The Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra is about to celebrate its thirty-fifth season. A great orchestra like the TSO is more than what the audience sees on stage. The supporting cast includes Orchestra President and CEO Mandy Stringer. And, as Stringer is quick to acknowledge, the nearly 3-dozen-strong orchestra board of directors.
“They are hardworking, they are intelligent, they’re creative, they’re supportive, they show up, they do their jobs and they have a good time,” she smiled. “I’m just so fortunate!”
The board includes people like Martha Olive-Hall.
“Actually, Marjorie Turnbull asked me many years ago to get on board with the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra and I loved it,” Olive-Hall remembered. “I spent a lot of my 30s on the board, a lot of my 40s and now in my 50s, so I’m practically the historian for the group. But I love the symphony and enjoy the performances so much.”
There’s also David Watson.
“When I moved to Tallahassee in the mid-80s I started attending the TSO because I needed my fix,” he recalled. “And a few years ago I was getting to a point in my career when I wanted to give back to the things that meant the most to me and after a while I got the board’s attention and I was able to make a contribution at a difficult time during the Great Recession.”
Another member of the TSO Board is businessman Jeff Askins.
“I spend my days and many nights looking at financial data and doing a considerable amount of research,” he said. “It is so refreshing to go to a concert, whether it’s Avis Berry, who is just fabulous, and so much looking forward to Renee Fleming, I found it to be very therapeutic. I only got involved going to concerts in the last few years and it became a real affection for me. So when I was asked to join the board, there wasn’t any decision.”
To be perfectly frank, many non-profit boards are made up of “resume padders”. These folks love the prestige that comes with the job, but not the job itself. Martha Olive-Hall said that’s not the case here.
“As Mandy said, this is a hard working board,” she stressed. “The folks are so committed to making sure this happens. They’ve rolled up their sleeves through some very hard years and now we’re enjoying a lot of the fruits of those labors. But also the musicians and the loyal, loyal audience that we have.”
Not to mention, as David Watson pointed out, the board having snagged a world class, electrifying young music director and conductor by the name of Darko Butorac.
“What you see when you meet Darko in any situation is what you’ll get in any other situation,” Watson observed. “He’s always the same, warm individual, the same fun person. He’s all business when he’s in front of the orchestra, but the rest of the time he’s always the same Darko that you see. He’s a delightful man to work with.”
Jeff Askins says a big part of the board’s responsibility is attracting more financial support for the TSO. In a town like Tallahassee that has very few major corporate contributors, that job is an ongoing challenge.
“That’s a lot of our job as board members is to spread the word and invite people. We let people like Darko and Mandy go and do the rest of the work in marketing and the organization with the board’s help. But it’s really the product that sells. If you ask people to come, the money will follow.”
And Mandy Stringer says that product is good and getting even better with an exciting performance schedule for the coming season.
“We’ve got family concerts, we’ve got a new innovative Symphony Lab format coming, we’ve got two jazz orchestra concerts and we’ve got our subscription series and we’ve got two Holiday Magics and, of course, we’ve got Renee Fleming.”
Which, you must admit, will make for a very busy 35th birthday party year for the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra.
