Succeeding John Mangum, who left in June to become president of the Orange County Philharmonic Society, Nick Winter will become San Francisco Symphony's Director of Artistic Planning on Sept. 24.
Winter is currently Director of Artistic Administration of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, assisting Music Director Riccardo Muti. Born in England, Winter studied at the Universities of Oxford (UK) and Voronezh (USSR). His career in arts management began at the Aldeburgh Festival of Music and the Arts, founded by Benjamin Britten.
In the early 1990s, Winter founded a concert agency based in Leningrad (St. Petersburg) and organized concerts, tours, and festivals in the new Russia, independent Baltic States, Armenia, and Georgia. For six years, he was Artistic Administrator of the European Opera Centre, a training program for young singers. Before moving to Chicago, Winter held the position of General Manager of the Irish Chamber Orchestra. For BBC Radio he has presented Music of the Motherland, a series charting the history of 20th-century Russian music for which he won a Sony Radio Award.
"I have enjoyed working with Nick on a variety of projects over these past years,” said Michael Tilson Thomas. ”His profound knowledge of music and his clarity of thinking have produced many excellent results and I look forward to our collaboration."
Winter said:
I am excited and honored to be joining the San Francisco Symphony team, I look forward to working with the musicians and with Michael Tilson Thomas, who has done so much to sustain and develop the orchestra's essential position as a vibrant and innovative artistic institution in this unique and beautiful city.