Backstage at the CSO: Joe Sherman, production manager, SCP/rentals

During a visit to Symphony Center, a concertgoer might encounter box-office staff and ushers and see stagehands making last-minute preparations. But there is also a whole range of behind-the-scenes staff who make sure that each event goes off without a hitch.

Among them is Joe Sherman, a staff member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association for 16 years. Since 2015, he has served as production manager for CSOA’s Symphony Center Presents, which encompasses piano, chamber music, jazz and visiting-orchestra series, and all of Symphony Center’s rental events.    

His wide-ranging job includes booking events, arranging instrument rentals and making all other necessary preparations for each event and then being on site when they occur, serving as a liaison between the CSO’s stage crew and visiting artists or rental clients. “Any show that I work on, I’m here from the beginning to the end,” he said.

Sherman thrives on the odd hours and unpredictability, like an artist suddenly needing something for his or her instrument just a few hours before a concert. “It’s a good job for me because I like to be on my feet. I like to keep moving, and it’s a lot of adapting,” he said.

Working for the CSO was hardly on his mind when he graduated from DePaul University in 2001. He bounced around the city’s theater scene as an actor, working during the day for Botanicals Inc., which specialized in floral designs for major show venues and meeting spaces. (It was later absorbed by HMR Designs, a prominent Chicago-based event-management company.)

“I worked everywhere,” said Sherman, who traveled across the city setting up floral creations, but one venue always stuck out — Symphony Center. So he jumped at the chance to apply when an operations coordinator position opened with the CSO. He was hired in August 2007.

In that position, he supported the CSO’s facilities director and rental events manager. Later, he filled in for a previous production manager when she went on maternity leave, gaining valuable experience that helped him to ascend to his current job in 2015.

All outside rentals at Symphony Center are handled by Sherman and his boss, Michael Lavin, assistant director of operations. The two have worked together during Sherman’s entire 16-year tenure with the CSO. “We have a great working relationship,” he said. “He’s a great friend, too.”

Artistic direction of Symphony Center Presents, the CSO’s presenting arm, is overseen by James M. Fahey, senior director of programming, and Lena Breitkreuz, artistic manager. As these two consider artists for upcoming seasons, Sherman calculates the estimated costs associated with the potential performances.

“Because it is a union house, we do a lot of estimating labor costs, because that’s generally our biggest cost,” Sherman said. “We figure out if we can do the show or not, and Jim and Lena make the offer to the artist.”

Amplified concerts like those on the Jazz Series require a crew of eight: a stage manager, three stagehands, two sound technicians and three light technicians. Visiting orchestras need a crew of five, and three crew members are required for concerts on the Piano and Chamber Music series.

Much the same thing happens for rental events, with the difference being that the clients decide if the total costs fit within their budgets. In addition to electricians, engineers and stagehands, issues of security, maintenance and ushers must also be considered.

“More than anything, we’re not necessarily trying to make money, but we’re focused on not losing money,” Sherman said. “That’s the main thing. We can’t have an event when the labor [expenses] come back, and we realize that we lost all this money.”

After a visiting artist or rental is booked, Sherman typically connects with a touring manager or other representative three to eight weeks before the event to finalize all the needs associated with the event. This is especially necessary for jazz ensembles, which typically rely on rented instruments, including drum kits, electric organs, string basses, etc., and Sherman arranges to get them.

Sherman obtains different kinds of instruments from multiple sources. He rents string basses, for example, from a shop run by Mark Sonksen at Sonksen Strings, 4223 W. Lake. “He prepares these basses so well,” he said. “I get such rave reviews from visiting bass players. I’ve been so lucky to have stumbled upon him.”

Other instruments come from such firms as Studio Instrument Rentals, a national firm with a branch in Chicago at 2835 N. Kedzie, and Chicago Percussion Rental in Glenview, owned by Russ Knutson. “Anyone coming to town seems to know Russ, because he’s got this enormous inventory of percussion.”

If a visiting group needs an unusual instrument, eight times out of 10, Knutson can supply it, which he did for some Chinese New Year concerts in recent years. “He would show up with this random instrument that I would never be able to identify myself if they hadn’t asked for it specifically,” Sherman said.

Because Symphony Center Presents jazz concerts often occur on a Friday evening after a CSO matinee concert, set-up time is tight. The earlier concert ends at 3:30 p.m. with set-up for the jazz concert starting immediately afterward. The sound check is typically at 5 or 6 p.m. with the show beginning at 8 p.m. 

“So there really isn’t a ton of time to fix things if they go wrong,” Sherman said. In that narrow window of time, he has had to chase after a specific string for a bass or replace a bass drum on a kit because the drummer doesn’t like bass drums with port holes. “Drummers are very, very specific, particularly jazz drummers,” he said.  

Other than perhaps supplementary percussion, Sherman does not have to provide instrument rentals for visiting orchestras, which, just as the CSO does when it goes on tour, travel with their instruments and other equipment.

Sherman and Lavin meet monthly with Stage Manager Christopher Lewis to discuss the scheduling of stagehands and technicians for upcoming Symphony Center Presents and event rentals. Sherman consistently receives compliments about Symphony Center stagehands from visiting artists, who say they are among the best in the country. “Our stage crew is dynamite,” Sherman said. “They make us look so good.”

Another part of his job is handling piano assignments. Symphony Center has more than 25 pianos scattered around the facility, including instruments in dressing and practice rooms; because it is a Steinway house, all of them are supplied by Steinway & Sons. Artists who appear on the Symphony Center Presents Piano series can choose to perform one of two concert grands: a 2004 instrument made at Steinway’s Hamburg, Germany, factory or a 2013 one manufactured in New York.

Some artists are sponsored by another piano firm, such as Yamaha or Fazioli. Early in the contracting process, it is pointed out that they are responsible for securing that brand of instrument and having it transported to Symphony Center, where it will be tuned by one of the hall’s piano technicians.

Four freelance piano technicians service instruments at Symphony Center. They split up the season schedule, each taking a week at a time, make sure that any necessary pianos are tuned and ready to go.

Besides his duties as production manager, Sherman has given what humorously estimates to be a “trillion tours” of Symphony Center for donors, school groups (a “nice value-add” for those renting the hall) and other visitors. That duty often falls on him, because he knows the hall, and he said with a chuckle, he is “relatively personable.”

And if all that wasn’t enough, Sherman served as the CSO’s interim house manager from April through the end of the 2022-23 season, replacing Charles Braico, who left to take another position elsewhere. Sherman helped train Braico’s replacement, Jenise Sheppard, who started in June.

He is back focused on his main duties as a production manager. On those days when the CSO is not performing, you’ll find Sherman scurrying around backstage as the minutes tick down to another Symphony Center Presents or rental event.