Mark Cantrell will pick up the baton as the Colorado Symphony Orchestra's new chief executive officer, according to a news release Monday.
Cantrell currently serves as the president and CEO of The Florida Orchestra and previously headed up the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra. The appointment is effective May 8.
“It is an honor to have this opportunity to lead one of the premier orchestras in the country,” Cantrell said in the release. “The Colorado Symphony has a reputation for artistic excellence and boundary pushing programming that has helped redefine what a symphony can be in the 21st century. But perhaps I'm most impressed with their commitment to serving community and their efforts to build a thriving future for live symphonic music through education."
He added, "I look forward to working with this talented group of musicians, staff, and board members to create an orchestra committed to enriching the lives of everyone across the Centennial State and helping to fortify the Colorado Symphony’s standing as one of the preeminent arts organizations in Denver.”
The appointment was 18 months in the making. Cantrell replaces Jerome H. Kern, who retired as CEO and board chairman on Sept. 9, 2021.
The symphony celebrates its centennial during the 2023/24 season. Last year, it named Peter Oundjian as the newly-created Principal Conductor — a role typically called music director.
The symphony’s Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer Coreen Miller served as interim CEO since Kern’s retirement.
“From our earliest conversations, Mark’s passion and desire to utilize the power of music to transform a community and connect lives was so apparent,” said Richard Krugman and Julie Rubsam, co-chairs of the board of trustees. “Together, with our musicians, staff, and board of trustees, we aim to take the next steps in sustaining an organization that serves the needs of a growing and ever-changing community. We are very excited to work closely alongside him and have full confidence that he is the right person at the right time for this orchestra.”
“Our musicians were overwhelmingly in favor of Mark's appointment, recognizing his leadership abilities and his extensive background as a musician and administrator,” Oundjian said in the release. “Mark is one of the top executive leaders in the orchestra world today and I look forward to working alongside him in building a bright future for our orchestra.”
One of the biggest issues Cantrell will face is the aging home of the symphony: Boettcher Hall.
Back in the 1970s, it became the first concert hall in America to be built in the round — at a capacity of 2,600, which most experts now say was at least 800 too many.
Over the years, the fate of the Boettcher has had more crescendos and falls than Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5.
In 2014, the city proposed tearing it down and replacing it with an outdoor amphitheater. The symphony countered with a $40 million plan to instead renovate the existing hall. In 2016, the city announced a plan to completely remake the Denver Performing Arts Complex, replacing Boettcher with a smaller, 1,200-seat venue. None of that happened, of course.
But in 2019, the landlord and tenant entered into an agreement committing $16 million in city bond money to help the symphony build a new hall “anywhere within the Denver city limits.”
Cantrell was with the Florida Orchestra since the begging of 2019 and got it through the pandemic.
He took "the orchestra from years of structural deficits to a surplus," according to the release. He increased public funding sources and boosted community relations. He did the same while CEO of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra from September 2013 to January 2019, by "substantially growing their audience and erasing the orchestra's debt."
“Great leaders always strive to foster an environment of possibility,” added Cantrell. “I have never feared to be bold, take risks, or dream and those values align perfectly with those of the Colorado Symphony.”
His resume includes Boston Philharmonic Orchestra executive director; personnel manager for the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra; bass trombonist for the Boston Pops, Boston Ballet, and Boston Lyric Opera; and adjunct professor of music at Boston University and the University of Massachusetts.
Denver Gazette Senior Arts Journalist John Moore contributed to this report.