Deborah Borda


Deborah Borda was the first woman who headed a major orchestra and is currently the president and chief executive officer of the New York Philharmonic.

Education

Borda was born on July 15, 1949 in New York. At the age of 12 her family moved to Boston.
She graduated from Bennington College with a BA in music in 1971, and studied at the Royal College of Music from 1972 till 1973.

Career

After graduation, Borda moved to Greenwich Villages and started to play as freelancer for ballet, Broadway shows and various orchestras. She was the assistant to the scheduling director of the Marlboro Music Festival in 1976.
She has previously served as executive director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, president and managing director of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and both general manager and artistic administrator of the San Francisco Symphony.
Borda is the first David C. Bohnett Presidential Chair of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association. This title stems from a $10 million endowment made by David Bohnett to the LA Phil in 2014, "in honor of Deborah Borda's continuing accomplishments with the Los Angeles Philharmonic."
During her time with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Borda oversaw the completion of the Walt Disney Concert Hall. and joined its board in 2010. Borda developed a strategic plan for the construction and financing of the hall, which ended in October 2003 at the opening ceremony.
Borda joined the Harvard Kennedy School’s Center for Public Leadership as a Leader-In-Residence in 2015, making her the first fine arts executive to join the center.
Previously with the New York Philharmonic for eight seasons as its executive director, Borda spent 17 years as the president and chief executive officer of the Los Angeles Philharmonic prior to returning to the New York Philharmonic in 2017.
In 2020 Borda launched the largest women-only commissioning initiative in history called Project 19. The project consists of 19 new works by 10 women composers.

Awards