Quite often, guest artists at an Oregon Symphony will play an encore and announce that piece from the stage without the aid of a microphone; sometimes they’ll plunge into the piece without saying anything at all. Now and then I know the encore, but more often than not, I have to ask someone what the heck was played. Take, for example, Eugène Ysaÿe’s Sonata No. 3 (“Ballade”), which violinist James Ehnes brilliantly played as an encore when he appeared with the OSO in March of 2024. I barely know how to pronounce Ysaÿe. Well, my go-to ace for such questions is Clement So, the orchestra’s Director of Classical Programming. He has helped me numerous times to get the composer and the piece. 

Besides helping me with an occasional question, I had to find out what the Oregon Symphony’s Director of Programming does. When I see So at concerts – usually in the balcony area near a door that leads to the backstage area – he is either surveying the situation onstage or surveying the audience or both. As with Concertmaster Sarah Kwak, you might be tempted to think that he has an extra set of antenna in the back of his head.

To find out more, I contacted So, and we met over Zoom. Here is our conversation – edited for clarity.

Oregon ArtsWatch: I image that you spend a lot of time with spreadsheets containing dates, artists, and all sorts of works – symphonies, concertos, fanfares – and artist fees.

Clement So: Yes, I typically look at spreadsheets and calendars many times each day. It’s a bit of the dark arts how every program comes together! 

I determine the pieces that the orchestra will perform, when we perform, which guest conductors and artists we perform with, all the details of their contracts – and combine everything into each concert that makes up a season. And after I’ve created the programs, I work with the operations and production teams to put on the show. I’m like the party planner. I try to combine all the elements together to make a wonderful experience for the audience.

Music Director David Danzmayr is a partner and co-creator in all this. We do this programming together. We think a lot about our audience and what it would enjoy. It’s all about the live performance, the concert experience, the sharing of music.

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OAW: How much in advance do you have to plan?

So: For our classical music series, we plan at least two years out. That is pretty standard for orchestras of our level and size. That’s partly driven by the season announcement and tickets going on sale to subscribers. But many of the conductors and soloists that we hire are in high demand around the world. They can get booked years in advance. That’s the level of artists that we bring to Oregon. 

OAW: All that planning – but sometimes there’s a cancellation.

So: Cancellations are more common than I would like them to be. There are so many reasons that they happen: Weather has become a big factor. Portland has had snowstorms and ice storms that have interrupted carefully planned events. Sickness, travel delays and visa delays are some other common reasons. 

When a cancellation happens, I get on the phone with a lot of artists’ managers and find out if another artist can get here, what repertoire they can play. I’m also talking to my colleagues about how we can pivot quickly, if we have to change the program. So there’s a lot of contingency planning. You have to think immediately of ten different ways to find a solution. 

OAW: And remaining calm?

So: Remaining calm is a good mantra for anyone who does this job! We always find a way, because the show must go on, as they say. Our orchestra is also made up of such wonderful human beings that they understand these unexpected things and are flexible and are such excellent musicians that they can quickly adapt to the situation and play a piece that we didn’t originally schedule for them.

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OAW: When did you start working for the Oregon Symphony, and how did you learn how to do this job?

So: I started at the beginning of the 2022-2023 season. My previous job before Oregon was with the San Diego Symphony, doing a very similar role. I was there for five years, which included the pandemic. Before that I was at the 92^nd Street Y in New York City, working in their concert series for eleven years. I started there in a junior position and kept working my way up. I did programming and producing of concerts, mostly chamber music, recitals, jazz and American Songbook. 

Many people don’t know that the 92^nd Street Y is actually a YMHA – Young Men’s Hebrew Association. In addition to its concert hall, it’s an all-around cultural and community center with lots of programs in other artistic genres, as well as education programs, a fitness center, nursery and a senior center. Many of the greatest musicians have performed there over the years. 

I’ve learned to do my current job through all these other jobs – it’s on-the-job training. I’ve had wonderful mentors who have guided me and given good advice.

OAW: When did you start studying music?

So: I’ve played piano since I was six years old. Then I picked up cello as a teenager. So, music has always been part of my life. I sang in choirs, played in orchestras and did a lot of collaborative piano. At college, my degree was in musicology. This was at Yale. I’m a certified music nerd! 

While at Yale, I got the conducting bug and I took conducting lessons. I was lucky that Yale was a very rich, educational opportunity – especially for anyone interested in the arts. Some of the residential colleges there have chamber orchestras that are run by the undergrads. I got to conduct and run one of the orchestras, which was called the Berkeley College Orchestra. It’s still going strong and quite a few of the people I’ve met through this group are still professional musicians, or work in the field. 

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So as an undergrad I started to learn the process of programming, conducting, and doing everything to put together a concert. I had to do auditions, music rental, library, making posters, setting up chairs, schlepping the timpani — we did everything.  That’s when I realized that I was pretty good at organizing, putting things together, running things, and understanding what goes on behind the scenes – what you need to do to put on a successful concert. 

That’s when I realized that I might be able to make a living on the administration side of the business. After I graduated, I wanted to get my feet wet in a real job in the real world. I had some internships along the way, so I had some preparation and training. I applied to practically any entry-level job that I could find in the music business. That’s how I ended up at the 92^nd Street Y. 

OAW: Did you have a mentor?

So: Yes, Hanna Arie-Gaifman. She ran the music and literature program at the 92^nd Street Y for many years. She was my boss when I was there. She was a passionate lover of art and culture; she had a previous career as a university professor. From her I learned about the wider context of what music can mean – and how it connects to culture, history, visual arts, literature. 

I wanted to keep growing and have different experiences in my career. So when the job at San Diego Symphony came up, I applied for it and that’s how I started working for orchestras and moved to the West Coast. 

OAW: Regarding planning, I noticed that the orchestra recently performed Rachmaninoff’s Second Symphony, but it had been performed just a year ago.

So: The last time we had programmed it, three out of four concerts had to be cancelled because of a snowstorm. Only the Monday night performance could be done, and only a handful of people attended. So we wanted to program it again and make up for all those missed concerts – and let our audience get to finally hear this gorgeous piece!

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OAW: It looks like the new schedule dropping the Monday night performances is going well.

So: A majority of the audience seem to be happy with the new schedule. Some of what I’ve noticed is that the audience is younger. 

We were one of very few orchestras that still had a regular Monday night concert. A lot of guest artists typically want to travel on a Monday to get to their next concert – especially if they are flying to Europe and the time difference is really not in their favor.

OAW: What you do is kind of like a complicated jigsaw puzzle. 

So: You could say that it’s like that! Or 3-dimensional chess or Tetris. The details really matter – you have to get all of it to fit together to make the best experience for our audience.

Another complication is the logistics of how things work on stage. I did some theater and opera when I was younger and I developed a sense of these things, including stage crew lingo. But I get to work with colleagues who are the real experts in production and stagecraft. I have to give a shout out to them for making everything work like magic even in a relatively small area on stage and backstage. 

OAW: Do you have any hobbies?

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So: I love cooking and food – trying new recipes. If I weren’t in music, I would love one of those jobs where you get to eat and travel the world and talk about that!