Heather McDougall
Maine Public Classical Manager of Music and PeopleHeather McDougall has enjoyed a varied international career, with more than two decades working across classical radio and music management. With roots as a performing and teaching cellist, she got her start in public media at Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), Ireland’s national public broadcaster, in classical radio production and later as artistic administrator for their two radio orchestras. Other production, music direction, and project management roles at West Cork Music, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, WFMT Radio Network (Chicago) and WRTI (Philadelphia) have rounded out her versatility across these fields and reflect her lifelong passion for radio and music-making.
Her credits include Co-executive Producer, Breaking Glass podcast (WFMT & Glimmerglass Opera); Executive Producer, Giving Thanks to Music with Nadia Sirota (WFMT Radio Network); and, Managing Producer, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra Radio Series (WFMT Radio Network) and Bughouse Square with Eve Ewing podcast (WFMT & Studs Terkel Radio Archive).
Heather has a B.M. in Cello Performance (Eastman School of Music), B.A. in Linguistics (University of Rochester) and an M.Phil. in Digital Humanities and Culture (Trinity College Dublin).
When not on the job, in past lives, she’s always loved hitting the streets, giving architectural tours on behalf of the Chicago Architecture Foundation and Preservation Alliance of Greater Philadelphia. A newly arrived Mainer, she now hopes to get busy doing the same.
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Allison Kiger, Artistic Director of the Bar Harbor Music Festival, talks with Host Heather McDougall about the 58th edition of the festival now underway on MDI and continuing through early August. -
This week’s guests are Anna Tsouhlarakis, a Navajo, Creek and Greek artist working in sculpture, installation and video, and Shane Perley-Dutcher, a Wolastoq mixed media artist from the Neqotkuk Wolasqiyik (Tobique First Nation) in New Brunswick. Both are in residence at Indigo Arts Alliance this month, collaborating on a public art piece at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, as part of the upcoming symposium, Deconstructing Boundaries: The Land Fights Back. -
Opera Maine’s Artistic Director, Dona D. Vaughn, took time out between the company’s back-to-back productions to talk about bringing two operas, set against the backdrop of war, to Portland this summer – Rappahannock County, about the American Civil War, and Aida, set in Ancient Egypt. -
The Theater at Monmouth is known as the Shakespearean Theater of Maine and the summer of 2024 has plenty in store from the Bard and much else. Producing Artistic Director, Dawn McAndrews is this week’s guest. -
Hogfish is one of Maine’s newest arts organizations - established as a regenerative arts production company and artist residency program in Cape Elizabeth. This week’s guests are its founders and directors, Edwin Cahill and Matt Cahill. -
The Bowdoin International Music Festival in Brunswick is marking its 60th anniversary year and 2024 sees this week’s guests, cellist David Ying and violist Philip Ying, in their tenth year as co-artistic directors. -
Dr. Tiffany Lu is the new Music Director at the Monteux School and Music Festival in Hancock, Maine. As this week’s guest, she talks about her transition to the role, the 81st season ahead, Monteux’s tradition of nurturing conductors, and her vision for the school and festival. -
Curt Dale Clark, Artistic Director of Maine State Music Theatre, is in conversation with host Heather McDougall on this week’s State of the Art. They chat about Mainers’ love of musical theater and MSMT’s 2024 season, running throughout the summer in Brunswick. -
In this week’s episode of State of the Art, Host Heather McDougall is joined by Jane Bianco, curator of the new exhibition, Lynne Drexler: Color Notes, running at the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland. Drexler was a second-generation abstract expressionist artist and longtime resident of Monhegan Island. Jane and Heather discuss Lynne’s decision to move to Monhegan and the legacy she left there, her love of classical music, and her vibrant work as a colorist during the 1960s that can be seen at the exhibition now running at the Farnsworth. -
Pianist Annie Antonacos and violinist Tracey Jasas-Hardel of the Portland Piano Trio sit down with host Heather McDougall to talk about their upcoming concert, “Celebrating the Seasons”, on Saturday, May 18, and the community music school, 240 Strings, that they founded and now lead along with cellist Jing Li.
