After 10 years, the president and CEO of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra has announced that he is leaving for a similar position in Utah.
Paul Meecham starts his new post with the Utah Symphony and Utah Opera in July.
“I told my wife I would never leave Baltimore for just another orchestra job,” Meecham said in an interview Thursday, “and this happens to be not just an orchestra, but an opera company, and it has a robust summer season as well.”
Meecham joined the BSO in October 2006, after serving in leadership roles in London, San Francisco, New York, and Seattle. He saw the orchestra through a period of declining fundraising and ticket sales after the economic downturn, which required furloughs, a staff reduction, and pay cuts, and emerged at the other end with a budget that is close to what it was before the recession.
Along with music director Marin Alsop, he established initiatives to strengthen the orchestra’s presence in the community—the inner-city schools program OrchKids, for example, and adult amateur programs such as the BSO Academy. He’s also championed affordable ticket pricing based on a successful $25 subscription pricing model, which “has increased access and attendance,” according to the BSO website.
“Paul came to lead the BSO at an especially challenging time, and he has worked tirelessly to strengthen our institution,” the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Players Committee said in an email statement from chair Gregory Mulligan.
The news comes a week before the BSO’s 100th anniversary concert, which features violinist Joshua Bell, and is a celebration of the orchestra’s past, present and future. Meecham said he wanted to give the BSO five months notice, so the search for his successor could begin.
“BSO musicians look forward to working with our board to help select our next president in this, our one-hundredth anniversary season,” the players committee statement said, “and to continuing to strengthen the world class Baltimore Symphony that our great city, Montgomery County, and the state of Maryland expect and deserve.”