Wouldn’t You Like to Know?
Every once in a while, we’ll find a local Richmonder we’d all like to know a bit more about. Same questions each time, from the Prying Publisher, and the answers are just for you.
This month, we caught up with David Fisk, executive director of the Richmond Symphony. A native of Great Britain, David moved from Ireland to the United States with his family in 2002 to take the lead at the Symphony. In 2006, David served as one of nine members of the Wilder Committee on the Performing Arts, advising then mayor Doug Wilder on the redevelopment of the Carpenter Center and the Landmark Theatre. He also weighed in on the design and construction process of Richmond CenterStage, leading up to the venue’s grand opening in the fall of 2009.
A husband and father, he says the transition from Belfast to Richmond was an interesting one for the family.
“We left the Old World behind in Northern Ireland just as the peace process was really taking hold – though it had been an amazing experience to be there as it happened – to start our own New World adventure,” says David.
He and his wife, Irish soprano Anne O’Byrne, have two children. Fionnuala, who goes by Finn, is 13, and Oliver is 10.
This music man calls Richmond “easy to love” and “a great place to raise a young family.” David says “the James River, the exciting weather – compared to the UK and Ireland, and the proximity of everything to everywhere” are three of the things he finds appealing about Richmond. The family lives in Southside.
