League of American Orchestras

The League of American Orchestras, formerly the American Symphony Orchestra League, is a North American Musical Organization consisting of a network of approximately 800 orchestras. “Dedicated to helping orchestras meet the challenges of the twenty-first century,” the League consists of leading symphony and philharmonic orchestras, collegiate orchestras, community ensembles, and youth and student ensembles. The only national organization devoted and focused on elevating the orchestra industry, the League was founded in 1942 and later chartered by Congress in 1962. The League creates a network of all facets of the industry, including administrators, managers, board members, business partners, volunteers, and musicians. Each year this organization presents two awards: the Gold Baton Award and the Helen M. Thompson Award. The League affects the orchestral world through several outreach experiences, dedicated advocacy to music education and especially orchestral education, and maintaining and communicating a breadth of information and pertinent topics in publications. It has also developed detailed antitrust policy and guidelines in order to comply with the landscape of the industry.[1] The League is a leading force in work on legislation regarding orchestras and support for the arts.[2]

Current Logo

Organizational Structure and Leadership[3]

2012-2013 Officers

2012-2013 Board of Directors

Outreach

Leadership and Development

Because the orchestra industry landscape is a vastly changing environment, the League provides resources for ongoing professional development.[4] Examples of these resources include: Statement of Common Cause: Orchestras Support In-School Music Education Assessing Financial Health Learning from New Ensembles

Advocacy

The League is devoted to increasing the awareness of and access to orchestral music. By representing orchestras before Congress, the organization acts on legislative policies.[5] It provides resources including: Are You Listening The 2013 Policy Landscape: 5 Things You Need to Know Now

Careers

The League provides resources in its career center, including sections on seeking career guidance, finding jobs and internships, league programs and resources, and who works in orchestras and what they do.[6]

Conferences

Besides the League’s National Conference, it provides at least thirty other meetings at the notional, regional, and local level. In addition to the resources provided by the League, these meetings and conferences provide the most current information, trends, policies, and successful practices in the orchestra industry.[7]

Youth and Education[8]

The League recognizes the importance of music education in growing, promoting, and sustaining American orchestras. It provides information regarding El Sistema, Getty Foundation Grants, and the development of American youth orchestras. It has created and maintained an entire division of its operation to youth orchestras, including directors from across the country. This division, the Youth Orchestra Division or YOD, has its own separate leadership, including some of the nations most influential voices in music education and youth orchestra development. The YOD also publishes Upbeat, a newsletter dedicated to highlighting the accomplishments of America's many youth orchestras and provide support for these organizations. Published biannually, the most recent issue of Upbeat, the Spring 2013 issue, illuminates the successes of American youth orchestras. These successes include the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras reaching out to over 2,500 Chicago students and educators during two educational concerts, and the Empire State Youth Orchestra's extremely profitable "Playathon," which brought in almost $20,000 in profit for the ESYO's efforts throughout their season.[9] In addition to the important information brought forth by this publication, League CEO, Jesse Rosen, and vice president for advocacy, Heather Noonan, composed a viable resource in advocacy for music education entitled "Enough" Is Not Enough. Within this writing, Rosen and Noonan present the current picture of music education in the United States, where although the arts are considered a core subject by federal law, it still does not receive this treatment in American schools. They also claim those students who could be influenced the most by a health arts education, especially music, do not have reliable access to such an education in the arts.[10]

Youth Orchestra Division Directors

Chairman

Vice Chair

Secretary

Upbeat Editor

Directors

Publications[11]

Communication to members and representing the drive of the League is presented through several sources, including newsletters and an award-winning publication Symphony Magazine. Specifically, these publications include:

Awards

The League now presents two awards for service to American Orchestras. Given annually since 1948, the Golden Baton is the League's highest honor. As seen by browsing the list of past recipients, the scope of the type of recipients is quite broad, awarding those who have supported and inspired the growth of symphonic music on a broad level. The League also presents the Helen M. Thompson Award, recognizing outstanding leadership from directors and executives.[12]

The Golden Baton Award Past Recipients

Fred Zenone, American Public Media and Minnesota Public Radio

Ford Motor Company Fund, Nation’s Smaller-Budget Orchestras

Henry Fogel

America’s youth orchestras

Kenneth Schermerhorn

John Williams

Leonard Slatkin, The National Arts Caucus

Walter Anderson, Seymour Rosen

Michael Tilson Thomas, Gordon Getty

Paul R. Judy

Adolph Herseth

Pierre Boulez

Peter Pastreich

Ernest Fleischmann

Catherine French

Audrey Baird

Corporation for Public Broadcasting

Josef Gingold

New York Philharmonic

Meet the Composer

Robert Ward

Carnegie Hall

Ralph Black

Robert Shaw

Isaac Stern, Betty Freeman

Margaret Lee Crofts, Paul Fromm, and Francis Goelet

William Schuman

Danny Newman, Merrill Lynch

Morton Gould

Sidney R. Yates

Maurice Abravanel

Beverly Sills, The Minnesota Five Percent Club

Eugene Ormandy, The Bell System

Aaron Copland, Exxon Corporation

Avery Fisher, Alcoa Foundation

Arthur Fiedler

John S. Edwards

Nancy Hanks and the National Council on the Arts

Danny Kaye

Amyas Ames

Martha Baird Rockefeller

Helen M. Thompson

The New York State Council on the Arts

Leopold Stokowski, Mrs. Jouett Shouse

American Telephone & Telegraph Company

The Ford Foundation

American Federation of Musicians

Dr. Richard Lert, Paul Mellon, A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trusts, Richard King Mellon Charitable Trust, Howard Heinz Endowment

John D. Rockefeller, III

The Women’s Associations of Symphony Orchestras in the United States and Canada

Arthur Judson

Charles Farnsley

Leonard Bernstein

The Study Committee on Orchestra Legal Documents: Samuel Rosenbaum, Henry B. Cabot, Dudley T. Easby, Jr., Charles Garside, and Henry Allen Moe

Mrs. Marjorie Merriweather Post

John B. Ford

Ernest La Prade

See also

References

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External links

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