The new era at the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra is taking root with a close associate of incoming Music Director Nathalie Stutzmann being named as the ASO’s new vice president of artistic planning.
Gaetan Le Divelec comes from the classical music artist representation firm Askonas Holt, where he managed Stutzmann’s career. With the ASO, Le Divelec will engage guest artists and conductors, direct repertoire choices and generate concepts for new series.
“I feel privileged and excited to join the leadership of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, an institution with an incredible legacy in artistic excellence, a unique footprint in new music creation, and roots that run deep in Atlanta,” Le Divelec said in a press release. “It is a powerful legacy to build on, and I look forward to working under Jennifer Barlament’s visionary leadership, in collaboration with the extraordinary Nathalie Stutzmann and in partnership with the orchestra’s senior leadership and musicians, as the ASO enters a new era.”
Barlament, the ASO’s executive director, said Le Divelec will be a key partner for Stutzmann. “His creativity, brilliance, and tremendous relationships in the classical music world will open doors of possibility for us,” she said. “In addition, his long-standing commitment to diversity and inclusion and his passionate advocacy for young artists are aligned perfectly with our strategic mission.”
Le Divelec is a native of France and a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, where he majored in oboe performance and also studied piano, conducting and composition. He studied economics at the Université de Nantes. A former member of the acclaimed Parnassus Ensemble, he was a professional oboist for more than 10 years.
At Askonas Holt, he led a team of managers responsible for more than 30 world-class artists. He also managed his own roster of conductors and instrumental soloists — Stutzmann, Matthias Pintscher, Sir András Schiff, Robin Ticciati and Alisa Weilerstein among them — and recruited new and emerging talent to Askonas Holt during a period of historic growth for the London-based company.
“My partner and I are also looking forward to living in Atlanta, a vibrant, dynamic, diverse and inclusive city, with energy that emanates from growth not just in size and economic clout, but in vision and cultural significance,” Le Divelec said. “Culture is what binds communities. As our societies evolve, a fundamental challenge is emerging for our artform — ensuring that great music remains relevant and meets its audience, in all its diversity. Inclusion must be at the heart of our sense of purpose. It is an opportunity for growth: artistic, human and institutional. I am grateful for this opportunity to work in a city and an institution that supports these values.”
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Woodruff marks 60th anniversary of Orly crash
Friday will mark the 60th anniversary of the air crash at the Orly Airport in Paris that took the lives of 130 of Atlanta’s most influential arts supporters and led to the founding of the Woodruff Arts Center.
They were returning from a month-long tour of European art treasures, and the profound loss became one of the seismic shifts in the history of Atlanta.
The Woodruff Arts Center’s Memorial Arts Building opened in 1968 in the memory of those lost in the crash.
Woodruff will mark the anniversary with a display of flowers on its campus, in addition to its ninth annual Educator Conference.
“As we continue to increase access to arts education and impact our community’s culture growth, we remember that our work and our campus embodies the passion, legacy and mission of our founders,” Hala Moddelmog, CEO of the Woodruff Arts Center, said in a press release. “They would be proud of how far the Arts Center has come and what it has achieved in the past 60 years.”
The Auguste Rodin statue at the front of the Woodruff campus, titled The Shade, was presented by France as a gift to honor the lost lives and continuing legacies of Atlanta’s arts and civic community leaders.
