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Jessica Mallow
Executive Director, Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra
If you want to know how Jessica Mallow became
executive director of the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra at the tender age of 30, you have to start with her dad. When she was growing up in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, her father, Rick Mallow, would take the young Jessica to the symphony. “My father was the classical music lover in the family who took me to the symphony at a very young age and showed me what it's like to appreciate classical music and to be part of that,” she says. “If he hadn't been willing to purchase a ticket and send a young kid to see a performance like that, this would have never happened.” Mallow, a former professional opera singer, took the helm of the 84-member KSO in December, just in time to help usher in its 100th season this coming September. Mallow says the fact that the KSO is celebrating a birthday that’s 70 more years than she’s been on Earth is telling. “It's one of the reasons I was the most excited to come here,” she says. “You can't create the (continued on page 37)
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