Tuesday, March 24, 2020

Good News for San Francisco Opera


San Francisco Opera General Director Matthew Shilvock with Dianne and Tad Taube
in the War Memorial Opera House. ©Kristen Loken/San Francisco Opera


San Francisco Opera recently announced that they've received a $6 million gift to support the General Director's position. I take this to mean that the gift is to the endowment, and the resulting investment income will pay part or all of the GD's salary. This is a good thing in multiple ways: it's an indication that SFO's fundraising, leading up to the centennial season, is working effectively, and of course any time you can pre-fund a position, you have to do a little less annual fundraising, or those funds can go elsewhere to support operations.

The General Director's position will now be called the Tad and Dianne Taube General Director. The Taubes have previously made a large gift in support of the Tad and Dianne Taube Atrium Theater.

2 comments:

Tod Brody said...

Do they really need to have their names on the guy's job title? I mean, full credit and all, but that is one unwieldy bit of signage.

Lisa Hirsch said...

I decided not to comment on the MACRO that every Bay Area music writer will need to create, but....yes. Here's a sample from a recent press release:

“At this time of uncertainty, our absolute priority is ensuring the health and safety of the Bay Area community and beyond,” said San Francisco Opera Tad and Dianne Taube General Director Matthew Shilvock. “As is the case all across the world, difficult decisions are having to be made to put events and performances on hold. But we are working hard to ensure that, when the time is right, we can bring the community back together through beautiful expressions of art on stage. This is a time to support each other, to focus on loved ones and to do everything we can to remain safe. We wish everyone well as the world navigates through this crisis.”

I'm hoping that the correct style is first use only.