Tuesday Evening Concert Series Selects New Executive Director
David J. Baldwin
After a nationwide search, the Tuesday Evening Concert Series has announced a new executive director. He is David J. Baldwin, an experienced professional in artist management and music series development. He will begin work on September 5, following a move to Charlottesville from Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Baldwin succeeds Karen Pellón, who retired June 30 from the post she held for 32 years.
Baldwin’s previous positions include executive director of Fontana Chamber Arts in Kalamazoo and the Shriver Hall Concert Series at The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. He also served for many years as an artist manager at Opus 3 Artists (previously ICM Artists) in London and New York where he represented artists including Yefim Bronfman, Colin Currie, Jeremy Denk, Leon Fleisher, Garrick Ohlsson and Emmanuel Pahud. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, he studied collaborative piano and chamber music with Vladimir Sokoloff at the Curtis Institute of Music.
David C. Speedie, president of the TECS Board of Directors, said the search had yielded the best possible outcome. “After considering more than 50 candidates, we have secured a highly qualified executive director who is recognized as a leader in the field and who respects the position our series holds in the chamber music world.”
Held in the University of Virginia’s Cabell Hall, the Tuesday Evening Concert Series is known for the caliber of its programs, drawing on international talent and often featuring young performers at the beginning of their careers. Violinists Joshua Bell and Ray Chen, cellist Amit Peled, and pianists Behzod Abduraimov and Alexander Malofeev are just a few of those whose early experience with American audiences took place in Cabell Hall. Award-winning string quartets, trios, chamber orchestras and choral groups including The Tallis Scholars also have appeared.
The series has strong audience loyalty with subscribers filling nearly 85 percent of the 851-seat Cabell Hall each season. Special concerts offered at no charge to area school children have introduced chamber music to some 60,000 students over the years.
TECS, a nonprofit founded in 1948, is one of the oldest arts organizations in Charlottesville. It is an affiliated group with the UVA McIntire Department of Music and over the years has arranged for UVA students to benefit from master classes and other contact with visiting artists.