Colby Magazine profiles Chief Operating Officer Susan Stucker
Colby Magazine profiles NJSO Chief Operating Officer Susan Stucker, a Colby graduate who has held several positions of increasing responsibility and leadership within the NJSO since she joined the organization in 1989.
When as a sophomore Susan Stucker ’89 agreed to manage the Colby Symphony Orchestra, she didn’t know she was setting the course for her entire career.
Stucker is chief operating officer for the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. She joined the organization a couple of months after graduation and has been with it ever since—with no regrets and no lack of work to do.“Planning the season, hiring guest artists, being responsible for the players, getting the music together, making sure the piano is tuned,” she said. “Lots of details to take care of.”
That’s an understatement. The NJSO has six venues in the state, smaller roving ensembles, an active youth orchestra, an education program that works with area schools (violin instruction is a priority), notable guest conductors and musicians, and relationships with area universities, including Princeton’s. “I’m never bored at my job,” Stucker said.
In fact, she says, she’s loved every minute ...
Stucker wants the audience to feel close to the players, a recent trend in symphonies called “raising the invisible curtain.” Her orchestra offers a short introduction to the music from the stage, and musicians answer questions from concertgoers at intermission. Some concertgoers are musically sophisticated, she said, and others are at the symphony for the first time. “They ask basic questions,” Stucker said. “What was that instrument next to the bassoon. The really big one?” (Answer: contrabassoon).
It’s all part of making the symphony accessible, finding fun ways to present and interpret music—and not just Mahler and Brahms.
Last year the symphony did a Beatles concert to mark the 50th anniversary of the group’s appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. The audience was invited to come to the hall early to sing Beatles tunes. Stucker—who in addition to managing the Colby orchestra was a Colbyette and a member of the Colby Chorale—made sure to be there.
“Do you know we had close to three hundred people come?” she said. “It was amazing. We sang a dozen Beatles songs. We had lyrics sheets for those that wanted them, and had to run off more because more people showed up than anticipated. It was just a joyous moment.”
Stucker helped found the NJSO’s youth-orchestra program and was its manager for five years, building key relationships with the community and the musicians of the NJSO. She became the NJSO’s Assistant Orchestra Manager in 1991, Orchestra Manager in 1993, General Manager in 2000 and Vice President of Operations & General Manager in 2002. She has been a passionate advocate for the Orchestra’s education and community engagement initiatives and for the NJSO’s philosophy of collaborative culture.