Two New Magnificat Board Members

by Dominique Pelletey, Managing Director, Magnificat

As we enter our 17th Season, Magnificat is pleased to welcome two new Board members. Nicholas Elsishans will be taking over for John Golenski as president and Shane Gasbarra has been installed as our new treasurer. Both joined the Board of Directors of Magnificat on July 19, 2008.

Nicholas, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer at The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and Executive Board member of Grace Cathedral of San Francisco . Nicholas assumes the position of President of the Board and brings to this position a long history of Board and Executive level leadership experience in major organizations throughout the Bay Area. Nicholas’ passion for the music of Magnificat stems from his own extensive training as a keyboard performer and scholar at the Juilliard School in New York and the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

For the past three seasons, Shane was Director of Artistic and Music Administration for the San Francisco Opera. He held a similar position with the Houston Opera before moving to San Francisco. Shane studied Classics at Yale, where he also studied oboe and piano. He received his Ph.D. in Renaissance studies from Yale and subsequently held teaching posts there as well as at Princeton and the University of Michigan, where his academic areas included Renaissance comparative literature, intellectual history, and visual arts; poetic theory; and the classical tradition.

"We are extremely pleased to have Nicholas and Shane on board for the upcoming season," said Magnifict Artistic Director Warren Stewart. "Each brings a blend of artistic, academic, and business perspective to Magnificat at a very exciting time in our development."