Apollo’s Fire welcomes David Walker as Managing Director
GRAMMY-winning baroque orchestra Apollo’s Fire is pleased to announce the appointment of David Walker as Managing Director. Mr. Walker will partner with Founder and Artistic Director Jeannette Sorrell and will be the organization’s administrative leader, strategizing and directing initiatives for fundraising and audience growth, financial management, external relations, and board governance and development. Mr. Walker was hired after a 5-month national search process with Aspen Leadership Group.
With an international career as a baroque countertenor, Mr. Walker has performed at such places as the Metropolitan Opera and with many of the top opera houses and orchestras across the United States and Europe. As an arts administrator, he most recently served as General and Artistic Director of the Palm Beach Opera, where he demonstrated exemplary financial, administrative, artistic, and strategic management. He brings both a deep love of baroque music and a proven record of visionary leadership.
“It is a great privilege to work with this internationally recognized orchestra and chorus. For decades, I have admired Apollo’s Fire and the important work of Founding Artistic Director Jeannette Sorrell, and this feels as though I am ‘coming home’ to my original Baroque performing roots. I am eager to work with the board of directors, Ms. Sorrell, the entire team, and the Apollo’s Fire family to bring this vital organization to even greater heights.”
Board Chair Charles Bittenbender said, “We are delighted to have found David, whose extensive leadership experience in arts management is a great asset for Apollo’s Fire. Having grown to an over $3-million organization, we now need a highly sophisticated arts-management leader, and David is exactly that. We are happy to welcome such a qualified individual with a passion for our work.”
Founding Artistic Director Jeannette Sorrell noted that Walker also has a deep and personal understanding of baroque music. “David had an international career as a baroque countertenor, performing at a high level. He understands our art form from the inside. This is so helpful in an organization like ours. With 28 sold-out concerts this past season in Northeast Ohio and Chicago, Apollo’s Fire is poised for exciting growth; and David is the perfect person to lead us into that new chapter. I’m thrilled that he will bring his business, fundraising, and leadership expertise as we prepare for 2026 – including a return to Carnegie Hall and a 3-concert residency in London at St Martin-in-the Fields.”
BIOGRAPHY OF MR. DAVID WALKER
Following an 18-year operatic career with some of the most prestigious opera houses and orchestra around the world, David Walker is now one of the country’s leading arts administrators.
He has extensive experience managing successful fundraising and marketing campaigns, as well as strategic and financial initiatives, for arts organizations across the country, most recently as General and Artistic Director of Palm Beach Opera. During his 9-year tenure with the opera, he raised over $40 million in contributed income; spearheaded the marketing strategies leading to 900+ new ticket-buying households in both of his last two seasons; increased the quality and reputation of the company’s artistic production and young artist training; expanded its free education and community engagement activities; and led the organization’s diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
Within the first nine months of COVID, Mr. Walker also received international recognition for his strategic planning of producing full-scale, outdoor performances for audiences reaching 800 attendees, being one of the first performing arts organizations in the country to do so at that time.
Prior to Palm Beach Opera, Walker served as Director of Development at North Carolina Opera and in development and marketing positions with the Glimmerglass Festival and Sarasota Opera. He is a frequent guest lecturer on the business of performing arts and often serves on vocal competition adjudicating panels, including the Metropolitan Opera Laffont National Council Auditions – a competition he himself won in 1998.
Prior to his arts administration career, Walker performed as a countertenor soloist throughout North America, Europe, Australia, and Russia, appearing with the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Chicago Lyric Opera, the English National Opera in England, the Academy of Ancient Music with Christopher Hogwood, and the Goettingen Handel Festival with Nicholas McGegan, among others. He appears on both studio and live audio and video recordings.
Walker holds a Bachelor of Arts in industrial engineering, a Master of Music in vocal performance, and a Master of Arts and Master of Business Administration, both with an arts administration focus. He has also completed the highly regarded Harvard Business School’s Executive Education program ‘Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management’, and is a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE).
For more information or to set up an interview, please contact Nichole Fehrman at 216.320.0012, ext. 4, or nfehrman@apollosfire.org.