The Orchester Métropolitain (OM) will announce a major change at its head on Thursday, learned The duty. The new President and CEO is Fabienne Voisin, who has held this position for 11 years at the Orchester national d’Île-de-France (ONDIF). She succeeds Jean R. Dupré, who is retiring after 10 years in office.
“I lived abroad in a country at war in West Africa. I know what it’s like to jump into the void in a culture you don’t know. I know what that brings, the nostalgia, the expectation and the attention in meeting the other. This experience is what best shaped who I am today. » Fabienne Voisin, to whom The duty spoke shortly before leaving for Montreal, is aware of the differences in the management of an orchestra on one side and the other of the Atlantic: “The first is funding. The interlocutors are different, but the conviction with which we must involve them in projects is the same; we are dealing with human beings! »
Because, basically, Mme Voisin thinks that the role of CEO is the same: “He carries the artistic project and leads a team in the way of sharing it with as many people as possible. »
Similarities
For Erik J. Ryan, chairman of the board of directors of OM, who says he started from more than 50 candidates, Mme Voisin, who was the only foreigner and non-Quebecer in the final stages, “brings the experience of managing a symphony orchestra wrapped in a person full of energy who amazed everyone with her knowledge, her interpersonal skills and her concern for teamwork”.
She acquired an excellent reputation during her 11 years spent at the ONDIF, which has several similarities with the Metropolitan since it is intended to bring music where other orchestras do not go. Among the accomplishments that make her proud, Ms.me Voisin cites the restoration of ONDIF’s finances, the creation of a recording studio, the hiring of conductor Case Scaglione, the recognition of ONDIF as “orchestra in residence” at the Philharmonie de Paris and the development of a “new way of working and exchanging with the musicians and the team”.
Asked about the idea she wants to import first, the new CEO of OM is cautious: “There are several, and you have to establish a hierarchy with the new family. The first thing is to listen and watch how it works. »
This manager was attracted to OM because of the obvious similarity of its missions with ONDIF, but also because it was created by its musicians (“it’s quite unique”) and by the lifelong marriage to Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Added to this is a boundless admiration for the Quebec chef, “one of the most interesting baguettes in all artistic and human aspects”, also described as a “creativity bomb”.
The one we observe
For Fabienne Voisin, the challenge will be “to write together the future of OM and its development”. This development, she sees it “in one direction: to go further, in the international influence and the recognition of OM for its singularity. OM is a modern orchestra in its way of presenting the repertoire and that of tomorrow. I see him as someone who is looked upon as a laboratory, here in Canada and in the rest of the world, as someone who dares to do things and share them with the population. The audience wants an adventure, wants an experience. »
In this respect, even if Yannick Nézet-Séguin goes far in his way of aligning programs with fashionable trends, Fabienne Voisin thinks that we “must assume” and that “it is to his credit to introduce the directory”. “The post-COVID challenge is to manage to bring people into the room”, she tells us, adding: “The reflex would be to tighten up towards the major works for which we know that we will fill [la salle]. The risk, and, I think, the danger, is that, in doing so, we wear out the public and that after a while, the rooms become deserted. On the contrary, echoing the challenges of society, showing that we contribute to a harmonious society and that our repertoire is rich enough to bring out this harmony, yes, it’s daring. It’s up to Yannick, because he has that notoriety; he was the first and the others watch what he does. »
In the eyes of Erik J. Ryan, Fabienne Voisin’s mission is now to “exercise leadership to go further, support the chef in his ambitions, grow, set up tours, bring energy to energize the team “. In the words of the lucky woman, this is expressed in a “convergence of convictions on the place of an orchestra in a society of common values”.