Melia Tourangeau
PRESIDENT AND CEO | Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
A conservatory-trained pianist, Melia Tourangeau, 47, doesn’t have time to do much but noodle around on the keys on occasion. Her job as president and CEO of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra takes up the bulk of her time.
She realized early during her stint at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music that she didn’t want to pursue a career as a performer or teacher. She discovered a passion for orchestral management during a spring break trip to meet the president and CEO of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.
After beginning her orchestral career in the education and operations departments of the Grand Rapids Symphony in Michigan, Ms. Tourangeau quickly rose through the ranks to become president before jumping to the Utah Symphony and then the PSO in May 2015. At 44, she was the youngest CEO in the orchestra’s history.
She sold her childhood piano to help pay off student debt (“My husband wouldn’t marry me until I was debt free,” she says) and later purchased an inexpensive replacement to begin teaching her children, with just a cursory look at the instrument.
“I got my degree in piano performance and was running the largest performance organization in the inter-mountain west at the time, and I bought a piano with only 85 keys,” she recalls, laughing. Standard pianos have 88 keys. Ms. Tourangeau has since upgraded instruments.
Her daily routine is anything but standard. She often begins with breakfast meetings with the orchestra’s music director, Manfred Honeck, and board chair before meeting with various committees and subcommittees. She regularly meets with the orchestra’s senior leadership team and often the musicians themselves to discuss news and changes.
Ms. Tourangeau attends symphony concerts, speaks at performances and fundraising events, and often attends after-show dinners with artists and donors. It isn’t unusual for her day to run from 8 or 9 a.m. to 1 or 2 a.m. the next morning.
Ms. Tourangeau’s husband is a stay-at-home dad to two children, ages 10 and 13. She says she struggles with a work-life balance but makes sure to attend all of the important moments in her kids’ lives.
Even with the meetings, Ms. Tourangeau says she’s naturally introverted and that “walking into a room where I don’t know anyone is still intimidating. Like with the piano, practicing speaking with donors is key, but connecting my passion with theirs is the part of the job I love the most. I’m the face of the orchestra when the music director isn’t around and the bridge builder for the outside community.”