Curtis S. Long

President and CEO

Curt Long has served as President and CEO of the Rochester Philharmonic since September 1, 2017. He came to Rochester from the Alabama Symphony Orchestra where he spent nine years as President. His time in Alabama saw the ASO make its Carnegie Hall debut (at the 2012 Spring for Music Festival); release a limited-pressing recording of ASO commissioned works; engage Carlos Izcaray as its new Music Director; expand education programs both in greater Birmingham and in underserved rural communities throughout Alabama; and successfully present an inaugural Sound Edge Festival in February 2017.

Prior to moving to Birmingham, Curt Long held similar positions with the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra in Ohio for 14 years and with the Delaware Symphony Orchestra for two years. In Dayton, he collaborated with local arts and business leaders in the development of the visually stunning and acoustically superb Schuster Performing Arts Center. Long’s previous professional experience was in a very different field of entertainment--he spent five years working with a firm that managed Indy Car and Formula One automobile races.

A seasoned and respected orchestra manager, Curt Long has served as a grant panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as state and local arts grantmakers in Alabama, Ohio, and Michigan. Long has served as a consultant and mediator for orchestras across North America, and has been an invited speaker at the Annual Conference of the Regional Orchestra Players Association.

Curt Long graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a BA in English from the University of Chicago, holds an MBA in not-for-profit management from the University of California, Berkeley, and is an alumnus of the League of American Orchestras’ Orchestra Management Fellowship program. A native of Los Angeles, Long played Horn as an amateur but chose a career in music management rather than performance.

Curt Long and his wife Elizabeth live in Brighton, New York with the youngest of their three children, Mary.

Joyce Tseng

Content and Digital Marketing Manager Joyce Tseng brings experience in music, marketing, and media production to her new post – as well as a history with the orchestra. Serving as assistant to RPO Vice President of Education Barbara Brown, “made a profound impact,” Tseng said. “Witnessing the power of this organization’s community outreach firsthand was awe-inspiring.”

Tseng gained experience with online content creation in her positions as marketing assistant for Rochester Summer Opera and the Summer@Eastman program. She won the 2023 Podcast Visual Artwork Commission from the Eastman School’s Institute of Music Leadership.

Tseng is an accomplished violist, just one examination away from her doctorate in musical arts in performance and literature from the Eastman School of Music, where she completed her bachelor's and master's degrees.

Joyce also plays piano and Chinese zither and loves all things Grogu (aka: Baby Yoda).

Mike Cidoni

A native Rochesterian, Mike Cidoni returned home in 2023 to serve as RPO’s PR/Communications Manager after 23 years in Los Angeles, where he worked as senior entertainment reporter for the Associated Press. There, he provided global, multi-media red-carpet coverage of virtually every major Hollywood event, from the Grammy Awards to the Oscars. During his 40-year career, he has interviewed thousands of stage, screen and musical artists including cellist Yo-Yo Ma, violinist Joshua Bell, film composer John Williams, soprano Renée Fleming, and conductor Gustavo Dudamel. Cidoni also spearheaded the transformation of the AP’s fledgling LA video bureau into one of the most prolific, profitable, and highly regarded sources of entertainment news in the world.

“We are thrilled to have someone of Mike’s experience joining our Marketing and Communications team,” says RPO Vice President of Marketing and Communications Herb Griffith. “The fact that he knows and loves this community already is a huge benefit as well.”

“It’s such an honor to contribute to an organization that has given me so much, both as a music lover and an entertainment professional,” adds Cidoni, who believes that attending RPO concerts as a child fueled his lifelong passion for the performing arts.

Many Rochesterians may remember Cidoni from his days as an entertainment reporter on 13 WHAM-TV (formerly WOKR), with Scott Spezzano on various stations including 98 WPXY-FM, as well as writing for the Times-Union and Democrat & Chronicle in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Mike’s work for the Associated Press paved the way for his transition into publicity, communications, and artist relations for Universal Music Enterprises (UMe) in 2018. It was then that he worked closely with Richard Carpenter on A&M Records’ global hit, Carpenters with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and served as lead author (with Chris May and Richard Carpenter) of the best-selling 2021 biography, Carpenters: The Musical Legacy.

He is preparing to serve as memoirist for “an undeniably brilliant and widely beloved artist and teacher – and one of my favorite humans.”

Mike adores ABBA, collecting vintage audio and media, and traveling with husband Brian — but without an itinerary.

Barbara Brown

Barbara Brown, Vice President of Education
The Lisk Morris Foundation Chair for Education

Barbara Brown joined the RPO in 2008 and was named Director of Education in 2012. As Director of Education, she is responsible for the management and implementation of all of the RPO’s educational concerts and activities. Additionally, she oversees and coordinates all aspects of the RPO’s community engagement programs. Barbara earned a BA/BM in Saxophone Performance, as well as a BA in Anthropology from the University of Washington. She came to Rochester to complete an MM in Saxophone Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music, where she was also awarded a Performer’s Certificate. Barbara still performs in the area with the Vertex Saxophone Quartet. She and her husband (RPO Clarinetist Andrew Brown) reside in Irondequoit along with their adorable dog, Birdie.

Henry Valoris

Director of Orchestra Operations Henry Valoris comes to the RPO following extensive professional experience in opera, concert, and theater production. He has brought productions to venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the Kennedy Center, and the Opera Royal of Versailles. Valoris was production manager for the national tour of Wayne Shorter and Esperanza Spalding’s opera Iphigenia, as well as the U.S. premiere of The Hunting Gun featuring Mikhail Baryshnikov.

Valoris served as general manager for Opera Lafayette in Washington, D.C., and production manager for Princeton University’s department of music and the Princeton University Concerts series. He was the dean of performance and production operations at the Manhattan School of Music from 2018-2021.

A native Rochesterian, Valoris is a graduate of Penfield High School. He holds a master’s degree in arts management from American University.

He is a violist, golfer, and a licensed pilot.

Rachel Solomon

With professional expertise in virtually every aspect of the arts – including education, marketing, producing, performing -- Rachel Solomon appears to be turning a new leaf as RPO’s Volunteer Administrator. But looks can deceive.

“I come from a theater background,” Solomon explains. “And I come, specifically, from a community theater background – which, in other words, is volunteer work.” In her new post, Solomon oversees the RPO’s more than 150 volunteers, whose jobs include everything from ushering at concerts to assisting with educational programming. “The volunteers support the work of the RPO, and it's important to me that the volunteers also feel supported and appreciated by the RPO. They are as important to the organization as our conductors.”

After earning her bachelor’s degree at Nazareth College, Solomon obtained a master’s in theatre education at Emerson College. She is an adjunct lecturer for the musical theatre program of SUNY Geneseo and serves on the board of directors for Out of Pocket, Inc. theater.

Rachel’s mad passions include Shakespeare, baking, and K-POP.