Oregon Bach Festival Announces Search for New Artistic Director
Nationally-Recognized Expert Appointed as Committee Chair
Eugene, OR – The Oregon Bach Festival will launch a comprehensive international search this spring for an artistic director to provide creative leadership at the acclaimed music festival.
Renowned expert in music director searches Roger Saydack has been appointed as chairman of the search committee.
“We’re delighted to have someone with Roger’s amazing track record of attracting top-notch musical talent to arts organizations around the country leading our search for a new artistic visionary at the Oregon Bach Festival,” said Sabrina Madison-Cannon, dean at the University of Oregon School of Music and Dance, which oversees the festival.
The Oregon Bach Festival has been operating under an artistic advisory committee, comprised of University of Oregon staff, faculty and board members, since 2017.
Madison-Cannon, who assumed management of the festival when she was appointed as dean of the School of Music and Dance in mid-2018, said the decision to hire a new artistic director had been informed by wide-ranging consultation with community members, festival audiences, donors, staff and musicians.
“Over the past six months, I’ve met with all of the major stakeholder groups including patrons, donors and the Oregon Bach Festival Board of Directors,” Madison-Cannon said. “Through those conversations it became clear that, despite a beautifully cultivated and successful 2018 festival, people strongly expressed a desire to return to the festival’s long-standing tradition of a single artistic director, who will bring their own unique and unifying vision to the festival. For that reason, we’ve made the decision to search for a new artistic director of the Oregon Bach Festival.”
The new artistic director position will report directly to Madison-Cannon, as part of the ongoing integration of Oregon Bach Festival operations into the School of Music and Dance that was announced in September 2017, and will include closer collaboration on educational activities.
Oregon Bach Festival Executive Director Janelle McCoy said she was looking forward to forging a creative partnership with the next artistic director, while continuing to honor the festival’s 50-year legacy of excellence.
“The future artistic director has a tremendous opportunity here at Oregon Bach Festival,” said McCoy. “They’ll get to work directly with world-class musicians, mentor students from across the country, and contribute to the life-changing educational mission of the University of Oregon.”
The proposal to hire a new artistic director was also a topic of discussions at a Friends of the Oregon Bach Festival Board of Directors retreat in November, 2018.
And the board voted this week to move ahead with the search for a new artistic director.
“The Oregon Bach Festival Advisory Board has been steadfast and diligent in its support and guidance of OBF throughout the past year,” said Robin Burk, chair of the board. “Our artistic director search is an important step, and we are very excited about the future of this internationally-recognized festival. We are committed to finding an individual who believes in our mission and propels it forward with new creativity, inclusion, collaboration, and amazing talent.”
Madison-Cannon is currently in the process of forming the search committee, but Burk has been named as an early appointee, while McCoy has agreed to serve as an ex-officio member.
All will work closely with Saydack, who developed a reputation as a discerning judge of artistic talent over the course of five terms as chair of the Eugene Symphony Music Director Search Committee. In that role, he was instrumental in recruiting some of the classical music world’s most promising conductors, including Marin Alsop, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Giancarlo Guerrero and Danail Rachev, who have all gone on to successful conducting careers in major cities around the globe.
“This is a great moment for a festival which has meant so much to so many,” said Saydack. “I’m excited and honored to be involved in helping the festival find the right person for its future.”
Saydack is a business attorney, who earned his degree at the University of Oregon School of Law, and served on the Friends of the Oregon Bach Festival Board of Directors from 1988-1993, including two years as board president from 1989-1991.
Madison-Cannon said she was hoping to bring finalists in to audition during the 2020 season, but that the search would take as long as necessary to find the right person to fill this important role.
Media Contacts:
Josh Gren, Director of Marketing and Communications
Oregon Bach Festival
jgren@uoregon.edu
541-346-5667
Steve Fyffe, Director of Communications
University of Oregon School of Music & Dance
sfyffe@uoregon.edu
541-346-1163