NASHVILLE, TN — Nashville Symphony Chief Operating Officer (COO) Tonya McBride Robles has announced the appointment of Alison Bolton as the organization’s new Vice President of Artistic Administration, effective February 2023. Working closely with Music Director Giancarlo Guerrero and Principal Pops Conductor Enrico Lopez-Yañez, Bolton will oversee the full scope of artistic planning for the Nashville Symphony’s vast array of programming that includes the institution’s Classical, Pops, Movie, Family and Jazz series as well as special events and presentations without the orchestra.
Over the course of her nearly 20-year arts administration career, Bolton has focused primarily in the areas of concert production, operations and education. Since 2016, she has served as Vice President, Artistic and Orchestra Operations for the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra (BPO), working with Music Director JoAnn Falletta and Principal Pops Conductor John Morris Russell to develop programming across series and genres to fulfill the orchestra’s artistic mission. During her tenure, Bolton spearheaded several large-scale artistic projects including EnLighten, a collaboration among the Richardson Olmsted Complex, the BPO and Projex which was a multimedia presentation using digital light mapping to highlight and celebrate the historical function of the Richardson as a place of healing and celebrate the reopening of this architectural landmark in Buffalo; productions of Amadeus and A Midsummer Night’s Dream in partnership with the Irish Classical Theatre; a partnership with SUNY Fredonia and the Hillman Opera program to mount semi-staged opera performances highlighting Western New York-based alumni with professional opera careers. Bolton also coordinated dozens of recordings for the BPO on their own label and for Naxos, including the GRAMMY® Award-winning recording of Richard Danielpour’s “Passion of the Yeshua.” Additionally, Boton ran the orchestra’s domestic tours and oversaw the planning and execution of the orchestra’s first international tour in more than 30 years. Prior to the BPO, Bolton held leadership positions at the Alabama Symphony (Director of Artistic Operations); the Albany Symphony Orchestra (Operations Manager, Director of Artistic Operations, then General Manager); the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (Manager of Audience Engagement, Festivals and Artistic Projects); and the Tucson Symphony (Operations Coordinator).
“Alison Bolton comes to us with a track record of success and a reputation for being a collaborative colleague,” said Nashville Symphony COO Tonya McBride Robles. “Her cross-disciplinary experience and her leadership will be important as we begin the process of fulfilling the objectives of the Nashville Symphony’s strategic framework. Our overall goal in that work is to deepen our engagement with our Nashville and Middle Tennessee communities, and the orchestra’s programming is a critical piece of the puzzle. I’m thrilled that Alison will join us on this journey.”
A Cincinnati native, Alison grew up in St. Petersburg, Florida. She holds degrees in Viola Performance from the University of North Carolina School for the Arts and the University of Akron.
The GRAMMY® Award-winning Nashville Symphony has earned an international reputation for its innovative programming and its commitment to performing, recording, and commissioning works by America’s leading composers. With more than 140 performances annually, the orchestra offers a broad range of classical, pops and jazz, and children’s concerts, along with an extensive selection of education and community engagement programs. The Nashville Symphony has released 40 internationally distributed recordings on Naxos, which have received 27 GRAMMY® nominations and 14 GRAMMY® Awards, making it one of the most active recording orchestras in the country. The orchestra has also released recordings on Decca, Deutsche Grammophon and New West Records.
In addition to support from Metro Arts and Tennessee Arts Commission, Nashville Symphony is being supported, in whole or in part, by federal award number SLFRP5534 awarded to the State of Tennessee by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Nashville Symphony is also supported in part by an American Rescue Plan Act grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to support general operating expenses in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
