Board Relations & Governance

Peter Pastreich served as Executive Director of the San Francisco Symphony during its period of most dramatic growth, from 1978 to 1999. Prior to that he served for 12 years as Executive Director of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Pastreich’s forty years as an orchestra manager made him the longest-tenured chief executive of a major US symphony orchestra and the dean of American orchestra managers. He left the San Francisco Symphony to work more in two areas that have long interested him: training orchestra administrators and consulting to arts institutions, particularly in strategic planning

Mr. Pastreich's management consulting has been in Europe, where his clients have included the Berlin Philharmonic and the South Bank Centre in London; in the United States, where he has consulted to the Detroit Symphony, the Milwaukee Symphony, and the Santa Barbara Symphony; and for the Sydney Symphony in Australia. He has served as mediator in several orchestra union negotiations. He organized and for ten years has served as Director of the League of American Orchesta’s “Essentials of Orchestra Management” seminar. He is also the Director of a seminar in orchestra and concert hall management for the University of Zürich.

Mr. Pastreich represented the San Francisco Symphony in the planning and construction, and in the successful acoustical and architectural renovation, of Davies Symphony Hall. During his 21 years in San Francisco, a period which included the tenures of music directors Michael Tilson Thomas, Herbert Blomstedt, and Edo De Waart, the Orchestra's budget increased from under $6,000,000 to over $40,000,000. The orchestra was unique among major American orchestras in operating for 16 years without a deficit, and increased its endowment from $12,000,000 to $140,000,000. During his tenure the San Francisco Symphony founded the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra, issued over 40 recordings, syndicated its radio broadcasts on over 450 stations, and made its first American tour in 30 years, its first Asian tour since 1975, its first tour to Europe in 14 years, and its first tour of European Festivals in 1990. Mr. Pastreich was involved in the planning of Michael Tilson Thomas’s first four seasons as the Orchestra’s Music Director, which included European, Asian, and two national tours, acclaimed post-season festivals, and the negotiation of a five-year fifteen-disc recording contract with BMG Classics/RCA Victor Red Seal.

Mr. Pastreich has served as Vice Chairman of the League of American Orchestras, and was the first Chairman of the League's Task Force on Management Training, a program designed to recruit and train future orchestra managers. He has served on Advisory Panels in the Visual Arts, Media, Challenge and Orchestra Programs of the National Endowment for the Arts, is a member of the Seaver/NEA Conductors’ Award Executive Council, was a founding member of the Board of Directors of the Saint Louis Conservatory, and serves on the Board of the San Francisco Conservatory.

While in St. Louis, Mr. Pastreich worked with conductors Walter Susskind, Jerzy Semkow and Leonard Slatkin. During his tenure the orchestra purchased the St. Louis Theater and converted it to Powell Symphony Hall, established its first endowment fund and pension fund, founded the Saint Louis Symphony Chorus and the Saint Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra, and substantially increased its touring and recording activity. Before joining the Saint Louis Symphony, Mr. Pastreich served for seven months as Business Manager of the Kansas City Philharmonic. He had previously served as Manager of the Nashville Symphony and the Greenwich Village Symphony, and as Assistant Manager of the Denver Symphony and the Baltimore Symphony.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1938, Mr. Pastreich received a B.A. Degree, magna cum laude, from Yale University in 1959, majoring in English Literature. He studied the trumpet at Yale and in Paris, and played in orchestras and bands until 1970. Mr. Pastreich began his management career as a student by organizing and managing the Yale University Band's European Tour of 1959, the first such tour ever made by an American college band. In 1999 he was made a [i]chevalier des arts et des lettres[/i] by the French government and was awarded the League of American Orchestra’s Gold Baton Award. In May 2006 he received an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

[b]Henry Fogel[/b] was appointed to the position of President and CEO of the American Symphony Orchestra League in July, 2003. Prior to that, he was President of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association for eighteen years, and was Chairman of the Board of the American Symphony Orchestra League from 2001-2003.

He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Avery Fisher Artist Program, and the Board of the College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. He teaches a course in orchestral studies at Roosevelt University in Chicago. He is a record reviewer for Fanfare magazine, and has contributed to the book Contemporary Composers, and to The Harvard Dictionary of Music. Fogel served as Executive Director of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C. from 1981 to 1985, and Orchestra Manager of the New York Philharmonic from 1978 to1981.

Fogel has received honorary doctorate degrees from Northwestern University, the Curtis Institute of Music, Columbia College in Chicago, and Roosevelt University in Chicago. In 1999, Fogel received a Cultural Leadership Citation from Yale University's School of Music for service to the cultural life of the nation. He has been named by Business Week magazine as one of the five best managers of cultural organizations in the United States.

Barbara Nielsen is Labor Relations Manager with the Metropolitan Opera. Prior work experience has included several positions with the American Federation of Musicians (International) and the position of Performance Coordinator for Ms. Jessye Norman. She is currently a violinist with the Greater Bridgeport Symphony, and has been a member of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra and the Savannah Symphony.

Ms. Nielsen has served on the Orchestra Committee of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra and as Member at Large and Secretary for the Regional Orchestra Players’ Association.

Ms. Nielsen received her Bachelor’s degree from Indiana University with a double major in music and business, and most recently her Master of Professional Studies in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University.

Barbara Nielsen is Labor Relations Manager with the Metropolitan Opera. Prior work experience has included several positions with the American Federation of Musicians (International) and the position of Performance Coordinator for Ms. Jessye Norman. She is currently a violinist with the Greater Bridgeport Symphony, and has been a member of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra and the Savannah Symphony.

Ms. Nielsen has served on the Orchestra Committee of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra and as Member at Large and Secretary for the Regional Orchestra Players’ Association.

Ms. Nielsen received her Bachelor’s degree from Indiana University with a double major in music and business, and most recently her Master of Professional Studies in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University.

[b]Henry Fogel[/b] was appointed to the position of President and CEO of the American Symphony Orchestra League in July, 2003. Prior to that, he was President of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association for eighteen years, and was Chairman of the Board of the American Symphony Orchestra League from 2001-2003.

He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Avery Fisher Artist Program, and the Board of the College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. He teaches a course in orchestral studies at Roosevelt University in Chicago. He is a record reviewer for Fanfare magazine, and has contributed to the book Contemporary Composers, and to The Harvard Dictionary of Music. Fogel served as Executive Director of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C. from 1981 to 1985, and Orchestra Manager of the New York Philharmonic from 1978 to1981.

Fogel has received honorary doctorate degrees from Northwestern University, the Curtis Institute of Music, Columbia College in Chicago, and Roosevelt University in Chicago. In 1999, Fogel received a Cultural Leadership Citation from Yale University's School of Music for service to the cultural life of the nation. He has been named by Business Week magazine as one of the five best managers of cultural organizations in the United States.

[b]Henry Fogel[/b] was appointed to the position of President and CEO of the American Symphony Orchestra League in July, 2003. Prior to that, he was President of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association for eighteen years, and was Chairman of the Board of the American Symphony Orchestra League from 2001-2003.

He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Avery Fisher Artist Program, and the Board of the College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. He teaches a course in orchestral studies at Roosevelt University in Chicago. He is a record reviewer for Fanfare magazine, and has contributed to the book Contemporary Composers, and to The Harvard Dictionary of Music. Fogel served as Executive Director of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C. from 1981 to 1985, and Orchestra Manager of the New York Philharmonic from 1978 to1981.

Fogel has received honorary doctorate degrees from Northwestern University, the Curtis Institute of Music, Columbia College in Chicago, and Roosevelt University in Chicago. In 1999, Fogel received a Cultural Leadership Citation from Yale University's School of Music for service to the cultural life of the nation. He has been named by Business Week magazine as one of the five best managers of cultural organizations in the United States.

A member of the Rochester Philharmonic and Dallas Symphony before joining the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra in 1962, Ruggeri served as Principal Double Bassist from 1963 until stepping back from that position in 2005. A graduate of the Eastman School of Music, Ruggeri has been featured as a soloist and a composer with a number of organizations, including the Milwaukee Symphony and the Grand Teton Music Festival (WY). He has taught at Southern Methodist University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Without double bass in hand, Ruggeri is active as a composer, program annotator and lecturer. Since beginning as the MSO’s program annotator in 1968, Ruggeri has gone on to provide concert notes for major arts organizations throughout the country. Ruggeri is a former vice-president of the International Society of Bassists and a past Double Bass Forum Editor for the [i]American String Teacher[/i].

Ruggeri was elected by his colleagues in 1994 as a Musician Representative to the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra Board; he is active on several Board committees. Since 1999 he has been a member of the Executive Board of Milwaukee’s musicians’ union (Local #8). He served as chair of the Grand Teton Music Festival Players’ Board from 1997 to 2003 and since 2004 as chair of the MSO Players’ Council. Ruggeri was also a panelist-consultant to the Music Program of the National Endowment for the Arts and the Wisconsin Arts Board.