Mark Volpe, the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s longtime president and CEO, is set to retire Sunday, ending a successful 23-year Boston career where he more than tripled the orchestra’s endowment, vastly expanded its operating budget, and dramatically enhanced its summer home in Tanglewood.
If you look at the Tanglewood Music Center — it’s well over 30 commissions by women composers.
We have our little issues here and there internally, but it was amicable.
Q.
I have to say, the hardest period was when we had to eliminate positions — 50 layoffs, and talking to all of them.
So I think the myth making, I don’t want to suggest it’s no longer relevant, but I think it has to be de-emphasized.
I think it’s close to a third of the pieces are either by women composers or composers of color, so I don’t think Tanglewood is necessarily a reflection.
Going forward with the equity, diversity, and inclusion theme, and how that gets incorporated into the DNA at every level, will also certainly be something to address.
There’s considerably more work to be done there, and how you work that through at every level of the orchestra.
You know, by the time you get to the Boston Symphony, you’re talking about the best musicians in the world.