Bruce Kiesling

Music Director, Adrian Symphony in Michigan and Sequoia Symphony Orchestra
  Personal Website

Active in a wide variety of music, Bruce Kiesling has a national profile as a conductor and music educator from coast to coast, from classical repertoire at Carnegie Hall to the stage of the Hollywood Bowl conducting with Stevie Wonder and Latin superstars Juanes and Gloria Estefan.

His current Music Director positions include the Adrian Symphony in Michigan and the Sequoia Symphony Orchestra in California. He is also Artistic Director and Conductor of the School of Orchestral Studies at the NY Summer School of the Arts, and conducts the orchestra and opera program at the University of California, Santa Cruz. With both of his professional orchestras, ticket sales and sponsorships have increased to record levels and his concert comments and insider stories have become popular additions to programs. Bruce’s programs show a particular affinity for American repertoire, and include a huge range from live to picture film screenings to pop and rock.

About Drew McManus

"I hear that every time you show up to work with an orchestra, people get fired." Those were the first words out of an executive's mouth after her board chair introduced us. That executive is now a dear colleague and friend but the day that consulting contract began with her orchestra, she was convinced I was a hatchet-man brought in by the board to clean house.

I understand where the trepidation comes from as a great deal of my consulting and technology provider work for arts organizations involves due diligence, separating fact from fiction, interpreting spin, as well as performance review and oversight. So yes, sometimes that work results in one or two individuals "aggressively embracing career change" but far more often than not, it reinforces and clarifies exactly what works and why.

In short, it doesn't matter if you know where all the bodies are buried if you can't keep your own clients out of the ground, and I'm fortunate enough to say that for more than 15 years, I've done exactly that for groups of all budget size from Qatar to Kathmandu.

For fun, I write a daily blog about the orchestra business, provide a platform for arts insiders to speak their mind, keep track of what people in this business get paid, help write a satirical cartoon about orchestra life, hack the arts, and love a good coffee drink.

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