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Dear BYSO Family,
As it has been said, “all good things must come to an end.” For me, after nearly 28 years of being the administrative head of BYSO, I have decided to retire in June of 2025.
Whenever I am asked what I do for work, I answer by saying I work for 600 children who play classical music. The reaction is invariably the same: surprise and a curiosity to know more. This gives me the chance to speak again and then I tell them I have the best job in the world. For the last 28 years, this has been true for me every working day.
The greatest reward for me personally has been getting to know hundreds of children and their families as we shared the great gifts of classical music. It is the music that brought us together and it is its great power that keeps us connected now as I believe it will do in the future. I consider myself a very fortunate lady.
I have wonderful memories of BYSO: concerts too numerous to count, international and domestic tours, camp, our matchless opera program, the growth of our Intensive Community Program, and the journey to restore and inaugurate our new home at the BYSO Youth Center for Music. But it will be the weekly rehearsals that I miss the most. I learn something new every Sunday from Fed and our students. These treasured memories are the ones I hold dearest and will ponder in my heart forever.
Along the way, the BYSO Board of Directors has been the best of partners. They have shepherded the organization into the unique institution it is today. I treasure our time together and I admire their selfless commitment to the children and to our mission. So many of them. Such gratitude. You can all be grateful that Margaret Chen, our exemplary Board Chair, will continue to guide BYSO for the foreseeable future.
Most bittersweet of all, I will certainly miss working alongside our exceptional Music Director, Federico Cortese. Fed and I have worked together for 26 years, a partnership unique in any working situation. It is his intelligence and commitment to the artform we both treasure that inspires me to do my best. At the core of our strong working relationship was always the belief that we needed to do the very best for our students, both musically and personally. Along the way, with the support of the Board of Directors, we worked hand in hand to create what has become the world’s leading youth orchestra. This is not an exaggeration or boastful hyperbole. It is a simple fact in which we should all take pride. It has been my greatest honor to listen to Fed’s imaginative ideas about how we might improve the organization and then do my best to translate them into reality. His determination in leading the way allowed all of us to follow a vision of unparalleled importance. And, best of all, we had a lot of fun along the way. I am very pleased to say he will continue to lead BYSO into a very bright future. I assure you, the Chen-Cortese duo will continue to be unstoppable!
As I make the transition away from BYSO, I am pleased to say with the help of so many of you, we are in a healthy and strong position to continue our great work. Financially, we are arguably the envy of most not for profit organizations. The operating budget has grown tenfold as we balanced it every year all along the way. Our endowment was less than a half million dollars when I came, and today it is $13 million. It’s not by chance that our fiscal health is what it is today. Our fiscal strength is directly connected to our artistic strength. Artistically, we have no equal.
My extraordinary husband Tim has been my rock and support every day. Sometimes I think he loves BYSO even more than I do. (Is that even possible?) When I first met him and realized he loved classical music, I knew he was “a keeper”. He has been behind the scenes but always urging me onward. He continues to fuel my deepest passion for BYSO and life. I really could not have done what I did for BYSO without him -- an understatement to be sure.
It would be impossible to thank all of you for the part you played in my BYSO journey, but I do hope to hug and thank many of you in the months ahead. In the new year, you will hear more about the transition, but for now I wanted you, our inner BYSO family circle, to hear this news from me first. Thank you all so very much for enriching my life in so many ways. It’s been an immense and profound honor to work for BYSO. I will miss you but just know that you are always in my heart.
With more gratitude than you can imagine,
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