The State of the ASO
Looking Back. Growing Forward.
By Executive Director Erica Bondarev Rapach
Delivered in a speech to the ASO Board of Trustees on the occasion of the end of the 2025-26 season on June 30, 2026
As I reflect on the past year, one question keeps coming back to me:
How do we prepare a 64-year-old institution for its next 64 years?
While most people experience us as an orchestra—and many families know us through the Annapolis Symphony Academy—at our core, we are a cultural institution. That distinction matters.
If we think of ourselves only as an orchestra, our focus naturally stays on the next performance. But when we think of ourselves as a cultural institution, we understand that our responsibility extends beyond presenting performances to stewarding a lasting community asset for future generations. We begin recognizing that every decision is an opportunity to build relationships, expand opportunity, and strengthen the future of music in our community.
Instead of focusing only on what’s next, we begin thinking about what’s possible.
That shift in perspective changes the questions we ask. We begin asking:
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How do we strengthen our people?
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How do we create greater opportunities through music education?
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How do we deepen our partnership with our musicians?
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How do we welcome new audiences and build lifelong advocates?
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How do we ensure this institution continues to enrich our community for generations to come?
Knowing the answers doesn’t mean we’ve arrived. It means we’re moving in the right direction.Looking back on this season, what makes me the most proud is that we’ve become much more intentional about asking—and answering—these questions together.
This year, we strengthened the foundation of the institution by investing in our staff, improving systems, completing our Maryland Hall office renovation, and continuing to integrate the Annapolis Symphony Academy into every aspect of our mission.
Since opening with just 20 students in 2018, the Academy has grown to 170 students, helping develop not only young musicians but also future audiences, advocates, and supporters of the arts. It is more than a music education program. The Academy is one of the most important investments we can make in the long-term vitality of this institution, because every student who walks through our doors represents not only a young musician, but a future audience member, advocate, volunteer, donor, or community leader.
We strengthened our partnership with our musicians by implementing initiatives from our most recent collective bargaining agreement, including travel reimbursement and the creation of our new Artistic Advisory Group. These are important examples of the collaborative culture we continue to build together.
The strong partnership we share with our musicians enabled us to achieve the bold artistic vision of our Artistic Director and Conductor, José-Luis Novo. Over the course of Season 64, Maestro Novo programmed new and technically challenging pieces, knowing our musicians would rise to the occasion. And they did. And our community responded in extraordinary ways.
- More than 32,000 people attended 104 ASO and Academy performances
- We performed 81 free concerts across Annapolis, Anne Arundel County, Baltimore, and Bethesda
- Ticket sales grew by 23%
- We welcomed more than 1,000 first-time patrons
- Our audience surveys produced a Net Promoter Score of 91—a world-class measure of audience loyalty and willingness to recommend us to others.
To me, those numbers represent something more important than growth. They represent trust: a trust that must be sustained if we want to continue to expand our audience and relevance.
Certainly, we see a deep trust in our work and our mission by our donors. In the 2025-26 season, the ASO received nearly $1.7M from 750 donors. Extraordinary artistry cannot thrive without being nurtured. When our donors give to the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra and Academy, they help cultivate a creativity community where excellence and civic service is possible.
The generosity of our donors carries music into the concert hall, but also into schools, hospitals, parks, and neighborhoods. It ensures that young people encounter live music for the first time and discover new possibilities within themselves. It provides moments of comfort and healing where they are needed most.
Preparing for the future also means embracing our role beyond the concert hall.
Just last month, we helped convene the first-ever gathering of orchestra leaders from across Maryland, launching an ongoing statewide collaboration around advocacy, shared musicians, and new initiatives like Maryland Orchestras Month. We’re also partnering with arts organizations across the region to present a concert that coincides with the opening of Maryland’s 2027 legislative session. And just last month, we were awarded a Strategic Impact Grant from the Arts Council of Anne Arundel County to support a comprehensive rebrand and new website—an investment in ensuring the way we present ourselves will reflect the institution we’re becoming.
This year wasn’t without challenges. We lost concerts to winter weather, navigated the disruptions that came with the Maryland Hall renovation, and faced the same financial and funding uncertainties affecting arts organizations across the country.
But what gives me confidence isn’t that we avoided those challenges. It’s how we responded: We adapted. We stayed focused.
And we continued making decisions that strengthen this institution for the long term.
This year also marked the beginning of an important new chapter for the ASO as we launched a comprehensive strategic planning process.
A strategic plan isn’t simply a document. It’s a statement of who we believe we can become.
It gives us the opportunity to build on the momentum we’ve created, align around a shared vision, and make intentional choices about where we invest our time, our resources, and our energy over the coming years. I believe that process will be just as valuable as the plan itself.
As I look back on the 2025-26 season, I’m reminded that leadership isn’t about having every answer.
It’s about listening, building trust, and creating an environment where talented people can do their best work.
Most of all, it’s about recognizing that none of us stewards an institution like this alone.
To our musicians, staff, Board of Trustees, former trustees, Academy families, FASO, volunteers, donors, sponsors, community partners, and audiences—thank you.
This institution is stronger because of you.
Our annual report is titled Looking Back. Growing Forward.
I can’t think of a better way to describe where we are today or where we’re headed next season and in the seasons that will follow. One of the great privileges of serving an institution like ours is knowing we’ll never finish the work. Every generation is asked to leave it a little stronger than they found it.
I believe that’s what we’ve worked toward this year.
The future of this institution will not be defined by any one concert, any one season, or any one leader. It will be shaped by all of us, one thoughtful decision at a time.
Thank you for being part of that work.
With gratitude,
Erica Bondarev Rapach
Executive Director