Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Names Teresa Eaton
Director of Public Relations and Publications
Baltimore, Md. (December 12, 2014) — The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) has appointed Teresa Eaton as the director of public relations and publications, a position she began on Monday, December 1, 2014. Ms. Eaton brings 14 years of multi-media marketing and public relations experience to the BSO’s PR office. In addition to overseeing publications and all internal and external communications, she is responsible for the day-to-day public and media relations operations for the BSO at both the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in Baltimore and The Music Center at Strathmore in Bethesda, Md. Ms. Eaton’s responsibilities also include a focus on the BSO’s wide range of educational programming, including the award-winning OrchKids™ program and suite of BSO Academy programs.
Prior to joining the BSO, Teresa worked as the director of communications at St. Vincent de Paul of Baltimore and as the community relations manager of the Maryland Food Bank.
Commenting on her new position, Ms. Eaton said, “I am honored to have been chosen to work for such a well-known, quality organization with such a rich history in Baltimore. I look forward to sharing with you all of the wonderful things the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra continues to do through its innovative artistic, education and community outreach programs. Together, we can use music to transform lives throughout the State of Maryland.”
About the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
The Grammy Award-winning Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is internationally recognized as having achieved a preeminent place among the world’s most important orchestras. Acclaimed for its enduring pursuit of artistic excellence, the BSO has attracted a devoted national and international following while maintaining deep bonds throughout Maryland with innovative education and community outreach initiatives.
The BSO made musical history in September 2007, when Maestra Marin Alsop led her inaugural concerts as the Orchestra’s 12th music director, making her the first woman to head a major American orchestra. With her highly praised artistic vision, her dynamic musicianship and her commitment to accessibility in classical music, Maestra Alsop’s leadership has ushered in a new era for the BSO and its audiences.
In recent years, Marin Alsop and the BSO have been regularly invited to Carnegie Hall, including Maestra Alsop’s debut in February 2008, a critically acclaimed appearance later the same year to perform Bernstein’s MASS, further performances in November 2010 and again in November 2011 for a performance of Honegger’s dramatic oratorio Jeanne d’Arc au Bucher. The Orchestra under Maestra Alsop undertook their first domestic tour in March 2012 to the West Coast, including a three-day residency at the University of California, Berkeley.
For more than 80 years, the BSO has maintained a vibrant educational presence throughout Maryland, supporting the local community not only through concerts and recordings, but also through its commitment to actively giving back with its education, outreach and mentorship programs. The 2014-2015 season marks the seventh year of OrchKids™, a year-round in-school and after-school music program designed to create social change and nurture promising futures for youth in Baltimore City’s neighborhoods. OrchKids provides music education, instruments and tutoring to Baltimore’s underserved children at no cost. Since its start in 2008, the program has grown from 30 students to more than 850 participants in five Title I schools in Baltimore City. In November 2013, First Lady Michelle Obama presented OrchKids with a National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award, one of only 12 after-school and out-of-school programs across the country to receive this distinction. The awards, administered by the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, recognize nationwide programs for their effectiveness in developing learning and life skills in young people by engaging them in the arts. In 2013, the BSO launched OrchLab, in partnership with Montgomery County Public Schools. This program for elementary, middle and high school students in Montgomery County was created to enrich the instrumental music programs within the MCPS system that have the greatest need, as well as to provide professional development opportunities for MCPS music instructors. OrchLab is an outgrowth of BSO on the Go, the Orchestra’s education outreach program that has provided more than 12,000 students with classroom instruction and performances from BSO musicians.
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The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is funded by an operating grant from the Maryland State Arts Council, an agency dedicated to cultivating a vibrant cultural community where the arts thrive. The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is supported in part by funding from the Montgomery County government and the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County. The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is also supported by the Citizens of Baltimore County and the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore.
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