual roundup, published in June, Mangum is quick to deflect any credit to the organizati­on he’s led since 2018.

“That kind of recognitio­n isn’t just about me, or maybe it isn’t really about me at all,” he says. “It’s about the entire organizati­on: the board, the musicians, the staff and the way that everybody really rose to the occasion to achieve something remarkable over the past year.”

It’s worth stating again just how remarkable that is. After the pandemic wiped out the orchestra’s 2019-20 season with more than two months to go, bringing live music back to Jones Hall was a tough needle to thread. But working closely with a handful of government­al and health care partners, the symphony resumed performing for a socially distanced audience last summer and completed a full season this past May. It also livestream­ed one concert per weekend series.

The risk has paid off handsomely. Even confronted by additional challenges such as the absence of music director Andrés Orozco-Estrada because ofCOVID-19 travel restrictio­ns, last season the symphony’s livestream­s wound up reaching viewers in 40 countries and all 50 states. They also helped offset the hit the orchestra took at the box office, and will continue when the new season begins in September. (Tickets went on sale Aug. 4).

“I was profoundly impressed and moved by (that),” Mangum says. “Whether it was money, or advice, or time, or support, every constituen­cy in the city stepped up to support the symphony this year. That was really remarkable, and look: That made an impression on people around the world in our business.

“(In) one of the conversati­ons I had with our new music director, he specifical­ly (said), ‘It’s been amazing that you guys have been able to do this,’ ” he adds, “and that’s one of the things that made the idea of coming to Houston attractive to him.”

Last month, the symphony announced that Juraj Valčuha, music director of the Teatro di

San Carlo in Naples, Italy, and first guest conductor of Berlin’s Konzerthau­sorchester, will take over from Orozco-Estrada in the fall of 2022. Mangum says he’s “delighted that we won’t have an interregnu­m between the two of them” and that Valčuha shares his enthusiasm for finding new ways the orchestra can serve the surroundin­g community.

“I think he’ll be a great partner for that,” he affirms. “One of the things that he’s talked about a lot is, ‘How do you get the orchestra out of Jones Hall (and) into the community in really impactful ways?’ I’m looking forward to that and (to) continuing to make sure that we let the world know what’s happening here in Houston.”

Mangum came to Houston from the Philharmon­ic Society of Orange County near Los Angeles, where he took over as president and artistic director in 2014. Before that, he served as director of artistic planning for the San Francisco Symphony and New York Philharmon­ic. He says his background in artistic planning has served him well as CEO.

“I think having worked with artists at orchestras for 20 years, I have a good sense of what makes artists tick and how to support them in their work,” he says. “And I’m not just talking about our music director or the wonderful guest artists that we bring but also each of the members of the orchestra is an artist:

What are the ways that everybody can express themselves (and) actualize their full artistic potential, and how can I, through my work, enable everyone to do that?”

Mangum, who has a Ph.D., master’s and bachelor’s in history from UCLA, even gets to flex his historian’s credential­s on the livestream broadcasts. Besides providing background on each week’s selections, he chooses a member of the orchestra or two to converse with on camera.

“Even the music director isn’t onstage every week, or our principal pops conductor,” Mangum says. “But our musicians are onstage every week, and this just turned into a great opportunit­y to get to know them and get audiences focused on who they are and what they’re about, and what they contribute to our wonderful orchestra.”

 ?? Houston Symphony ?? Houston Symphony leader John Mangum shares the credit for its success during the pandemic.
Houston Symphony Houston Symphony leader John Mangum shares the credit for its success during the pandemic.

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