Former theatre boss to head up Orchestra of the Swan

 ZOË CURNOW will take the helm as executive director of Orchestra of the Swan, succeeding DEBBIE JAGLA this April, who departs the chamber orchestra organisation after nine years.

Executive director of the Minack Theatre Trust until 2024, Curnow is currently a freelance cultural sector consultant. Previously, she held roles including head of operations at St Michael’s Mount for St Aubyn Estates, chief executive of Haymarket Theatre, Basingstoke, and general manager at Mercury Theatre, Colchester. 

She is also a trustee at Trebah Garden Trust and a governor at Humphry Davy School.

The orchestra said that Curnow stood out from “a strong field” due to her “experience, insights, strategic thinking, and perspectives on the worlds of music and the wider arts”. 

”This is a pivotal and exciting moment for the orchestra, as our reputation as an innovative, high-quality force within the sector continues to grow and flourish,” said artistic director DAVID LE PAGE. “I am confident that Zoë will build creatively and dynamically on the strong foundations established by Debbie over the past eight years.”

Curnow said she was “excited” to join the ensemble, adding: “This role fuses my professional experience leading and mentoring performing arts charities with my love of orchestral music.”

Jagla, who has led the organisation since 2017, called it “a challenge and a joy” to steer the orchestra through hurdles including Covid, digital transformation, the decline in music education provision in state schools and “the deepening crisis in funding for the arts in our country”.

“I leave behind a thriving, nimble chamber orchestra led by a hugely creative artistic director, with a national and international reach, that brings enormous joy to an extensive community across the Midlands,” she said.