Issy Farris has served as Vice President of Operations & Music Education for the Long Beach since 2017. She served as the Director of Special Events & Education in 2016. She started her tenure with the organization as the Manager of Operations & Education in 2014. Each season she produces each of the Symphony’s Classical, Pops, and Education concerts. She also oversees LBSA’s extensive music education programs reaching over 27,000 students each year. Mrs. Farris implemented the Symphony’s Educators Advisory Council with LBUSD to work with teachers to create music integrated core curriculum lesson plans accessible online. She also started the Symphony’s internship program in partnership with Cal State Long Beach Bob Cole Conservatory.
Issy served on the Long Beach Music Council where she was a founding member of Make Music Long Beach, part of the international celebration of music. She has been a member of the Association of California Symphony Orchestras since 2006, serving in a variety of roles including session speaker, peer forum leader and as conference host.
Issy grew up on the Central Coast in San Luis Obispo where she started her careen with in Arts Administration at the San Luis Obispo Symphony in 2005. By the age of 21 she climbed the ranks to Director of Operations for the San Luis Obispo Symphony and Youth Symphony. During her 9-year tenure at SLOS she started a successful internship program with Cal Poly State University Music Department. She produced a recording of Glosas commissioned from Grammy Award Winning Composer Craig Russel and performed by famed Spanish Guitarist Jose Maria Gallardo Del Rey. She managed youth symphony tours to Vancouver B.C., Chicago, Copley Hall in San Diego, and Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. She also launched a high school music camp called the Summer String Workshop at Camp Ocean Pines in Cambria, CA.
Her background in choral music inspired her love for the performing arts and arts education. When not producing concerts and putting instruments in the hands of cute little kids she enjoys being outdoors with her husband and two big dogs, or anything to do with the ocean, especially fishing and diving.