Replacing Ewers will be a difficult challenge

The announcement last week that Anne Ewers was leaving her position as CEO of Utah Symphony & Opera took a lot of people by surprise — including me.

Not that I for a minute thought Ewers would stay here indefinitely. I always believed she would leave at some point after the symphony/opera merger was on solid ground if she was offered the right job. And the right job turns out to be the same position with the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia.

Heading up the Kimmel Center is a huge step up for Ewers, who arrived in Utah 16 years ago to become the general director of Utah Opera after founder Glade Peterson's death. Kimmel was the proverbial offer that couldn't be refused.

The center owns and manages the most important venues in Philadelphia, including the Verizon Center. In addition, it oversees eight performing-arts organizations, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, the Opera Company of Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania Ballet, among others.

Ewers, who comes from an opera background, will be able to have her hand in all the performing arts.

Heading a united opera/symphony organization, which is unique in the world of performing arts (there are still only a handful of combined organizations in the country), undoubtedly played a part in her being chosen for the Kimmel job.

Also, and perhaps more important, Ewers' fund-raising skills were cited by Kimmel chairman William P. Hankowsky, as a major factor in her favor. But in Philadelphia, Ewers will have her work cut out for her. Her fund-raising talents will be severely put to the test.

The Kimmel Center opened in December 2001 and is currently operating to the tune of nearly $30 million in the red, left over from its construction. That's a far cry from US&O's $1.8 million deficit of three years ago. (US&O is now over $300,000 in the black.)

To turn things around, the Kimmel Center board has been trying to raise $100 million in some form of combined debt reduction and endowment.

It's going to take all of Ewers' skills to be actively involved in bringing the center into the black while not compromising the high artistic standards of the center, which brings in all the top performers in classical music, jazz and pop, and also Broadway shows.

It's an unenviable position, and how Ewers tackles the problems that will face her when she takes over as president and CEO of the center on July 9 will be telling. Kimmel isn't a small organization like US&O, but a world-class operation. I wish her well.