Henry Fogel
Henry Fogel was appointed to the position of President and CEO of the American Symphony Orchestra League in July, 2003. Prior to that, Mr. Fogel was President of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association for eighteen years beginning in 1985, where he oversaw not only the Orchestra, but ancillary activities including the Civic Orchestra (a training orchestra), an independent presenting series of classical, jazz, and world music attractions, the Chicago Symphony Chorus, and management of the Symphony Center facility. During the period of Mr. Fogel’s leadership, the Association’s endowment increased from $19 million to over $160 million, and the Orchestra was in the black for fifteen of his eighteen years. Also during his tenure, the CSO undertook a massive program of community engagement and strengthened its educational programs considerably. In 1997, Mr. Fogel completed overseeing the award winning Symphony Center project – the $120 million dollar renovation and expansion of Orchestra Hall.
Mr. Fogel has been, and remains, involved with many arts organizations. He was Chairman of the Board of the American Symphony Orchestra League from 2001-2003, and served a previous ten year term as a League Trustee in the 1980s and 90s. He is a member of the Illinois Arts Alliance, which he served as both President and Chairman in the past, and is a member of the Board of WTTW-Channel 11 in Chicago, the Board of Overseers of the Curtis Institute, the Visiting Committee of the University of Chicago Music School, the Executive Committee of the Avery Fisher Artist Program and the Honorary Board of the Institute for the Study of Black Music at Columbia College. He has served as a judge at conducting competitions in New York, Helsinki, and Tokyo.
Mr. Fogel is a professor at Roosevelt University’s College of Performing Arts in Chicago, where he teaches a course in orchestral studies. He has been a record reviewer for Fanfare magazine since 1981, and has contributed several entries to the book Contemporary Composers, and to The Harvard Dictionary of Music. He also writes a monthly column for Auditorium, the leading music magazine in South Korea. He has produced many series of radio programs for Chicago Fine Arts Station WFMT that have been syndicated nationally, including, currently, “Collectors’ Corner,” which is derived from his extensive collection of over 20,000 classical recordings. He is also a regular panelist on the Quiz of the Metropolitan Opera international broadcasts. He has served as a consultant for management and labor issues to many orchestras throughout the country, including those in Houston, Louisville, Detroit, Syracuse, Buffalo, San Antonio, Kansas City, St. Louis, and Omaha, as well as many Illinois orchestras. He also serves as an observer for the Opera Program of the National Endowment for the Arts.
He has received honorary doctorate degrees from Northwestern University, the Curtis Institute of Music, Columbia College in Chicago, and Roosevelt University in Chicago. In 1999, Mr. Fogel received a Cultural Leadership Citation from Yale University’s School of Music for service to the cultural life of the nation. In 1998, he received a Civic Leadership Award from DePaul University’s College of Commerce. In 1997, he received the Top Chicagoan Award from Chicago Magazine. In 1990, he was named by Business Week magazine as one of the five best managers of cultural organizations in the United States.
Mr. Fogel served as Executive Director of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C. from 1981 to 1985, and Orchestra Manager of the New York Philharmonic from 1978 to1981. From 1963 to 1978, he was Vice President and Program Director of radio station WONO in Syracuse, New York, where he conceived the first radio fundraising marathon for an orchestra. Mr. Fogel has acted as producer and broadcast host for more than 100 radiothons for some 26 different orchestras. He is also a passionate Chinese cook, having studied for three years under Virginia Lee, author of the New York Times Chinese Cookbook.
A native of New York City, Henry Fogel received his education at Syracuse University. He and his wife, Frances, have a son, Karl, and a daughter, Holly, and three grandchildren. All of the Fogels live in the Chicago area.
