News & Events

4th Annual Daniel Ranalli Lecture: Reimagining the Orchestra with BSO President Chad Smith

Established by the Arts Administration program at Boston University’s Metropolitan College (MET) in 2022, the Ranalli Lecture Series invites prominent US arts leaders to BU to share their perspectives and knowledge. This year’s lecture will be delivered by Chad Smith, the Eunice and Julian Cohen President and CEO of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, whose penchant for transforming classical music and curating festivals has helped to redefine the modern orchestra.

This complimentary event is open to the public. Please register to secure your place.

Centering the Human in an Orchestra of Ideas
with Chad Smith, Eunice and Julian Cohen President and CEO, Boston Symphony Orchestra
Tuesday, April 15, 2025, 5 pm
Boston University Howard Thurman Center, 808 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston
Reception to follow

For more than 20 years, Smith has been at the forefront of the classical music field, curating festivals and programs that have united disparate forms of music and art, setting a new and aspirational standard for what an orchestra should be in the 21st century. A former fellow at the BSO’s Tanglewood Music Center, as well as a former CEO of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Smith carries on his longstanding dedication to training and supporting the next generation of artists while cultivating an inquisitive audience. To advance this goal, he and the BSO in 2024 announced the Boston Symphony Orchestra Humanities Institute—a platform which contextualizes and enhances the orchestra’s musical offerings through lectures, exhibitions, and other programming rooted in an exploration of the humanities.

A longtime advocate for new music and emerging composers, Smith further invested in the BSO’s future by establishing the Deborah and Philip Edmundson Composer Chair position. Smith and the BSO also recently expanded the Susan W. and Stephen D. Paine Resident Fellows Program, which presents rising musicians from historically unrepresented backgrounds with valuable professional experience at a crucial time in their careers.

Now in its fourth year, the Ranalli Lecture Series is named for Metropolitan College Associate Professor Emeritus Daniel Ranalli, who in 1993 founded the MET Arts Administration program. An arts administrator, curator, art critic, and gallery director, Ranalli served as the program’s director until 2014. The lecture series honors his essential contributions to the program and the BU community.

We hope you will join us for what promises to be an enlightening and inspiring address. The event will be followed by a reception. The lecture is complimentary, but seating is limited, so reserve your spot today.