Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Announces New Vice President of Development

Baltimore Symphony Announces New Vice President of Development

Baltimore (April 23, 2019) Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) President and CEO Peter Kjome today announced that Allison Burr-Livingstone has been appointed Vice President of Development, effective June 3, 2019. Ms. Burr-Livingstone will succeed James Kelley, who has held this position since June 2015.

Currently serving as the Associate Vice President of Public Affairs for Visit Baltimore, Allison Burr-Livingstone is responsible for all advocacy, external affairs and community engagement efforts, including leading Visit Baltimore’s $14 million annual hotel tax funding through City and State channels. She has also been instrumental in that organization’s efforts to establish the first Tourism Improvement District in Maryland, an innovative financial model that once enacted will benefit all of Baltimore’s tourism assets, the BSO included, through increased sales and marketing dollars for the destination as a whole. Ms. Burr-Livingstone also serves as founder, chief fundraiser and Executive Director of the Visit Baltimore Foundation, dedicated to promoting and providing public education, professional capacity building and workforce development in the tourism sector. With this appointment, Ms. Burr-Livingstone returns to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, where she previously served as the Director of Institutional Giving and the inaugural Campaign Director for the BSO’s Second Century Campaign.

In sharing comments about this transition, Peter Kjome said, “We’re delighted that Allison will return to the BSO family in this senior leadership role. We look forward to her work with our Board of Directors, development staff and community leaders to advance our critically important fundraising results. Allison’s significant accomplishments and experience, including at Visit Baltimore and her prior work here at the BSO, will be a great asset in working with our Board, Endowment Trust, Governing Members, staff, musicians, donors and our partners throughout the region that support the BSO and its programs.”

Ms. Burr-Livingstone will serve as a member of the BSO’s senior management team, providing leadership in increasing financial support for the organization from private, foundation, corporate and governmental sources. She will be responsible for directing the planning and implementation of the development program at the BSO, with objectives that include growing the Annual Fund and the Endowment.

Kjome added, “We are very grateful to Jamie Kelley for his significant contributions in leading our development efforts over the last four seasons. All of us at the BSO appreciate Jamie’s dedication and many important accomplishments, including securing vital support for the Orchestra through very strong growth of the Annual Fund, establishing the Young and Free program and publicly launching the Second Century Campaign after exceeding 65 percent of the goal to help sustain the BSO for future generations.”

Jamie Kelley said, “The last four seasons have been rewarding. We have built on the great traditions of the history of the BSO and created new excitement for the next century of this orchestra. The tremendous Development team has accomplished many critical institutional goals and worked with our donors to establish new and exciting programs. Notable achievements such as the newly endowed Levi Family Timpani Chair, the first endowed position in over a decade, raising funds for our first international tour in 13 years and continued excellence of our OrchKids program are all reasons that it has been a privilege to grow and protect one of our region’s most important treasures. I look forward to its continued success.”

In accepting the position, Allison Burr-Livingstone commented, “I am thrilled to be rejoining the BSO. The orchestra has reached amazing artistic and philanthropic milestones in recent years, and I am excited to get down to work with the team, board and community at large in leveraging the significant and timely opportunity at hand to strengthen its position for the future. This is not only a poignant homecoming for me, but also a tremendous opportunity to channel my past five years of promoting and coalition building around Baltimore tourism to one of our most amazing assets and important institutions.”

The Baltimore Symphony has a $28 million operating budget, and it is currently in the midst of its $65 million Second Century Campaign. Similar to orchestras across the United States, contributed revenue comprises over half of annual revenues. The BSO has faced financial challenges for many years, and the organization is in the midst of intensive stabilization efforts, with the support of a wide range of community leaders across the State of Maryland.

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About the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra     

For over a century, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) has been recognized as one of America’s leading orchestras and one of Maryland’s most significant cultural institutions. Under the direction of Music Director Marin Alsop, the orchestra is internationally renowned and locally admired for its innovation, performances, recordings and educational outreach initiatives including OrchKids. Launched by Marin Alsop and the BSO in 2008, OrchKids provides children with educational resources and fosters social change through the power of music in some of Baltimore’s most underserved communities.

The BSO is widely recognized for its highly acclaimed recordings, including a 2010 disc on the Decca label featuring Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F and Rhapsody in Blue, as well as the 2017 Naxos release of Bernstein’s Symphonies Nos. 1 and 2. Both recordings were led by Alsop and feature pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet. Alsop also led the BSO in its 2009 Naxos recording of Leonard Bernstein’s MASS. Recent releases include Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet with Alsop and Handel’s Messiah with conductor Edward Polochick and the Concert Artists of Baltimore Symphonic Chorale.

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra performs annually for more than 350,000 people throughout the State of Maryland. Since 1982, the BSO has performed at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in Baltimore. In 2005, with the opening of The Music Center at Strathmore in North Bethesda, MD, the BSO became the nation’s first orchestra with year-round venues in two metropolitan areas. More information about the BSO can be found at BSOmusic.org.