President and Chief Executive Officer, San Diego Symphony Orchestra

Martha A. Gilmer has been at the forefront of artistic innovation, civic engagement, and institutional progress in U.S. orchestral life for more than four decades, most recently at the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, where she has served as President and Chief Executive Officer since 2014. Through her strategic vision, artistic ambition, and unwavering commitment to the communities of San Diego, she has guided the San Diego Symphony into an exciting new era, transforming the Orchestra’s trajectory by engaging Rafael Payare as Music Director, opening the acclaimed Rady Shell on the San Diego waterfront as a superb outdoor venue, and revitalizing the Orchestra’s historic downtown venue, Jacobs Music Center.

With the collaboration of a strong Board, outstanding staff, and with dedicated philanthropic support, Gilmer created SDSO’s strategic plan in 2018 and has overseen its ongoing implementation, leading music critic Mark Swed to proclaim that “The San Diego Symphony has joined the California orchestra vanguard” alongside the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the San Francisco Symphony.

Gilmer partnered with the Port of San Diego to develop and open the Symphony’s permanent outdoor venue, The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park, while spearheading a fundraising campaign that secured 99 percent of the project cost through private sources. Highly praised as both an artistic venue and a major civic project, The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park has won record-breaking concert attendance for SDSO while cementing the Orchestra’s place in the San Diego community and on the city’s skyline.

While completing The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park, Gilmer worked with the Board of Directors to undertake the long-desired renovation and restoration of Jacobs Music Center. This ambitious project was born of a commitment to confirm the Orchestra as a cultural and economic anchor in the downtown district and encourage the growth of a younger and more diverse urban audience.

Known for collaborating with many of today’s most talented performing artists and composers and for her commitment in contemporary music, Gilmer has engaged leading guest artists for their San Diego premieres, commissioned new works by a wide range of international composers, and assisted in creating the California Festival, with its unprecedented state-wide collaborations and programming focused on global issues including climate change and migration.

Recognizing San Diego Symphony’s unique position adjacent to the US/Mexico border, Gilmer has developed programs which prove music bridges cultures. Under Gilmer’s leadership, the Symphony has participated in a 2018 binational chamber performance at Friendship Park, located where San Diego meets Tijuana; offered a series of cross-border master classes; and performed a free concert in 2023 to open the annual Día de los Muertos celebration at CECUT, Mexico’s national cultural center in Tijuana.

Martha Gilmer came to the San Diego Symphony from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), where in the course of a three-decade career she served as Vice President for Artistic Planning and Audience Development. At the CSO, she developed long-term relationships with many of the most outstanding artists and composers of our time and developed a host of innovative programs connecting the orchestra with new audiences in Chicago and around the world.

Her capacity for leading innovative and complicated projects and her collegial support of all San Diego cultural institutions has been acknowledged by the San Diego civic and business community. The Girl Scouts of San Diego recently recognized Gilmer as one of their Cool Women honorees in 2024. The Greater San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce awarded her the Moving San Diego Forward Award in 2022, and The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park was selected to receive the Cultural Vitality Award by the Downtown San Diego Partnership. In 2022, the San Diego Business Journal named Gilmer one of San Diego’s 500 Most Influential Business Leaders. Gilmer was also named one of Musical America’s Top 30 Professionals of the Year in 2021.

Martha Gilmer serves on the boards of The Greater San Diego Chamber of Commerce, The San Diego Tourism Authority, the Solti Foundation, and the Mayor’s Civic Revitalization Committee. She is a graduate of the Northwestern University School of Music and has been an active alumna, serving on the School of Music Dean Search Committee, delivering the 2000 commencement address, and receiving the Alumni Award for the School of Music. She frequently writes and lectures about music.