Dan Smith
David Wiley
Stirring Up Business at the RSO By Dan Smith Conductor David Wiley has a certain level of business acumen and he has used it to the fullest for 25 years. David Wiley has been at this conducting gig with the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra for 25 solid years now and in that time, he has developed the strong impression that music is good for business, as well as the savage breast. Music education—at all levels—is instrumental, so to speak, in helping with collaboration, conflict resolution and deep listening. All of those are necessary business skills, he insists and Wiley says “musicians learn from an early age that their training is great” for whatever their profession turns out to be. It is the “culture of a 70-member symphony orchestra” to have a common goal, to work with the conductor “in a collaborative spirit. Those are the qualities of leadership we try to model in a lifelong profession.”
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In a business climate, it is healthy, he says “to question assumptions.” Practically speaking, “We have to balance our budget, to live within our means, to grow artistically while living within that budget.” Meanwhile, as conductor and leader of the RSO, Wiley must work closely with a board of directors and to garner community support, closely watching endowment growth and ticket sales. During Covid, “we had to bridge some gaps.” He has developed a course for business leaders called “Conducting Change” (see it at davidstewartwiley.com). “We work with a business leadership team in an orchestra setting, which is modeled on leadership.” The leaders sit with members of the orchestra and are asked to equate their jobs with
