OPO’s Mark Fischer gives up the office — but not the horn
For as long as there has been an Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra— even before, actually— Mark
Fischer has been making sure the music is heard.
Concertgoers knowhim from his work onstage, where he plays French horn. But they might not know Fischer also has been essential behind the scenes, where he spent years dealing with contracts, schedules and other logistics as general manager and director of artistic operations.
Fischer, 68, will keep making music— but his days of spreadsheets are over. He has retired from his office job andwas honored for his decades of service by an official proclamation of Mark Fischer Day in Orange County at the Philharmonic’s Nov. 7 concert.
“I’m not going to miss it a bit,” Fischer laughs about his former position. “It’s actually fun not to think about meetings, deadlines and schedules.”
Back in the 1990s, Fischer was a longtime player with the Philharmonic’s predecessor— but financial problems meant its days were numbered.
“We could see that thingswere not going well with the Florida Symphony Orchestra,” which folded in 1993, Fischer said. But he and his colleagues didn’t take the news lying down. For one thing, Orlando Opera needed an orchestra for an upcoming production.
“We put our heads together, decided who would do what and made an orchestra for Orlando Opera,” Fischer recalled. “Itwas kind of a blur.”
Itwas also the beginning of what would become today’s Orlando Philharmonic.
Friday-morning “coffee concerts” at St. John Lutheran Church in Winter Park followed. Within a few years, the groupwas
playing at the Bob Carr auditorium. For its first “blockbuster concert,” the ensemble pulled out all the stops: “Everything from the 1812 Overture to Sousa marches,” Fischer said. “Anything, big or small, that could make an impact.”
Orange County government, under the leadership of Linda Chapin, helped out— hiring the orchestra to play in county parks, an important step in creating a concert season, Fischer said. And by 2000, the groupwas able to hire its first executive director, David Schillhammer.
That took a little pressure off Fischer. Alittle.
“Itwas an exciting time,” Fischer said.“We felt the future was bright.”
And it was.
In part, thatwas because Fischer and his colleagues designed the Philharmonic to be partly run by the musicians themselves: 25% of the boardof directors is elected amongthe players. That created an atmosphere far different fromthe last days of the Florida Symphony Orchestra.
“The level of communication between musicians, management and staff was abysmal,” Fischer recalled. “Andthe communication you usually had was negative in every direction.”
With the new Phil harmonic, Fischer served in each of those three roles— as first-chair horn, founding boardmember, general manager.
With no formal business training, Fischer credited longtime volunteer treasurer John Blackburn with mentoring him on the number-crunching side of operations. Therewere memorable meetings in the old Winter Park Mall near a bridal shop.
“Therewere these mannequins all over the place,” Fischer said. “If youwere at night, itwas a spooky place.”
It wasn’t as scary as the challenges facing the orchestra andall arts groups this year of the coronavirus pandemic.
“I probably made 50 budgets for the first concert” of the current season, Fischer said. As budgets changed, the programming changed; different classical works require different number of musicians. Andwith revenue disappearing, Fischer was left with telling fellow players their services wouldn’t be required.
“The unenviable task of notifying musicians they were being released from concerts still haunts all of us,” he said.
He’s touched by the Mark Fischer Day honor, though he says it’s “completely unnecessary.” He wouldn’t mind seeing his name attached to a scholarship program to introduce students from underserved communities to classical music — and thereby diversify the orchestra of tomorrow.
“If we want to look different and be different in20 years, then we have to start now,” he said.
Although he’ll continue to play, Fischer has stepped down from the first chair.
“As a colleague at the Met toldme, ’It’s better to leave five years too early than five minutes too late,’” he joked.
He’s not resting onhis laurels; decades of long work weeks mean his Winter Springs home could use some attention.
“There’s a list of things to do around the house that has been accumulating for 22 years,” he said. “I’m busier than back at the office.”
But there are no regrets for the long hour she put in throughthe years tomake sure Central Florida had access to professional classical music.
“Therewas a lot at stake and not many people todo it,” he said. “Itwas a labor of love.”
Find me on Twitter@ matt_on_arts or email me a tm palm@ orlando sentinel. com. Want more news and reviews of theater and other arts? Go to orlandosentinel. com/arts