9:30am – 5:00pm

Making Outstanding Education Concerts: What You Play and What You Say*

Deepen knowledge and experience, and create effective partnerships in designing concerts with artistic and educational focuses that are in alignment with contemporary audiences. (Continued Wednesday 8:00 am - 1:00 pm.)

9:30am – 4:30pm

Musically Speaking*

Articulate your passion for music with confidence and clarity, and gain support of those around you including the audience, musicians, donors, the press, and key community members. You may register for Musically Speaking AND any Wednesday seminar below.

8:00am – 1:00pm

Making Outstanding Education Concerts: What You Play and What You Say*

Continued from Tuesday.

1:00pm – 6:30pm

Orchestras on the Hill (Capacity is limited! Register now to participate!)

The policy decisions made in Washington, D.C. impact orchestras back home.  Make the case to your Senator(s) or Representatives at Orchestras on the Hill. No matter your role or affiliation, this day is for everyone. Prepare for your meetings at a briefing, meet with members of Congress, and attend a Hill reception.

1:00pm - 2:15pm
Legislative Briefing (Hilton Washington)

Never met with a policymaker? Worried about what to say? Don’t worry! We’ll tell you all you need to know to meet with your representatives in Congress including what to bring to your meeting, how to conduct your meeting, and talking points. You’ll also meet with other Conference attendees from your state, including your State Captain. Meetings with your Senators will be scheduled for you in advance. We’ll be sitting at tables so feel free to buy your lunch beforehand and bring it with you. Speakers

2:15pm - 3:15pm
Buses to the Hill

Buses will leave from the T Street entrance on the Terrace Level (one floor below the lobby) of the Hilton Washington.

3:30pm - 5:30pm
Hill Meetings(Capitol Hill)

You’ve been briefed – you’re now ready to meet with your members of Congress!

5:00pm - 6:30pm
Hill Reception, (Cannon Caucus Room, Capitol Hill)

7:15pm

We’re inviting you and your members of Congress to join us in the beautiful Cannon Caucus Room after your Hill meetings. Hear Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg and Mark O’Connor perform. We'll also present the Gold Baton Award for distinguished service to music and the arts to National Symphony Orchestra Music Director Leonard Slatkin and to the Congressional Arts Caucus. Representative Slaughter (D-NY) and Representative Shays (R-CT) will accept on behalf of the Congressional Arts Caucus.

National Friends of the League Donor Appreciation Dinner
Sponsored by Steinway & Sons
(by invitation)

7:00am – 8:15am

Conference/League Orientation

For first-time Conference attendees and for those new to the League.

8:15am – 9:30am

Opening Session/Keynote Address

Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee delivers this year’s Opening Session Keynote Address on why he chose to focus on the arts during his chairmanship of the Education Commission of the States.

Youth Orchestra Performance
Members of six Washington D.C. area youth orchestras perform under the direction of Emil de Cou, Associate Conductor, National Symphony Orchestra.

Opening Session sponsored by Classical Movements Inc.

9:45am – 11:00am

Opening Forums

Choose from one of the following sessions available to all Conference delegates:

Making the Case
Question: What will persuade a prospective donor, convince a key policymaker, earn the community’s trust, and win the hearts of your audience? Answer: Knowing your facts, and communicating them in a compelling way. Learn why four leading public figures are advocates for music, and how each make the case from a different perspective: economic, education, artistry, and community impact. Receive a new collection of our best statistics, arguments, and quotes about American orchestras, and take home effective strategies to make the case for your orchestra at home. Speakers

Don’t Mess with My Concerts
We know that each audience member attends concerts with different expectations and degrees of sophistication. But what do we know about our audience, really? And how do we apply what we do know about them to the concert experience? We’ll explain – and challenge – some assumptions that have, until now, influenced orchestras’ approaches to concerts, and examine some new approaches as well. Speakers

12:45pm – 2:00pm

Lunch Meeting at Kennedy Center

The League and You

2:15pm – 3:30pm

Musician Meeting at Kennedy Center

Agenda TBA

3:45pm – 5:00pm

Orchestra Toolbox Sessions

Choose from six compelling sessions, including:

Strengthening Roots, Branching Out: Orchestra Residencies Across America
What makes a successful orchestra residency? Why might you implement one as a form of community engagement? Take a look at the National Symphony Orchestra’s American Residencies, the Oregon Symphony’s Community Music Partnerships, and the quartet residency of the Western Piedmont Symphony, and take home strategies to make your orchestra’s residency possible, powerful, and sustainable. Speakers

The Rise and Fall of Classical Music in America
Joseph Horowitz, author of Classical Music in America: A History of Its Rise and Fall, discusses his sweeping narrative. When did classical music in America ascend? And perhaps more importantly, when – or did – it fall? Find out at this session.  Speakers

5:00pm – 6:15pm

Buses to the Kennedy Center

Buses to the Kennedy Center will leave from the T Street entrance on the Terrace Level (one floor below the lobby) of the Hilton Washington.

7:00pm

National Symphony Orchestra Concert* and Tune-Up Party

The National Symphony Orchestra performs under Leonard Slatkin at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Concert Hall. Guest artists include Mark O'Connor and Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, violin.
Tune-Up Party hosted by the National Symphony Orchestra

9:00pm - 9:30pm

Tour of the John F. Kennedy Center Concert Hall

Take a Jaffe Holden Acoustics Tour featuring the acoustical design of the John F. Kennedy Center Concert Hall immediately following the concert.

11:00pm

Gone, But Not Forgotten

Enjoy a chat with orchestra veterans – those risqué, devil-may-care, caution-to-the-wind, impresarios – as they reveal all they couldn’t say…on the job.

12:00pm – 1:30pm

Conference Luncheon*

Drawing from his recent book, The Four Pillars of High Performance, Paul Light will explore strategies for attaining maximum effectiveness in a future of unprecedented change and uncertainty. Light is the Paulette Goddard Professor of Public Service, Robert Wagner School of Public Service, New York University.

Sponsored by: Clarion Associates, Inc., IMG Artists, Artsmarketing Services Inc.

4:30pm – 6:00pm

Awards Celebration and Reception

Celebrate the field's achievements at the Awards Celebration and Reception with emcee Marvin Hamlisch. We'll award the League/ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming, the MetLife Awards for Excellence in Community Engagement, the Bank of America Awards for Excellence in Orchestra Education, The Volunteer Council Gold Ribbon Awards, and the Helen M. Thompson Award. You will also hear remarks by NEA Chairman Dana Gioia, and performances by “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band, led by director Lieutenant Colonel Michael Colburn.

Reception sponsored by ASCAP

8:00pm

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Concert*

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra performs under Yuri Temirkanov at Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in Baltimore with guest artist Vadim Repin, violin.

Buses will leave promptly at 6:00 pm from the T Street entrance on the Terrace Level (one floor below the lobby) of the Hilton Washington.

8:00pm

National Philharmonic Performance-Demonstration*

Experience a concert hall as you never have before at a demonstration of the visible and invisible features of the design responsible for making the new Music Center at Strathmore a concert hall for the 21st century.

To get to the Music Center at Strathmore, take the Metro from the Dupont Circle Station to the Strathmore/Grosvenor station, (8 stops on the Red Line towards Shady Grove) and walk to the Music Center through a covered skyway. This trip will take approximately 45 minutes from door to door including a ten minute walk down Connecticut Ave. to the Dupont Circle Station. Round trip tickets may be purchased at the Metro station for $4.50.

8:00pm

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Concert*

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra performs under Yuri Temirkanov at the Music Center at Strathmore in North Bethesda with guest artist Vadim Repin, violin.

To get to the Music Center at Strathmore, take the Metro from the Dupont Circle Station to the Strathmore/Grosvenor station, (8 stops on the Red Line towards Shady Grove) and walk to the Music Center through a covered skyway. This trip will take approximately 45 minutes from door to door including a ten minute walk down Connecticut Ave. to the Dupont Circle Station. Round trip tickets may be purchased at the Metro station for $4.50.