The Donald and Maureen Green Music Center of Sonoma State University today announced the appointment of Welz Kauffman as programming consultant to the GMC. Kauffman, president and CEO of Chicago's Ravinia Festival, the Midwest's premier summer concert organization, brings a reputation for innovation in music programming to the position along with a wealth of arts administration experience.
"Welz Kauffman's festival programming and arts administration background will help the Green Music Center fulfill its goal of providing arts-centered learning to students of all ages," said Ruben Armiñana, president of SSU. "His ability to program many different musical genres, as well as his willingness to commission new works while finding renewed value in old favorites, fits well with the Green Music Center's mission to engage the widest possible audience."
The GMC opens in 2008 and will feature a unique blending of arts and education. The programming will include a mix of world-class musicians as well as emerging artists and new works. The GMC aims to stimulate cross-cultural dialogue and to provide audiences with a thought-provoking artistic experience.
"I am excited to be joining the Green Music Center at this early stage of its development," said Kauffman. "The goal of educating through entertainment is something I've been devoted to my whole career, and it is a treat to be able to shape the programming of an organization of this caliber from the beginning."
Kauffman's career includes leadership positions at many of the country's most respected arts organizations. As artistic administrator of the New York Philharmonic, he oversaw the creation of several festivals that involved a wide array of activities, including full orchestra concerts, cabaret evenings, new music and chamber performances, seminars and symposiums-the types of events that fulfill the GMC's mission to educate and entertain.
While at the Philharmonic, Kauffman started a series of five annual staged concerts of Steven Sondheim's shows that continued at Ravinia. When he became president and CEO of Ravinia Festival in 2000, he began a music theatre initiative that increased the Festival's community outreach efforts, created a new music theater branch of Ravinia's Sterns Institute for young artists and focused on the role of the orchestra in music theater.
Prior to assuming his position at Ravinia, Kauffman was the director of artistic planning for the Los Angeles Philharmonic where, among other duties, he oversaw the Philharmonic's 12-week summer festival at the Hollywood Bowl.
