Michael Pastreich | |
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Born | |
Alma mater | Washington University in St. Louis (B.A.) |
Occupation | performing arts executive |
Parents |
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Michael Pastreich (born July 14, 1966) is an American performing arts executive. He became the executive director of the Washington Ballet in May 2019. [1] [2] He has been the longest serving president & CEO of The Florida Orchestra, [3] and served for 11 years from the 40th anniversary of the orchestra in 2007 [4] till 2018. During his tenure paid attendance to performances increased by 49%, while national attendance to orchestra performances went down. [3] In 2014, the magazine Musical American presented him in their series Profiles in Courage. [5] Major projects to engage the community are cited by the orchestra as being drivers in the orchestra's popularity. [6]
Previously he was the executive director of the Elgin Symphony Orchestra in Illinois from 1996 till 2007. In 2005, the Chicago Tribune named him a "Chicagoan of the Year" [7] and credited him with helping to transform "a struggling community ensemble into one of the Midwest's most artistically and financially secure regional orchestras." [8] In 2006, the Illinois Council of Orchestras named him Executive Director of the Year. [9]
He is the son of performing arts executive Peter Pastreich.
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the eastern bank of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. It was named in 1964 as a memorial to assassinated President John F. Kennedy. Opened on September 8, 1971, the center hosts many different genres of performance art, such as theater, dance, orchestras, jazz, pop, psychedelic, and folk music.
Lyric Opera of Chicago is an American opera company based in Chicago, Illinois. The company was founded in Chicago in 1954, under the name 'Lyric Theatre of Chicago' by Carol Fox, Nicola Rescigno and Lawrence Kelly, with a season that included Maria Callas's American debut in Norma. Fox re-organized the company in 1956 under its present name. Lyric is housed in a theater and related spaces in the Civic Opera Building. These spaces are now owned by Lyric.
Rahm Israel Emanuel is an American politician and diplomat currently serving as United States ambassador to Japan. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented Illinois in the United States House of Representatives for three terms from 2003 to 2009. He was the White House Chief of Staff from 2009 to 2010 under Barack Obama and served as mayor of Chicago from 2011 to 2019.
The Taste of Chicago is the world's largest food festival, held in September in Chicago, Illinois in Grant Park. The event is also the largest festival in Chicago. Non-food-related events include live music on multiple stages, including the Petrillo Music Shell, pavilions, and performances. Musical acts vary from nationally known artists like Carlos Santana, Moby, Kenny Rogers, or Robert Plant to name just a few, to local artists. Since 2008, The Chicago Country Music Festival was held simultaneously with the Taste of Chicago but now has its own two-day festival, typically held in the fall. The Taste of Chicago also has rides present which may include a Ferris wheel and the Jump to Be Fit among others.
The Auditorium Theatre is a music and performance venue located in the Auditorium Building at 50 E. Ida B. Wells Drive in Chicago, Illinois. Inspired by the Richardsonian Romanesque Style of architect Henry Hobson Richardson, the building was designed by Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan and completed in 1889. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra performed in the theatre until 1904 as well as the Chicago Grand Opera Company and its successors the Chicago Opera Association and Chicago Civic Opera until its relocation to the Civic Opera House in 1929. The theater was home to the Joffrey Ballet from 1998 until 2020. It currently hosts a variety of concerts, musicals, performances, and events. Since the 1940s, it has been owned by Roosevelt University and since the 1960s it has been refurbished and managed by an independent non-profit arts organization.
The Florida Orchestra is an American orchestra based in the tri-city area of Tampa, Clearwater and St. Petersburg, Florida. It was founded as the Florida Gulf Coast Symphony upon the 1968 merger of the St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra and the Tampa Philharmonic. The present name was adopted in 1984.
Dean L. Buntrock is an American businessman and philanthropist most well known for his founding and longtime leadership of Waste Management, Inc., North America's largest waste services company. Over his 40-year career he increased revenue from $1 million to $9 billion.
The Joan W. and Irving B. Harris Theater for Music and Dance is a 1,499-seat theater for the performing arts located along the northern edge of Millennium Park on Randolph Street in the Loop community area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, US. The theater, which is largely underground due to Grant Park-related height restrictions, was named for its primary benefactors, Joan and Irving Harris. It serves as the park's indoor performing venue, a complement to Jay Pritzker Pavilion, which hosts the park's outdoor performances.
The Kansas City Symphony (KCS) is an American symphony orchestra based in Kansas City, Missouri. The orchestra is a regular resident at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. The orchestra performs a 42-week season, and is also the accompanying orchestra for the Lyric Opera of Kansas City and the Kansas City Ballet.
The Grant Park Music Festival is a ten-week classical music concert series held annually in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It features the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra and Grant Park Chorus along with guest performers and conductors, and is one of the only free outdoor classical-music concert series in the US.
Bird College – Conservatoire for Dance and Musical Theatre is an independent performing arts school and college, located in Sidcup, South East London, in the London Borough of Bexley.
The League of American Orchestras, formerly the American Symphony Orchestra League, is a North American service organization with 700 member orchestras of all budget sizes and types, plus individual and institutional members. Based in New York City, with an office in Washington, DC, the League leads, serves, and advocates for orchestras and the orchestral art form.
Alan Heatherington is one of the leading orchestra conductors in Illinois. He has conducted and/or played with virtually all of the major orchestras in the Chicago area. He was the Music Director of Ars Viva Symphony Orchestra, the Lake Forest Symphony Orchestra and the Chicago Master Singers, and is Music Director Emeritus of all three ensembles.
Kevin R. McMahon is an American, orchestra/opera conductor, composer/orchestrator/arranger, clinician/adjudicator, and violinist.
Michael Halberstam is an American stage actor and director. He co-founded the Writers Theatre in Glencoe, Illinois, and served as its artistic director until 2021. He resigned after years of reported harassment and abuse from artists working at the theater.
Peter Pastreich was executive director of the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra (2009–2011), the San Francisco Symphony, the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra (1966–1978) and the Nashville Symphony (1962–1964). On August 11, 2016, he was named interim Executive Director of American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) in San Francisco; a month later, on his 78th birthday, he became Executive Director, a position he held for two years, during which he assisted A.C.T. to engage new leadership for its Artistic Director, Executive Director, Board Chair, and Board President positions.
Deborah F. Rutter is an American arts executive. She is the president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. Rutter is the first woman to head the Center, overseeing the center's operations in presenting theater, dance, music, awards, and the affiliated, National Symphony Orchestra and Washington National Opera. She came to the center from serving as the president of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (2003–2014), an American orchestra commonly referred to as one of the "Big Five".
Robert Trendler was an American bandleader, songwriter, and musical director of the WGN Orchestra from 1956 till 1975. Trendler was known in Chicago as Mr. Bob the bandleader of Bozo's Big Top Band, on Bozo's Circus, a television program for children home from school for lunch.
The Chicago Philharmonic is an American orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois, governed by the Chicago Philharmonic Society. Founded in 1988 by principals of the Lyric Opera Orchestra of Chicago, it is a musician-governed, non-profit organization consisting of nearly 200 classical music performers from the Chicago area. Since 2013, the Artistic Director and Principal Conductor has been Scott Speck.
Paul Philip Christiano was an American choreographer and dancer, known for his work and career in Chicago, Illinois.