Boston Landmarks Orchestra Welcomes New Executive Director

The Board of Trustees of the Boston Landmarks Orchestra announced today that Jo Frances Meyer, of Charlestown, MA, will become the new Executive Director of the Boston Landmarks Orchestra beginning in January 2015.

"We are thrilled that a candidate with Jo Frances's experience and community knowledge has agreed to head our organization," said Jeff Makholm, Chair of the Board of Trustees. Ms. Meyer will succeed the orchestra's current Executive Director, Harron Ellenson, who will leave the post at the end of December to return full-time to her marketing firm, Harron & Associates.

Meyer is currently the Director of Development at Rockport Music, where she has significantly increased annual fund giving and helped to complete a $20 million Capital Campaign in 2011-2012. Previously, she spent more than seven years working in development for the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

She currently serves on the Women's Health Leadership Council at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and on the Summer Search Boston Board of Directors. Meyer has also served as a past Board member with numerous community organizations, including Boston Children's Museum, Boston Arts Academy, Summer Search Boston, and the Massachusetts Advocates for the Arts, Sciences and Humanities.

"Two of my greatest passions in life are music and community, and because the Landmarks Orchestra has - happily-come to symbolize both in the City of Boston over the last decade, this opportunity resonates deeply for me," commented Meyer. The Boston Landmarks Orchestra was founded in 2001 by Maestro Charles Ansbacher to provide free concerts for all people in the Boston area. Made up of some of the area's finest musicians, the orchestra now performs in summer at the DCR's Hatch Shell and in the neighborhoods of Greater Boston. After Ansbacher's death in 2010 the orchestra has continued, with current Music Director Christopher Wilkins, to move forward to break down barriers of access to orchestral music across economic, cultural, and physical boundaries. Under the leadership of Executive Director Harron Ellenson, the orchestra has participated in numerous collaborations with cultural, educational and social organizations and has launched initiatives to encourage people with disabilities to participate in all of its programs.