Cedar Rapids checks all the boxes for Orchestra Iowa’s new CEO

CEDAR RAPIDS — Each piece of Eric Marshall’s artistic journey has been creating a crescendo toward his new role as Orchestra Iowa’s new chief executive officer.

From his earliest musical memories of carrying his father’s guitar to the church choir loft in Erie, Pa., to a degree in vocal performance from Mercyhurst University in that hometown, followed by a degree in business from Penn State, he’s been preparing for a career in arts administration.

First note on that ascending scale came with three years in patron services at the Erie Philharmonic, followed by eight years with the Austin Symphony Orchestra in various positions, then five years as executive director of the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra.

But when it came time for a more permanent place for Marshall and his wife, Colleen, to raise their young family, Cedar Rapids hit the highest notes.

“We loved our time in Baton Rouge, but I have a 7-year-old, a 4-year-old and a 1-year-old, and so we were getting to that transition point of wanting to find a long-term place for us to put down roots,” said Marshall, now 40, who began his new role July 1.

A trained opera singer, he and his wife, also an accomplished vocalist, met doing karaoke, and instead of a first dance at their wedding reception, they sang “The Prayer.” Marshall said that while he no longer has time to prepare for singing in an opera, he’ll still sing at church and in a karaoke spotlight. Among his go-to karaoke tunes are A-ha’s “Take On Me,” Billy Idol’s “Rebel Yell” and anything by Barry Manilow.

These days, he’s a fanilow of Cedar Rapids.

“We were being pretty picky about where we wanted to go, and this was no less than a home run as far as a place to raise a family. It was just immediately apparent when we got here — just to interview — about how great the community was, how everything’s just easier here,” he said.

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He’s especially thrilled by the support for the arts here, as well as the civic pride.

“People are unapologetically proud to be from Iowa, which is awesome. That does not exist everywhere,” he said.

He’s amazed by the people he’s encountered who said they were unsure about moving here, but once they got here, decided they’re never leaving. He agrees, citing the quality of education, the opportunities all around and the proximity to major markets.

“(Cedar Rapids) just checks off so many boxes,” he said.

Corridor venues

The Paramount Theatre — the orchestra’s home concert hall — also blew him away.

“You have so many modern concert halls which sound great, but they’re kind of devoid of personality. … But this thing is the exact opposite. You want to come in and just take pictures of everything. Everywhere you look, there’s just something to see. They don’t build them like that anymore. They really don’t.”

He’s also amazed by the herculean effort to restore the Paramount building after it was inundated by the 2008 floodwaters that nearly destroyed it.

“The idea that after the flood, they took the time, instead of just knocking it down and building a new one, but to spend the time and the resources to really bring that thing back to life, it’s a really special asset for the downtown,” he said.

He’s also awed by repurposing the adjoining space to house the Arts Iowa Ticket Office and Opus Concert Cafe on the first floor, the Orchestra Iowa School on the second floor, and the orchestra’s administrative offices on the third floor.

“I’m thankful to my predecessors who had that vision, taking a really bad flood and turning that into this space,” he said.

He’s also traveled to the south end of the Corridor, to check out the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts, as well as the University of Iowa’s Hancher Auditorium and the Voxman Music Building, all of which host Orchestra Iowa concerts and events.

Citing the rebranding from “Cedar Rapids Symphony” to “Orchestra Iowa” following the 2008 flood, he said: “The idea is that we are really the orchestra for this Corridor. We might be housed here in Cedar Rapids, but we are just as much Iowa City’s orchestra as we are Cedar Rapids’.”

Building audiences

Getting people into those south-end sites remains a challenge he’s ready to tackle.

“It’s kind of been treated as the Cedar Rapids Symphony performing in Iowa City,” Marshall said, “and that’s not what we’re really trying to do. We’re really trying to grow our presence so there's a lot of ownership within that community. …

“Every time we do a single concert, it always happens here. I would like to do one-off concerts that only happen there. Treat the two cities like this orchestra really does belong in both of those places, because we do. Half our musicians live in Iowa City, so we have a lot of ties to the community. We’re just not really getting that word out about that and letting the people know,” he said.

Challenges

Symphonies across the country are facing challenges, from financial concerns to bridging the generations. The immediate challenge for Orchestra Iowa, however, is fostering awareness, since Marshall has been meeting people here who don’t even know the orchestra exists.

“That's just the reality,” he said, adding the answer “comes down to us spending more time intentionally getting out into the community. We need to do a better job of … making sure that people know that we’re here and that we are the oldest professional arts organization in town. The people you see on stage, they’re all professional musicians. There are more degrees on that stage than you’re going to see anywhere else with what they do. They’re really, really good, and when people come, they’re really amazed.

“But audience growth is really important. We need to obviously start to bring in younger audiences, as well. We can do that by diversifying what we’re performing, where we’re performing, how we’re performing.”

Maestro Timothy Hankewich, 56, is thrilled with his new colleague.

“It’s great having someone who's younger, who has fresher ideas, has been closer to the industry than I have been,” Hankewich said. “When I came from Kansas City, I was very up-to-date on programming trends and artists and all that — and I’m still on top of that. But to have somebody who’s closer to the next generation is really important.

“My job is to bring my generation across the finish line,” Hankewich said, “to inspire them to become subscribers and inspire them to become supporters and donors as they get older. That is going to be a new generation soon, and so it’s great having him here.”

One of the success stories Marshall wants to bring from Baton Rouge to Cedar Rapids is an intimate candlelight concert experience, “where you put a string quartet in a room with 1,500 candles, and you make a really awesome Instagrammable moment,” he said.

The key was lowering the fear factor of serious music by pairing music from a pop artist and a classical artist, so audiences could hear something they recognize.

“And it gives the musicians a chance to speak,” he said. “So now you have the musicians in the room, and they’re telling the story. They’re not just these people on stage that walk out … and then leave. They’re going to interact with the audience a little bit. You’re going to get to know who they are, as well.”

Even though a similar event has been introduced at The Midnight Gem event venue in Swisher, Marshall said there’s room for more in this market. The company Fever, which stages candlelight concerts internationally, including Swisher, also presented concerts in Baton Rouge.

The Baton Route Symphony Orchestra’s Concerts with Candles sold out in a day or two each time, Marshall said. The local factor is a selling point. “It’s just like, ‘Can we have two restaurants? Can you have two bars?’ Of course. There’s enough room here for us both to do things.”

The big event he’s looking forward to in the coming season is designed to unite the masses: having Orchestra Iowa perform the score to “Field of Dreams” while the movie shows on the big screen at the Cedar Rapids Kernels’ baseball stadium. A double-header is slated for 2 and 7 p.m. June 7, with fireworks following the evening event.

“It terrifies me from a production standpoint,” he admitted. “Hopefully, the weather gods will look favorably on us those days. But from just a pure excitement of doing something that’s just never been done before, that’s pretty exciting.”

Indoors, he’s eagerly anticipating the season opener, “A Night on the Town,” featuring the music of Leonard Bernstein and George Gershwin on Sept. 14 and 15.

“When I was singing opera, I was singing a lot of contemporary American opera. That was kind of my niche. So I have a soft spot for that music,” he said.

And as for that other great generational unifier — Brucemorchestra, which back-to-back rainouts shuttered in 2022 — Marshall grinned and said: “I’m a never-say-never kind of guy.” Since he keeps hearing about the popularity of that longtime season opener on the front lawn of Brucemore mansion, “I think we have to look at it again,” he said, by exploring ways to make it more financially viable.

“If this is something the community wants, who can help put this on? Is there a way to scale it differently? We can still put on a really good production,” he said, “but have it not cost a million dollars.”

Comments: (319) 368-8508; diana.nollen@thegazette.com