Aspen Music Festival & School names Meghan Umber as Munroe President & CEO, from Oct 1
Meghan Umber (photo: Sam Comen)
(June 2026) — Alexandra Munroe, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Aspen Music Festival and School (AMFS), announced today that Meghan Martineau Umber has been named as the organization’s Munroe President and CEO, effective from October 1, 2026. Umber joins AMFS from the LA Phil, where she currently serves as President, Hollywood Bowl & Chief Programming Officer. Marking the seventh executive leader in AMFS’s 77-year history and the first woman in that role to date, she will succeed Alan Fletcher, who will transition to the position of President Emeritus after 21 years of transformational leadership.
Board Chair Alexandra Munroe led an extensive search process, conducted by a 13-member search committee that also comprised AMFS’s music director, trustees, faculty, and senior staff members. Umber, a pianist with a music degree from the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California, has provided strategic leadership at the LA Phil, guiding programming and media initiatives across all its venues. In her two decades with the organization, she partnered with Music and Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel to lead the curation and design of the LA Phil’s signature orchestral presentations, festivals, and projects at Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Hollywood Bowl. Working closely with Creative Director Esa-Pekka Salonen, Disney Hall architect Frank Gehry, and Dudamel, she co-created and executed some of today’s most innovative and influential productions. As a dedicated champion of emerging talent, she also managed the Dudamel Fellowship Conducting Program for 17 seasons, establishing it as one of the premier training grounds for conductors. She says:
“It is an honor to join the Aspen Music Festival and School, an organization renowned for providing transformative musical experiences for students and audiences alike in this exceptional setting. I also wish to acknowledge and congratulate Alan Fletcher on an extraordinary tenure and deeply impactful legacy. I am excited to collaborate with Robert Spano and the board, faculty, staff, and Aspen community to shape the next chapter of AMFS’s impact in the Roaring Fork Valley and around the world.”
Munroe comments:
“The Aspen Music Festival and School is a unique organization that sits at the intersection of the world’s leading orchestras, opera companies, and conservatories, giving it an unparallelled vantage point from which to present phenomenal artistic projects as well as imagine and nurture the vitality of classical music for our age. Meghan emerged as the resounding choice because of her exceptional leadership, her deep commitment to artistic excellence and education, and her ability to connect our mission to the broader world. Inspired by her deep love of music, she has forged impactful collaborations with musicians and artistic leaders, championed innovative approaches to audience and community engagement, and embraced new technologies to expand music’s reach across society. With Meghan at the helm as CEO, Aspen is poised to build on its remarkable legacy as a thought leader in the arts, advancing the belief that creativity can strengthen communities, deepen understanding, and help create a more connected and compassionate world.”
AMFS Wall Family Music Director Robert Spano says:
“We are tremendously excited to welcome someone so accomplished, respected, creative, collaborative, and committed as Meghan to the executive role at the AMFS. Our conversations with her in the process of seeking Alan’s successor have been exhilarating and inspire great confidence in Aspen’s future with Meghan in a leadership role. Especially gratifying is her keen interest in all aspects of the AMFS and its unique blending of presentation and education, a tradition fundamental to our identity.”
Umber steps into her role at a moment of strength for the institution and will steward its ongoing superlative artistic and educational work as well as spearheading initiatives to strengthen the organization, sustain vibrancy, deepen its commitment to excellence and access, nurture young artists, and provide imaginative leadership for the field. She will take charge of completing a major campaign to increase financial aid and unrestricted net assets, including raising capital to expand housing.
In so doing, she will build on the considerable accomplishments of Fletcher, who moves on to become President of the Advisory Board for the Arts. In his 21 years at Aspen, he oversaw a transformational redevelopment of the 38-acre Bucksbaum Campus into a world-class teaching and rehearsal space; the launch of the Aspen Opera Theater and VocalARTS program under the leadership of Renée Fleming and Patrick Summers; the appointment of Wall Family Music Director Robert Spano; the creation of myriad artistic and faculty relationships to ensure international artistic quality; and a significant expansion of music programs in local schools. Under Fletcher’s auspices, the organization grew from $14 million to $23 million, and its endowment from $43 million to $115 million. He leaves the organization in excellent artistic and financial shape, with a vibrant artistic community, sound financial footing, and the resources and vision needed to navigate successfully its next phase of growth and innovation.
About Meghan Umber
Meghan Umber joins the Aspen Music Festival and School as Munroe President and CEO, beginning October 1, 2026. Bringing with her a deep commitment to artistic excellence and to cultivating emerging voices, she looks forward to stewarding the organization’s celebrated summer festival; expanding its transformative learning opportunities for orchestral musicians, vocalists, composers, and conductors; and strengthening its connections with Colorado’s Roaring Fork Valley community through music.
Umber currently serves as the President, Hollywood Bowl and Chief Programming Officer for the LA Phil, which presents more than 300 events each year in three venues, serves 1.7 million Angelenos, and has a $210 million annual budget. In her present role, she provides strategic leadership across the institution, overseeing the stewardship of the Hollywood Bowl and The Ford, while guiding programming and media initiatives across all LA Phil venues.
Over more than two decades at the LA Phil, she has played a central role in shaping the organization’s hallmark innovative artistic identity. Recent highlights include the LA Phil’s Coachella debut; the release of Revolución Diamantina, its three-time Grammy-winning album of music by Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz; a landmark two-year John Williams spotlight; productions of Das Rheingold and Die Walküre, with sets designed by Frank Gehry; and a widely acclaimed production of Jesus Christ Superstar at the Hollywood Bowl. She also collaborated closely with the LA Phil’s board and orchestra leadership on a new generation of artistic appointments, including Daniel Harding as Music Director, Esa-Pekka Salonen as Creative Director, Anna Handler as Conductor-in-Residence, and Dudamel as Artistic and Cultural Laureate.
A dedicated champion of emerging talent, Umber managed the Dudamel Fellowship Conducting Program for 17 seasons, establishing it as one of the premier training grounds for conductors; alumni include Elim Chan, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, and Rafael Payare. She also leads the LA Phil’s renowned commissioning efforts and, in partnership with Creative Chair John Adams, has supported the work of composers including Ellen Reid, Gabriella Smith, Carlos Simon, and Nico Muhly. Under her leadership, the LA Phil launched the Hollywood Bowl internship program in partnership with Occidental College, offering hands-on training for aspiring arts leaders.
Having joined the LA Phil during the inaugural Walt Disney Concert Hall season in 2003–04, Umber has served the institution in multiple roles across programming and philanthropy. Currently a board member for the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus, she also guest lectures at organizations throughout the U.S., including the University of Southern California, Music Academy of the West, The Juilliard School, UCLA, and the League of American Orchestras.
A native of Minnesota, Umber earned her music degree from USC’s Thornton School of Music and spent her formative summers as an aspiring pianist at Interlochen Arts Camp. She is a cross-country skier, Ironman triathlete, and avid runner, who looks forward to moving to the Roaring Fork Valley with her husband and sharing the joy of the outdoors with their two young children.
About the Aspen Music Festival and School
Founded in 1949, the AMFS is the United States’ premier classical music center for performance and education, presenting more than 400 musical events during its eight-week summer season in Aspen. The organization draws top classical musicians from around the world for a rich combination of performances of orchestral works, opera, chamber music, recitals, contemporary music, works by new or previously unrecognized voices, popular genres, family events, and talks, competitions, and classes.
Around 500 music students from 40 U.S. states and 40 countries come to Aspen each summer to play in four orchestras, sing, conduct, compose, and study with more than 100 artist-faculty members who come from the orchestras of Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Dallas, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and leading conservatories and music schools like The Juilliard School, The Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, and The Colburn School. Students represent the field’s best talent; many have already begun their professional careers, and others are on the cusp.
The AMFS is deeply committed to community, and many events are free. Seating outside the Music Tent on the David Karetsky Music Lawn and in the Kaye Music Garden is always free. Regular livestreams are free anywhere in the world. The AMFS also runs popular music programs in-school and after-school at most schools in Colorado’s Roaring Fork Valley.
Renowned alumni include violinists Joshua Bell, Sarah Chang, Midori, Gil Shaham, and Robert McDuffie; pianists Joyce Yang, Orli Shaham, Conrad Tao, Yuja Wang, and Wu Han; conductors Marin Alsop, James Conlon, Leonard Slatkin, and Joshua Weilerstein; composers William Bolcom, Philip Glass, David Lang, Augusta Read Thomas, Bright Sheng, and Joan Tower; vocalists Isabel Leonard, Jamie Barton, Sasha Cooke, Danielle de Niese, Renée Fleming, Dawn Upshaw, and Tamara Wilson; cellist Alisa Weilerstein; guitarist Sharon Isbin; bassist Edgar Meyer; and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
The AMFS’s 2026 summer season will run from July 1 to August 23, 2026.