Aspen Music Festival Names Meghan Martineau Umber New President and CEO

What happens to the soul of a cultural institution when the person holding the keys changes? It’s a question locals in the valley have been asking since Alexandra Munroe, chair of the board of trustees, stepped up to the microphone on Wednesday to announce that Meghan Martineau Umber is the seventh president and CEO of the Aspen Music Festival and School.

It’s not just a title change. It’s a shift in how this jewel box of an institution will breathe, how it will spend its millions, and how it will connect with the rest of us who don’t necessarily live in the rarified air of the festival grounds. Umber comes from the Los Angeles Philharmonic, where she served as president of the Hollywood Bowl and chief programming officer, a role that put her in the thick of Gustavo Dudamel’s innovative productions and Frank Gehry’s concert halls. She’s been there for two decades, curating the kind of art that doesn’t just sit on a stage but moves through the community, touching people in ways that feel both immediate and enduring.

You can feel the weight of that history in her selection. The search committee, led by Munroe and including music directors, trustees, faculty, and senior staff, didn’t just look for a manager. They looked for someone who could bridge the gap between the elite precision of a conservatory and the messy, beautiful reality of public engagement. Umber, a pianist with a degree from the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California, fits that bill. She co-created some of the field’s most influential productions, working closely with Dudamel and Creative Director Esa-Pekka Salonen, while also managing the Dudamel Fellowship Conducting Program for seventeen seasons. That’s not just administrative skill. That’s deep, lived-in knowledge of what it takes to make music matter.

“The opportunity of leading AMFS is the dream opportunity,” Umber told The Aspen Times. “It is such an amazing jewel box of a school, with this extraordinary festival that they put on. It’s the perfect alignment of both my dream job opportunity and also the dream locale for me and the family. It’s everything for us.”

She’s moving to Aspen with her family this summer or fall, ready to start on October 1. But before you picture her sipping wine on the patio of the Wheeler Opera House, consider what she’s leaving behind. In Los Angeles, she didn’t just oversee budgets; she shaped the cultural identity of a city. She championed emerging talent, expanded music’s reach across society, and embraced new technologies to connect with audiences who might never step foot in a concert hall otherwise. That’s the kind of outreach that matters here, too, where the festival can sometimes feel like a gated community rather than a shared resource.

Alan Fletcher, the outgoing CEO, will transition to President Emeritus, a title that honors his tenure without implying he’s stepping entirely out of the picture. But the focus is squarely on Umber now, on how she’ll carry the torch. Munroe noted that Umber was chosen for her commitment to artistic excellence and education, but also for her ability to connect AMFS’s mission with broader outreach that expands beyond Aspen, and even beyond the country. “In Meghan, we have a new CEO committed to Aspen’s place as a thought leader for the arts as the driving force of a more empathetic, connected and creative future for all,” Munroe said.

It’s a big promise. And it’s one that will be tested not just in the grand halls of the festival, but in the classrooms, in the community outreach programs, and in the way the institution interacts with the rest of us who live here year-round. You can feel the anticipation in the air, a quiet hum that’s different from the usual summer noise. It’s the sound of something new beginning, something that might just change how we see our own town.

The leaves are already starting to turn on the aspen trees, their golden wings catching the late afternoon light, casting long shadows across the pavement. It’s a reminder that seasons change, and so do the people who lead us through them. Umber is coming, and with her, a new chapter for the music that defines this place.