Honett, 32, was named the organization’s executive director in July. He succeeds Adam Frey, who served as SFCMP’s top administrator for 18 years.
In a recent interview in the company’s offices in downtown San Francisco, just blocks from the S.F. Museum of Modern Art, Honett said that Frey left the organization in excellent shape. And, as SFCMP prepares to launch its 39th season, he says he’s already looking at ways to guide the ensemble into the future.
“We’re taking a comprehensive look at the entire organization,” explained Honett, “those things that are vital and need to be sustained, and those things that need to be changed. That’s the goal right now — to find answers to those questions. What kinds of events do we want to do, what kind of organization do we want, going forward?”
Honett brings a unique set of credentials to the organization. As a composer and arts administrator, he’s been both onstage and behind the scenes of the concert world. And he says he’s eager to put some of his ideas about contemporary performance into practice in San Francisco.
Born in Hayward and raised in Pleasanton, Honett received his undergraduate education at UC Santa Barbara and earned a Ph.D. in composition from Harvard University. He counts Julian Anderson, Mario Davidovsky, Joshua Fineberg, Magnus Lindberg, and Bernard Rands among his musical mentors.
It was during graduate school, he says, that he decided he didn’t want to teach. “I realized that I did not want to be an academic — which is not the easiest decision for someone getting a Ph.D. in music composition to make,” he says. Around that time, he got involved in presenting graduate student concerts at Harvard. “It was a fantastic opportunity to take an impulse and see how it worked in reality,” he recalls. “I found that it felt significant even to make little improvements toward production or quality — whatever could make the concert experience better. For the music you care about, it seemed a very important thing to do. I started to think ‘Maybe this is where I belong.’”
Honett went on to several key jobs, including an internship in the Boston Symphony’s management office and a stint as the North American agent for the French music publisher Editions Henry Lemoine. Most recently, he served as executive director of the new-music ensemble Manhattan Sinfonietta (formerly the Columbia Sinfonietta).
Landing the Perfect Job
When the opening at SFCMP was announced, he didn’t hesitate; it was, he says, his “dream job.” Honett was selected from over 60 applicants, and he and his fiancée, a musician with a specialty in early-music performance, packed up and moved to San Francisco. Now, he’s ready to build on SFCMP’s legacy — and to look to the future.The challenges are great, he says. Like all arts groups, SFCMP is feeling the effects of the economic downturn. This year’s season, which begins Oct. 5, was reduced to five concerts from last year’s six.
More significantly, the ensemble is currently without a music director. David Milnes, who left the organization earlier this year, has not been replaced, and Honett says there are no immediate plans to find his successor. For the foreseeable future, SFCMP will work with guest conductors; Sara Jobin will lead the first two programs of this season, as well as the ensemble’s appearance at the MANCA new music festival in Nice, France, in November.
Yet, despite cutbacks and a modest budget — about $380,000 for this season — Honett says there’s cause for optimism. Frey, he notes, was an excellent administrator, and the company is fiscally sound. The subscriber base is small, yet loyal. The board is involved, the musical ensemble engaged and committed.
“This is an almost-40-year-old organization with an incredible history and legacy,” says Honett. “Some of our strongest aspects are a reputation for consistent quality and high-caliber performances. You know if you come to one of our concerts, it’s going to be done really well.
“That said, innovation and risk-taking are not words that come up a lot as we’ve polled people. That may be the weakness, and I think we could take bigger steps in that direction.”
Honett, who is a coauthor of The Listen, a book of reflections on new music, is particularly interested in attracting younger audiences. He thinks there are “cultural barriers” keeping them away. He points to the Museum of Modern Art, which regularly attracts young art lovers. “People will go to see the latest Broadway show and they’ll go to MOMA, which is all about cutting edge. But they don’t come to hear new music. The difference is a cultural idea, and we have to deal with that if we’re going to survive.”
In the coming months, Honett says he’ll be reaching out to young audiences. He also wants to try new production techniques, add pre- and post-concert events, combine music with film, establish partnerships, and encourage collaborations with other arts groups — whatever it takes, he says, to expand the base.
“The frame matters,” says Honett. “You can put the best music together and find the best performers possible, but if the little pieces aren’t there and the production doesn’t work, it’s not fair to the music. It affects the way people take in the experience. The frame, the production, the little details all add up.”
Riches to Come
SFCMP’s 39th season, programmed by Frey and Milnes, begins at 8 p.m. on Oct. 5 at Herbst Theatre with “From the Top,” a program showcasing five Pulitzer Prize–winning American composers. John Harbison’s The Seven Ages is the featured work; Sara Jobin conducts the program, which also includes the U.S. premiere of Edmund Campion’s 600 Secondes dans le vieux modele, Charles Wuorinen’s Trombone Trio, Morton Feldman’s work The Viola in My Life (1), and Steve Reich’s Vermont Counterpoint. At 4:30 p.m. on Oct. 4, Harbison will appear in a “Contemporary Insights” talk at ODC Dance Commons to discuss The Seven Ages.On Nov. 2, also at Herbst, Jobin returns to conduct a program titled “Made to Order,” featuring a world premiere by Ken Ueno; works by Ronald Bruce Smith, Donnacha Dennehy, and Philippe Leroux complete the program. Ueno will also give a talk Nov. 1 at ODC Dance Commons.
Jobin will conduct the ensemble in its appearance at the MANCA festival on Nov. 15; the program includes selections from the Oct. 5 and Nov. 2 concerts.
The season continues in 2010 with “Natural Phenomena” at Herbst on Jan. 25. Brad Lubman conducts works by Michael Jarrell, Oscar Bianchi, Matthias Pintscher, Helmut Lachenmann, and Brian Fenneyhough. “Longing for Utopia,” March 1 at Yerba Buena Center, features violinist Graeme Jennings in Luigi Nono’s La lontananza nostalgica utopica futura. The season concludes with “His Own Space of Freedom,” April 26 at Herbst, featuring works by Philippe Hurel, Guo Wenjing, Manolis Manousakis, and Tan Dun. Christian Baldini conducts.
Honett says he’s looking forward to the concerts — and to those in future seasons. “This was such a gift,” he says, “to be able to come back to the place where I’m from, to do the job I want to do for an organization like this. To really be a part of seeing it go forward is a special opportunity. We have to keep an open mind, and we’re still at the beginning of the process. But it’s a very exciting time.”