Arts administrator and cellist Blake-Anthony Johnson will leave his position as the president and CEO of the Chicago Sinfonietta to head the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation in January, both organizations announced this morning.
“I am extremely proud of and grateful for my time with Chicago Sinfonietta, a groundbreaking orchestra that for 37 years has inspired and championed diversity and inclusion in the arts,” Johnson said in a statement with the announcement. “With Chicago Sinfonietta standing strong, and having grown in all facets — budget, reach, and programmatic impact — I believe that the time is right to transition to a new leadership.”
In a separate statement published by the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation, Johnson says he was drawn to that organization in part because of the city’s “personal significance for me through my family’s roots.”
“I deeply admire the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation for its commitment to preserving the spirit of jazz and celebrating the cultural diversity that makes this city unique. … I am honored to serve an organization that uplifts both the legacy and future of this powerful art form, and the vibrant communities connected to it,” Johnson wrote.
Johnson, 34, assumed his role at the Chicago Sinfonietta in March 2020. At the time, he was not only the first Black chief executive of an American orchestra of the Sinfonietta’s stature but among the youngest in the industry’s modern history.
Johnson’s tenure, while brief, has been transformative for the Sinfonietta, whose mission since its founding in 1987 has been to “inspire a continued investment in diversity and inclusivity in the genre of classical music.” At the beginning of the 2021 season, the orchestra’s first in-person since the pandemic, Johnson instituted a pay-what-you-can ticket option — starting at $5 — which has become widely imitated. He shepherded the Sinfonietta’s move to the Auditorium Theatre, allowing the organization more scheduling freedom and distinction than it had playing at Symphony Center, where it was often overshadowed by the Chicago Symphony. Last season, the orchestra embarked on its first tour in decades, a sweep of historically Black colleges and universities in the American South.
All of the above was possible through an unprecedented increase in fundraising, which also happened under Johnson’s watch. According to the Sinfonietta, its seasonal operating budget and sustained revenue both tripled during that time. The influx allowed the orchestra to triple its staff and raise musicians’ base rates by 20%.
His leadership coincided with a period of unprecedented visibility for the Sinfonietta. The orchestral world, like all the arts, was swept into the fervor of the 2020 racial reckoning. During that period, the Sinfonietta, founded by late conductor Paul Freeman, was an exceedingly rare beacon: an orchestra that had committed itself to racial equity a generation earlier not because it was faddish but because it was right.
“I want people to say, ‘Oh, if we give them a million dollars, they’re going to run with it and create opportunities that otherwise wouldn’t happen,’” he told the Tribune in 2022, when he was named the paper’s Chicagoan of the Year in Classical Music. “It has very little to do with paying bills (and more to do with) the values and principles that create the institution.”
After Johnson’s formal departure from the Sinfonietta on Jan. 1, 2025, he will continue to act as an “executive advisor” during the search for his successor, the organization said.
In addition to being named a Chicagoan of the Year, Johnson has been recognized by Crain’s Chicago Business’s 40 Under 40, by the Black Professionals Network’s Black Men in Excellence Award and by Musical America as one of its Top 30 Professionals of the Year in 2022. He also co-chairs the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events’ Cultural Advisory Council.
Hannah Edgar is a freelance writer.
