CHICAGO — University of Chicago Presents announces the appointment of Amy Iwano to the role of executive director for the acclaimed presenting organization. Ms. Iwano joins the University of Chicago on April 2, 2012 after eighteen years as executive director of the Chicago Chamber Musicians.

Martha Feldman, chair of the University’s Music Department, said of the appointment: “Amy Iwano will continue to invigorate University of Chicago Presents in its mission of bringing Chicago the finest chamber music, early music, new music, and jazz, and will do so with extraordinary leadership and innovation.”

Larry Norman, Deputy Provost for the Arts, commented: “Amy brings inspiring vision and tremendous leadership skills to the University's hallmark music presenting organization. As we look forward to this year's opening of the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, we are thrilled to welcome her to the helm of a true flagship for the arts on campus and in the city of Chicago."

"I am both delighted and honored to join the University of Chicago at this extraordinary time for the arts on campus,” said Ms. Iwano. “I've been impressed by the enthusiasm and unanimity of support for growing the arts at the University and will look forward to ensuring great music has a critical and progressive role in its future offerings through University of Chicago Presents."

Ms. Iwano was appointed executive director of Chicago Chamber Musicians in 1993. Under her leadership, CCM has enjoyed a heightened presence in the Chicago arts community, as well as national recognition for its artistic excellence and organizational vitality. The organization expanded its artistic ensemble and programs and quadrupled its annual operating budget.

Prior to her position at CCM, Ms. Iwano served as executive director of the Japan America Symphony Association of Los Angeles, where she guided a chamber orchestra of 45 musicians. From 1984 to 1989, Ms. Iwano was administrator of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute, a 100-member summer orchestral training program.

Among numerous arts appointments Ms. Iwano has served on the board of the Association of California Symphony Orchestras, and a grant panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts and the Aaron Copland Fund for Music. For Chamber Music America, she has served on the board and as a grant panelist, strategic advisor, and speaker at the annual national conferences. She has been an active contributor to Chicago’s arts scene, serving on the Chicago Chapter Advisory Board of the American Composers Forum and on the Advisory Board for the Jane Addams Hull House Center for Arts and Culture. She also served on the Program Committee of the Arts & Business Council of Chicago and is a founding executive committee member of ChicagoClassicalMusic.org.

Ms. Iwano graduated with a BA from Pomona College, where she played harp in the orchestra. She also studied at the Goethe Institute in West Berlin, Germany, and the University of Paris, La Sorbonne.

About University of Chicago Presents
When Ms. Iwano assumes the directorship of University of Chicago Presents in April, she will add her talents to a centurylong tradition of classical music-making at the University. Concerts began on campus in 1903 with the opening of Mandel Hall. In 1943 classical music performances were formally organized into UCP’s forerunner, the University Concert Series. It was under this title that twenty-four-year-old violinist Isaac Stern first performed in Chicago, as well as classical guitarist Andrés Segovia and the Juilliard String Quartet. The series was renamed University of Chicago Presents in 1998 and introduced another cohort of rising stars to the stage, including violinist Hilary Hahn, soprano Cecilia Bartoli, and cellist Truls Mørk. The various series presented by University of Chicago Presents now include Classic Concert, Howard Mayer Brown International Early Music, Artistsin- Residence (Pacifica Quartet), and Contempo, as well as a number of special events including jazz performances.

In presenting the University’s new-music collective Contempo (formerly the Contemporary Chamber Players), now in its 47th year, Ms. Iwano will work closely with Contempo’s Artistic Director, composer and faculty member Shulamit Ran. Contempo remains at the vanguard of adventurous new programming, introducing audiences to today’s most innovative composers. Learn more at http://contempo.uchicago.edu.

UCP also has expanded its mission in recent years to include collaborations that bridge different arts and disciplines, including its 2008 music festival honoring French composer Olivier Messiaen; its 2010 festival on Spanish modernism; and most recently, the Soviet Arts Experience, a 16-month festival of more than 100 events across Chicago exploring arts and culture. UCP also has partnered with cultural institutions such as the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago Chamber Musicians, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the Smart Museum of Art.

Heralded by the Chicago Tribune as “a model of what a classical concert series should be,” and “the city’s most important by a mile chamber music series” by the Chicago Sun- Times, UCP has been dedicated throughout its history to its mission of presenting music on an intimate scale at the highest level. Its 2012-13 performances will take place in a number of campus venues, principally Mandel Hall, Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, and the new Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, as well as other city of Chicago locations.

Learn more at http://chicagopresents.uchicago.edu, or follow us at http://www.facebook.com/chicagopresents or on Twitter at http://twitter.com/chicagopresents.

Media contact
Ronia Holmes
University of Chicago
roniamh@uchicago.edu
773.834.0481

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