PACE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Lora Unger is deeply passionate about stewarding PACE’s role as a connecting force for good in the community. As an arts leader, Unger has been recognized for her passion for providing young people with access to music education and innovative arts experiences, building community partnerships and ensuring that the performing arts are accessible to all.

Lora arrives at PACE from the Pasadena Symphony Association (PSA) where she served as CEO since 2014. During her tenure, she transformed the PSA into one of the most artistically successful and institutionally relevant cultural organizations in Southern California reaching audiences of over 50,000 annually. Under her leadership, PSA experienced exponential growth and increased relevance through its acclaimed artistic and educational programming, strategic planning and fundraising campaigns. Unger established popular performance residencies in four prominent Southern California venues and led the design and construction of a dynamic 5,000 seat outdoor performance venue at the Los Angeles Arboretum and Botanical Gardens. She also re-established Pasadena’s historic Ambassador Auditorium as a thriving and acoustically notable home where expanded audiences enthusiastically responded to PSA performances.

A centerpiece of the PSA’s education program, she grew the Pasadena Youth Symphony Orchestra from serving 300 students in three ensembles to more than 800 students in nine ensembles. The program draws students from 29 cities, 17 school districts and 84 schools for both weekly after school ensemble rehearsals and supplemental in-class instruction within the public school system. She also established Student Access, a program that welcomes more than 3,000 students and families with free access to main stage concerts year round.  

Prior to her leadership of the Pasadena Symphony Association, she served as the General Manager of the Jacksonville Symphony (FL), where she was responsible for its classical, popular, opera, musical theater and family programming. She also oversaw the successful facility renovation of Modesto’s historic State Theater where she presented independent film, concerts and community events as well as a robust program of facility rentals. 

Unger holds degrees in music and business from the University of Louisville, and a graduate degree in arts administration from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and College of Business. She completed her postgraduate work as a Fellow with the League of American Orchestras, was recognized as an Emerging Arts Leader by the Association of Performing Arts Presenters and in 2018 was named a Top CEO by the International Association of Top Professionals.