From the Stage Door: Nobody had this May on their Bingo Card

RYAN FLEUR

President and CEO

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Earlier last month, on a call with fellow industry leaders, I learned that Gabriela (Gabby) Lena Frank had just won the Pulitzer Prize for Music for Picaflor: A Future Myth, a piece co-commissioned and premiered last season by Yannick and The Philadelphia Orchestra. This was the first Pulitzer-winning work we commissioned since the 1960s. I texted Gabby to congratulate her, and our Chief Artistic Officer Jeremy Rothman, who was with a group of our musicians at that moment, wrote to tell me they had all burst into applause. It was a shared victory: a story we helped bring into the world that now belongs to a much wider public. Gabby’s time with us as composer-in-residence went beyond the score, too; her work with students at KIPP West Philadelphia Preparatory Charter School forged musical relationships that will outlast any single performance. 

That spirit carried through a month in which Philadelphia itself took center stage. On May 13, Yannick Nézet-Séguin was inducted into the Philadelphia Music Alliance’s Walk of Fame. Watching him receive that recognition—past winners include Eugene Ormandy and Riccardo Muti—was its own quiet thrill. Yannick has shown up for this city at every scale, from school concerts to the world’s great stages. We’ve known it for years, and now the Walk of Fame simply made it official.

And if a Pulitzer and Walk of Fame were not enough accolades for one month, Leo Restaurant and Bar was named Gold Winner for Best Restaurant Wine Selection in the 2026 Philly Favorites Awards. This is a thrilling point of pride for the team, and especially for Philadelphia Orchestra bassist, and sommelier, Nathaniel West, who has been helping curate selections that come from the place of origin of that day’s concert repertoire. For those of you who haven’t eaten at Leo yet, my favorite entrée is the roasted duck breast. 

As part of America’s semiquincentennial celebrations, our Saturday “Firstival” with the Philadelphia Historic District 250th Committee put two remarkable objects in the spotlight: the first sousaphone and the first American-made piano. During the sousaphone live demonstration, I watched people come to the realization that this wasn't just an artifact, but a direct connection to the music they hear in our halls today.  

Our America250 celebrations extended into our repertoire as well. Tyshawn Sorey’s For Marilyn Crispell, commissioned by Yannick and the Orchestra and premiered with pianist Aaron Diehl, drew a standing ovation that felt like a collective joy we were all waiting for. Then Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra joined us for a Jazz Series evening and four nights alongside the Orchestra (including one at Carnegie Hall), pairing selections from The Jungle (Symphony No. 4) with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 under Principal Guest Conductor Marin Alsop. Both Sorey and Marsalis drew ovations that lingered long after the house lights came up. 

After evenings like those, I find myself wondering how live music actually affects us, in heart, mind, and spirit. That made our pre-concert collaboration with the College of Physicians of Philadelphia especially meaningful. Chief Programming Officer Jeremy Rothman moderated a conversation between Orchestra violinist David Booth and Yale Cohen, PhD, of Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine, examining Beethoven’s hearing loss through the lens of modern neuroscience. The science kept circling back to something we feel but can’t always name: that music changes the people in the room. Before every orchestra subscription performance at the Kimmel Center, we hold similar free pre-concert lectures and conversations–join us to experience it yourself.

May also brought Chicago and The Outsiders to our stages; though decades apart in setting, both tell the stories of people who are overlooked and fighting to be seen. Sitting in the Academy of Music for The Outsiders, I was struck by how many people in the audience knew the story so well from their childhood. Some stories outlast every era they’re revived in. 

I didn’t have a “chief judge at K-Pop finals” on my May bingo card. And yet, at Drexel University, I found myself at the 2026 KBS Changwon K-Pop World Festival USA East Coast Regional Final. I was in a room brimming with the music, dance, joy, and energy of talented K-Pop performers from up and down the east coast of our country, along with other civic and international leaders who are partnering with us to finalize plans for The Philadelphia Orchestra’s upcoming tour to South Korea. Indeed, the range of what arts leadership can look like today continues to astonish me.

Every May also brings a month of graduations through our doors, and celebrations in honor of the achievements of our young people. I continue to be touched by the core memory moments shared by parents, siblings, and friends that we get to witness in our venues. We saw the culmination of several youth arts education programs, including the Philadelphia Independence Awards, which we hosted for the second year in a row at the Miller Theater, and one of the most electric nights on our calendar. And we celebrated our All City Orchestra and Jazz Fellowship students and students from the KIPP Ensemble Program who showcased the talent and growth they have developed through months of learning and mentorship. These young performers are not rehearsing for something; they are young musicians, standing confidently in the spotlight, who embody the tremendous impact that education, opportunity, and mentorship can have on a young person’s life. 

From a Pulitzer and Walk of Fame induction to graduations, premieres, and a K-Pop final. May reminded me that our work lives at many different scales that range from global recognition to a student’s first time stepping into a real spotlight, and I am grateful for all of it. 

Warm regards,

Ryan

FUN FACT: Philadelphia was Chicago's last stop before Broadway. More than 50 years ago, the show played a pre-Broadway engagement at the Forrest Theatre before moving on to New York. This May, it returned to Philadelphia for the first time since 2009.