Giuliano Kornberg Photo by Aniko Kiezel
Passing The Baton SACRAMENTO PHILHARMONIC & OPERA WELCOMES NEW LEADERSHIP
G
iuliano Kornberg’s excitement is palpable. After five years as the Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera’s go-to fundraiser, Kornberg has stepped into the role of executive director.
JL By Jessica Laskey Meet Your Neighbor
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“I’m incredibly fortunate,” Kornberg says of his selection to succeed Alice Sauro, a fellow Minnesota native who helped the organization reach new heights during her nearly seven-year tenure. “The board could have looked for a more experienced person—I’m only 28—but I had the very lucky combination of knowing people, being here for five years and having a really supportive boss, organization, staff and board. I’m so honored, it’s really humbling.” Kornberg started his journey with the symphony and opera at 23 as a part-time fundraiser in 2016 after earning his
bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Stanford. A percussion musician since childhood, Kornberg decided as an undergrad to pursue music instead of political science. He dove into playing, composing and conducting before earning his master’s in music, science and technology. Once he realized arts administration was the perfect marriage of his love of music and organization, he interned with the San Francisco Opera to “see what it was like to work for an arts organization with an $80 million budget,” he says. After the internship, plus a training program through the
League of American Orchestras, he sent out emails to arts organizations to find his next position. Sauro wrote back and invited Kornberg to interview for a fundraising position. The organization had recently completed a merger to ameliorate the financial struggles of the Sacramento Philharmonic and Sacramento Opera brought on by the 2008 recession. Kornberg moved to Midtown and hit the ground running. It didn’t take long for his youthful enthusiasm and strong work ethic to bump Kornberg into the position of chief revenue and development officer in
