Ryan Fleur was promoted Wednesday to president and CEO of the Philadelphia Orchestra and Ensemble Arts, leading an institution that he has worked for since 2012.
Fleur had been interim president since January, when Matias Tarnopolsky left to head the New York Philharmonic . Fleur said he will concentrate on trying to fill seats for the roughly 20 of capacity that is not being regularly sold.
"I also want to aggressively make our venues available to both community groups and education groups that might not otherwise realize that these spaces are open to them," he said. "I want every Philadelphia school student, K kindergarten through 12 to walk through our doors at least three times in their formative years, whether it's coming to a Philadelphia Orchestra open rehearsal or a school concert or to our jazz for freedom program, which connects the history of jazz with the civil rights movement. "
Now 53, Fleur was president and CEO of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra from 2003-12, when he became Philadelphia's executive director of orchestra advancement. He also served as interim president in 2018 after Allison Vulgamore left to run the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and before Tarnopolsky started in Philadelphia.
Fleur had been Philadelphia's executive director since 2021, the year the orchestra merged with the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, the orchestra's home. The institution rebranded as Ensemble Arts Philly last year.