BACK STORY encore
Maria Schneider Director of Operations The Gilmore
For 19 days, audiences at the Irving S. Gilmore International Keyboard Festival will be enthralled by the artists they see in the 70 performances at 20 venues across the region. But will they think about how quiet the wrappers are on the 10,000 cough drops available for audience members to stifle coughs? Will they consider the coordination needed to bring dozens of expensive Steinway pianos from New York and Detroit to Kalamazoo for the festival? Will they make note that most every performer has towels on stage with them? Probably not, but Maria Schneider sure will. “Anything that has to do with the performances falls right in my area,” she says, describing her job. And she means anything. From finding lost luggage for a performer to making sure microphones are placed correctly to, yes, ordering cough drops in bulk, Schneider and a small team organize the million details of the festival’s logistics.
Brian Powers
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