Symposium speaker, Henry Fogel, Dean Emeritus and Distinguished Professor of the Arts of the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, served as Dean from 2009-2018. He continues as a member of the faculty. In addition, he continues to serve as a consultant for musical organizations. Recent clients include the Santa Fe Symphony, South Bend Symphony Orchestra, the Illinois Philharmonic, the Lake Forest Symphony Orchestra, and the orchestras of Seattle, Chattanooga, Jacksonville, and Louisville, and the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra. He was an artistic consultant to the Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra in Brazil from 2008-2016, and has consulted for the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the Edinburg Festival. He is also a Visiting Professor at the Xinghai Conservatory of Music in Guangzhou, China. He has facilitated music director searches for well over two dozen orchestras, and has overseen strategic planning processes as well. He also has consulted on issues including labor relations, financial management, and organizational behavior.

Mr. Fogel has had a long and varied career in music administration. From 2003-2008 he was President and CEO of the League of American Orchestras. During his seven years with the League, he visited over 190 orchestras in America. Under his leadership the League attained fiscal stability, fully paying off a $1.2 million accumulated deficit and operating in the black for each year of his Presidency.

From 1985-2003, Mr. Fogel was President of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, leading the organization through a period of enormous change. Under his leadership the Orchestra’s endowment increased from $19 million to over $160 million, and he oversaw the $125 million renovation of Orchestra Hall. In addition to maintaining its artistic supremacy, the Chicago Symphony during Mr. Fogel’s term dramatically strengthened its community engagement and educational programs.

From 1981-1985, Mr. Fogel was Executive Director of the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington, D.C., and from 1978-1981 he was Orchestra Manager of the New York Philharmonic. From 1963-1978, he was Program Director and Vice-President of WONO, a full-time classical music commercial radio station in Syracuse, New York.

Henry Fogel has consistently served on non-profit boards. At various times he has chaired the Boards of the Opera Theatre of Syracuse, the Syracuse Ballet Theatre, the League of American Orchestras, and the Illinois Arts Alliance, and Cedille Chicago, and is Immediate Past President of the Chicago Opera Theatre. He also serves on the Executive Committee of the Avery Fisher Artist Program.

Mr. Fogel has also been a reviewer of recordings for Fanfare magazine since 1986, and has contributed several entries to The Harvard Dictionary of Music. He has been a judge for conducting and other competitions in Chicago, New York, Montreal, Tokyo, Helsinki, and Sofia   Bulgaria.

He has received honorary doctorate degrees from Roosevelt University, Northwestern University, the Curtis Institute, and Columbia College in Chicago. In 1999 Mr. Fogel received a Cultural Leadership Citation from Yale University for service to the cultural life of the nation. In June, 2009, he received the highest honor in the symphony orchestra field, the League of American Orchestras’ Gold Baton Award. In 1990 was named by Business Week magazine as one of the five best managers of cultural organizations in the United States. In 2003 he was honored by the Illinois Arts Alliance as an Illinois Arts Legend. He has also received the Dushkin Award for his service to music by the Music Institute in Chicago.

Mr. Fogel has also served as a narrator with a number of orchestras. He has also produced a number of internationally syndicated radio programs for Chicago’s Fine Arts Station WFMT, including currently Collectors’ Corner, which is derived from his extensive personal collection of over 25,000 classical recordings. He was for many years a regular panelist on the Metropolitan Opera Broadcast Quiz. He has also written program notes for a number of recording companies and orchestras.

Mr. Fogel lives in River Forest, Illinois with his wife Frances. They have two children, Karl and Holly, and five grandchildren. In addition to music, he also has a passion for cooking Chinese food, and he studied over three years with Virginia Lee, who wrote the New York Times Chinese Cookbook.