Cincinnati Ballet CEO announces departure – just 6 days after losing artistic director
Scott Altman, president and CEO of Cincinnati Ballet, announced Thursday that he is leaving the company to take on those same positions with the Los Angeles Master Chorale. The news comes just six days after artistic director Jodie Gates stepped down from her position following just 14 months on the job.
The timing of the departures is not the sort of thing that suggests institutional stability. But Altman insists the company is as stable as it has been at any time during its 60-year history.
“I will tell you unequivocally that there is no correlation at all between the timing of these announcements – none whatsoever,” said Altman on Wednesday morning. “The position in Los Angeles is one I’ve been exploring for several months. And I will still be here with Cincinnati Ballet until the end of the year. I don't begin there until Jan. 2, 2024.”
A quick perusal of the company’s financials suggests that this is not a case of executives abandoning a failing organization. Far from it. The Ballet has an operating budget of $13.1 million for the upcoming fiscal year, a growth of nearly 40% in the past four years. And the company’s endowment is a modest, but growing $14.995 million. Most important, though, is that the company has operated in the black for more than 15 years.
Deborah S. Brant – Debbie to all who know her – will step in as interim president and CEO when Altman departs on Dec. 31. She is singularly equipped to handle the position. She is current chair of the Cincinnati Ballet Foundation, which oversees the company’s endowment, former chair of the company’s board of trustees and led the capital campaign committee that raised the funding to construct Cincinnati Ballet’s $32 million, 62,000 square-foot Margaret and Michael Valentine Center for Dance, which opened in the summer of 2021.
For Altman, the new position is a return to his roots in the music world. He spent several years as an opera singer – a bass-baritone – and occasional stage director before becoming General Director of Arizona Opera in 2009.
The Los Angeles Master Chorale is a 100-voice professional ensemble founded in 1964 by famed choral conductor and educator Roger Wagner. Today, the group performs regularly at L.A.’s Disney Hall and often performs with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Hollywood Bowl orchestras. “There is no specific timeline for finding a new person for the position,” said Joel Stone, chair of the ballet’s board of trustees. “There is no rush. But we’re not going to drag our feet, either. We have a capable staff in place, so we are in good shape,” he said, adding that besides searching for a replacement for Altman and Gates, the company is looking for candidates to chair the company’s Otto M. Budig Academy, as well.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Ballet CEO Scott Altman heads to Los Angeles Master Chorale
