Anwar Nasir -
LPO Executive Director
Anwar Nasir (he/him/his) joined the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra as Executive Director in July 2021. As the Executive Director, Anwar leads the only full-time musician-governed and collaboratively operated orchestra in the United States. Recent success has seen the orchestral music audiences grow to near 10-year highs and has seen the orchestra collaborate with New Orleans and Louisiana artists such as Tank & The Bangas, Big Freedia, Dawn Richard, and Juvenile. In 2024, the LPO received its first GRAMMY Award for Best Regional Roots Music Album with the Lost Bayou Ramblers.
Anwar has been named an emerging leader in the arts and culture space by the League of American Orchestras and Arts for LA. He currently serves on the Syracuse University, College of Visual and Performing Arts Young Alumni Council, the Girard College Alumni Association Bylaws Committee and as the co-chair for the IDEA Committee for the International Ticketing Association (INTIX). He has served as co-chair for the League of American Orchestras Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion working group for staff of color and the Professional Development Committee of INTIX. He had the pleasure of serving on the Tessitura Network’s inaugural Diversity, Equity, Access, and Inclusion Advisory Committee and on the planning committee for The Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce Conference on Opportunity, Diversity, and Equity. He is also the co-founder of the Black Arts Leadership Alliance, formed to support African Americans in pursuing and developing careers in arts management.
In October 2018, the League of American Orchestras selected Anwar as one of twelve for its prestigious, year-long Emerging Leaders Program (ELP). The ELP is widely considered the orchestra field's premier program for cultivating the potential of rising professionals. Through collaboration across a national cohort, industry-specific leadership projects, and dynamic mentoring from top industry professionals, members of the ELP shape and influence the orchestra world as it evolves to meet changing needs and audiences.
An in-demand speaker, Anwar has presented at several national and international conferences with topics as diverse as integrating technology in customer experience, IDEA topics (inclusion, diversity, equity, and access), data-backed decision-making, patron acquisition and retention, social media, and professional development/career transitions.
Anwar is a former professional dancer and is a graduate of Syracuse University with a degree in communication and rhetorical studies. The Philadelphia native has held leadership positions with the Omaha Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic and Hollywood Bowl, Atlanta Ballet, and Philadelphia Workforce Development Corporation.
He has also completed management training programs through the League of American Orchestra’s Essentials of Orchestra Management program and the Georgia Center for Nonprofit’s certification of Nonprofit Organization Management.