Ron Spigelman is more concerned about being relevant to people's lives than any accolades he might receive as music director of the Springfield Symphony Orchestra.
Born in England and raised in Australia, Spigelman was educated at London's prestigious Royal Academy of Music and later received the equivalent of an honorary doctorate from the academy. While Spigelman, his wife, Lisa, and two sons gladly call the Ozarks home, their journey included positions in the Dallas area and most recently Buffalo, N.Y.
In the middle of his fifth season with the Springfield Symphony, Spigelman's philosophy of philanthropy through music has taken hold. Ticket sales have doubled in the past four years and the symphony has an impressive 90 percent retention rate of season subscribers.
"My philosophy as a symphony orchestra music director is that I'm also a community leader, and I take that very seriously," Spigelman says. "We're trying to create a narrative with the community that we are first and foremost a community service organization."
For example, the symphony has created two funds that enable symphony musicians to play for charitable causes and meet individual needs of music students. The latter, the Musicians' Initiative Fund also provides funds for musicians to take part in a four-week Super Strings violin program at Reed Middle School and Central, Glendale and Hillcrest high schools.
These efforts help make the symphony relevant to more than just season-ticket holders.
"I don't believe my job is to conduct; that's just my skill," says the passionate Spigelman. "My job is to touch people's lives with music."
Seeing him in action, it's obvious that if anything could change the view that symphony music is for a stuffy crowd, it would be Spigelman's contagious enthusiasm.
Off stage, the effort might be discussing Mozart in a Walmart checkout line. For Spigelman, that's as much what he's about as when he's in coat and tails in front of the symphony.
"Music doesn't actually change the world," he says. "It's people that change the world. But music can change people, so that's what we're trying to do."[[In-content Ad]]
