10 minutes with...Chad Smith
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THE BSO’S CEO SPEAKS ON TANGLEWOOD, BOSTON, AND THE BERKSHIRES
Spring 2026
When Chad Smith was chosen as the new CEO of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) in 2023, his return to Massachusetts was both a professional milestone and a cultural homecoming. After earning his undergraduate degree in European History at Tufts University and proving his artistic acumen at New England Conservatory's graduate vocal performance program, Smith spent more than two decades at the Los Angeles Philharmonic, ultimately serving as CEO after rising through six roles. Smith now serves as President and CEO of the BSO. Along with the BSO, he oversees the Boston Pops and Tanglewood with the perspective of a conservatory-trained musician and a seasoned institutional leader. As of last year, that leadership role now extends beyond the walls of Symphony Hall and the Shed: Smith has also played a pivotal role in strengthening regional collaboration through the Berkshire Arts and Culture Alliance (BACA), a coalition of ten major Berkshire cultural organizations formed to advocate for shared economic and infrastructure priorities. While speaking with Berkshire Magazine, Smith reflected on his return to Boston, the intensity and magic of Tanglewood, and the long-term vision of welcoming new generations into the evolving world of music.
Chad, how does it feel to be back in Boston and the Berkshires? I was born and raised in Pennsylvania—but I feel like I’m an adopted Bostonian. When I finished high school in Gettysburg and moved to Boston to go to Tufts and New England Conservatory, I felt like I had found my place, and I fell in love with the city. Boston is not only one of the cradles of liberty and of American history, but it has such a remarkable cultural and intellectual community. My eyes and ears were totally opened. I remember
the first time I walked across the street to go to Symphony Hall and heard the Boston Symphony play. Seiji Ozawa was music director at that point. It imprinted on me in a pretty important way. The Boston Symphony became the sound of an orchestra for me, and Symphony Hall was what a hall was supposed to look like—and I carried that with me.
I moved away for work, first to Miami, working for a small orchestra there, and then to the Los Angeles Philharmonic, where I was for 22 years. I had six different jobs over the course of 22 years, the last being CEO. It was a way for me to see how transformation within an organization happens, how leadership drives that transformation, and how mission- and arts-focused work is so broadly impactful. When the opportunity to become CEO of the BSO presented itself, something in me resonated. My partner and I had been in LA for a long time, and while it was my home, there was something powerful about the opportunity of running the Boston Symphony, and running it at this time.
So, we picked up and moved here. Boston is familiar—the streets, the architecture—but the city has changed. The academic community has changed, the research community is vibrant, the BSO has changed, and its relationship with the city has changed. For me, it’s like reading a novel after 20 years. It’s the same words, but its meaning is different.
When I walked onto the campus at Tanglewood for the first time, it was a strange feeling, because the last time I had really spent a summer there, I was a student—performing on the Ozawa stage, doing recitals, singing contemporary works. To come back and be running this institution with so much history, but with a real eye to the future— for me, it was homecoming, certainly, but also a powerful sense of possibility.
You mentioned that you were excited about coming to Boston “at this time.” What was so exciting about this moment for Boston and Tanglewood, and how does it influence your goals for your tenure? This is a moment where major legacy arts institutions like the Boston Symphony and Tanglewood have this opportunity to engage very different expectations. There’s a desire within this community for our organization to serve deeply, but also serve differently: connect with the intellectual community, connect with the academic community, connect with other cultural institutions, and think about how institutions can do something that they can’t do alone. That’s what excites me: How does the BSO fit into this community of organizations and institutions?
Because this is Berkshire Magazine, can you compare your understanding of Tanglewood
as a student with your understanding of Tanglewood now, in this role? There’s always been this phrase, “It’s summer camp for the BSO.” But for me, my ten weeks of running the Tanglewood Festival each year is the busiest ten weeks that I have in my calendar. It is extraordinary, because we are giving 30 to 40 concerts per week. Our campus is a totalof 400 acres. We have tens of thousands of people who are coming onto our campus every weekend. Those are people that I am meeting as donors. Those are people I’m meeting as artists. In my role as CEO, I spend a lot of time in artist development and artist engagement, but I’m also with boards and trustees.
Everybody in my industry loves coming to Tanglewood in the summer. Other arts leaders and philanthropists come to Tanglewood because it is such a special place.
So, my ten weeks are exhausting and awesome. But luckily, my partner and I have a house on the campus. I always joke it’s a little bit like a parish house. The good news is I can roll out of bed and be at a meeting in ten minutes, driving my little golf cart. The bad news? I’m always on.
But I love the summer in the Berkshires. And my partner and I always try to spend one or two weeks in September after the season just being in that beautiful community, to do everything that everyone else does all summer long:go to great restaurants, go to MASS MoCA and the Clark. My partner went to Williams and I went to Tufts, so we usually go up and watch the Tufts–Williams soccer game. We do those things that make the Berkshires so special, but that we rarely get to experience, because we are so busy at Tanglewood. So, to answer your questions, for me, that was a big learning curve—to realize just how intense ten weeks are. Every meal is accounted for. It’s breakfast with donors or media, and lunches with artists—it’s intense.
You had tremendous success with YOLA (Youth Orchestra Los Angeles). What are you bringing to the BSO and Tanglewood in that arena? The BSO’s summer program at Tanglewood includes the Tanglewood Music Center, which is arguably the finest pre-professional training program for classical musicians in the world. I say that with humility. It’s a true center of excellence. If you go hear the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra on Monday nights, you are literally hearing the future of music. It’s an incredibly diverse group. Every Monday night, you hear them play at a level that is mind- boggling. And for the kids— students, the fellows—they’re getting to work with the greatest
conductors. The conducting roster that conducts the Tanglewood Music Center on Monday nights—to say nothing of the weekend concerts—is arguably one of the finest rosters of conductors of any orchestra in the world. They’re working with an extraordinary roster
of conductors, and that’s just Monday nights!
It’s been going on for 75 years, but that’s the top of the pyramid. It’s also how are we, as an institution, welcoming musicians in those formative early times into arts and culture One program we do— and have been doing for five decades—is “Days in the Arts.” Every summer, we host kids from across the Berkshires from public schools to come and do a one-week residency on the Tanglewood campus, with multi-arts classes and other work. We do the same thing in Boston with kids from inner- city schools, with a week-long immersion camp called “Days in the Arts Boston.” This is the way that we’re welcoming people who might not have imagined that this world even existed, or that they were welcome in it.
The BSO’s strategic planning process was recently completed, which outlines a new mission, vision, and value statement, and strategic pillars and investment areas. One of the big strategic investment areas is our education and community programs. We created an Education Task Force that is looking at where the BSO can be true value-add in ensuring we are giving the greatest access to classical music and music to the broadest possible audiences, particularly young people. You’ll hear much more on that in the next 12 to 18 months.
What makes a great Tanglewood season? How do you judge the season’s success at the end of the summer? The first way to judge whether we’ve had a successful season is to take a sample of 20 people who came to Tanglewood and ask what their favorite concert was. If I get 20 different answers, that’s a great season! When the answers are different, it means
we were programming in a way that allowed for so many different people to have that singular experience. If everyone picks the same concert, less so. We have to be presenting a diversity of artists who tell different stories across various musical forms. I want people to NOT agree on what their favorite concert was. That’s success.
A second marker of success is revenues, of course, but it is the stories that we tell coming out of the season that matter more. Are people excited for next year? Do they plan their year around coming to Tanglewood? It moves beyond the transaction.
Lastly, but perhaps most important: If I am inspiring our musicians and inspiring our staff to create a space which centers on hospitality—and we model hospitality at the very highest level—then I’m doing a good job because that is the reason people come back to Tanglewood. It’s not transactional, it’s experiential. We want people to be valued as individuals, valued as creatives, valued as lovers of music and of a beautiful campus. That’s a big indicator of our success.
Last but not least: what’s on your playlist? That’s a great question. I listen to music all the time. I live in the Back Bay and I’m able to walk to work—and that’s when I don’t listen to music. That’s when I do a lot of really good thinking. The cold wind keeps my brain firing. But when I do listen, I have an in-home studio where I go—it’s my library—and I have scores, and I try to spend a lot of time on Saturday listening to refresh myself for the repertoire that the orchestra is going to be playing. But I go down rabbit holes, too.
I’m a huge reader and a historian. So, right now, I’m really interested in Renaissance painting, particularly from Siena. But I will simultaneously listen to Renaissance music. On the pop side, I listen to a lot. I am a huge pop music fan. One of my joys in Los Angeles was running the Hollywood Bowl. So, I could hear Gustavo do an amazing Beethoven Nine on a Thursday night, Dolly Parton on a Friday night, and contemporary electronic on Sunday night. My taste is eclectic. That’s part of the thing I love about Tanglewood: A wide range of artists that are filling out a musical tapestry. And that is the Tanglewood season every summer! — Dr. Joshua Sherman
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