The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra announced two senior appointments today in the newly created positions of Director of Marketing & Digital and Director of Development.

Gillian McCurdy

Gillian McCurdy will join the CBSO in July as Director of Marketing and Digital, moving from her current position as Head of Marketing and Communications at Birmingham Museums Trust (and formerly Thinktank). The new Director of Development, Simon Fairclough, will join the organisation in September, after a month in the US as an International Fellow at the Kennedy Center in Washington. He is currently Head of Fundraising at the Academy of Ancient Music.

Simon Fairclough

Talking about the new roles, Stephen Maddock, Chief Executive said: “We are delighted to be able to announce such strong appointments to these exciting positions, especially after a week of four sold-out concerts which saw our world-class Orchestra and Chorus perform to nearly 10,000 people in London, Nottingham and Birmingham.

Our ticket income at home in Symphony Hall, Birmingham continues to be the highest of any of the UK orchestras, despite the economic gloom, and in 2012/13, we raised our highest ever level of private fundraising income from individuals, trusts and corporates.

However, we know that continuing to increase and diversify the CBSO’s income, audiences and reputation is essential as we head towards our centenary in 2020, and both Gillian and Simon have an already excellent track record in their respective fields to help us build on our current success. “

Talking about her new position, Gillian McCurdy said: “I am delighted to be joining such a prestigious organisation as the CBSO. It already has a great reputation locally, nationally and internationally, and I am looking forward to developing this further, as well as encouraging increasing numbers of people to join the Orchestra for its wonderfully wide range of performances”.

Simon Fairclough said: “I’m thrilled to be joining the CBSO. The Orchestra’s position as one of the finest in the world is underpinned by the generosity of a wonderful family of donors and funders. There’s no better way to start than with a ‘thank you’ to those who have supported it so loyally over the years, as well as to those whose future involvement will make possible its ambitions for the period ahead.”

Simon and Gillian will join Director of Finance, Annmarie Wallis, and Director of Orchestral Management, Simon Webb, on the CBSO’s Senior Management Team. The new roles have been created following the departure of the current Director of External Relations, Alexandra Tomkinson, who is moving to the Department for Development, Alumni Relations and Business Engagement at the University of Birmingham.