Chris Lorway will be the next new executive director of Stanford Live and Bing Concert Hall, succeeding Wiley Hausam, who resigned last summer. Lorway is the founding artistic director of Toronto’s internationally recognized Luminato Festival. The Canadian-born administrator’s last position was director of programming for the Corporation of Massey Hall and Roy Thomson Hall.
When he left Luminato in 2012, the Toronto Star quoted his advice to his successor: “Shake things up as much as possible, always push the envelope and seize wonderful opportunities. Don’t back away from any risk.”
The Stanford announcement says Lorway will assume the position in late summer, as the fifth season of Stanford Live begins. In the four years of the organization, Lorway is the third director, after Hausam and Jenny Bilfield, who oversaw the transition from Stanford Lively Arts to Stanford Live.
Leslie Hume, co-chair of the Stanford Live Advisory Council, and Stephen M. Sano, chair of the Department of Music at Stanford, served as co-chairs of the search committee.
Hume said: “As Stanford Live approached its fifth season, we sought leadership with a long-term vision. A compelling depth and breadth of experience in performing arts presentation, an excitement about exploring an expansive diversity of music and a creative approach to engaging new audiences were key criteria.
“Given the social, cultural and geographic setting of Stanford Live and Bing Concert Hall at the heart of Silicon Valley, we also knew that the next director needed to be at home in an innovative university environment and committed to strengthening connections between the campus and the broader community. We found all of those qualities in Chris Lorway, and look forward to welcoming him to the uniquely creative setting of Stanford University.”
Before creating and heading Luminato, Lorway was a senior consultant at AEA Consulting in New York, specializing in financial modeling and capital project planning. Clients included the Edinburgh Festivals, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and the West Kowloon Cultural District.
He also has worked on a number of major international festivals including the Lincoln Center Festival and the New Yorker Festival, and was part of the founding team of the Celtic Colours International Festival in Nova Scotia.