An interview with Olympia Symphony Orchestra’s new Executive Director Geoff Yost
Originally published on The JOLT News on May 27, 2026
The Olympia Symphony Orchestra (OSO) recently announced Geoff Yost as its new executive director. Yost has worked in arts and culture spaces mostly through a marketing lens for about 15 years.
After chatting with Yost myself, I couldn’t be more excited about him coming to Olympia. Yost is a very friendly, down to earth individual whose unique and creative professional mindset makes him the perfect fit for OSO.
I hope you all enjoy getting to know him as much as I did.
Getting to know Yost
With his mom being from Olympia, Yost heard his whole life just what a wonderful place our little corner of the world is. In recent years, Yost’s parents retired to the South Sound. Yost started coming up here more regularly and had a gut instinct that life was eventually going to take him up here.
When Yost heard about the opportunity with OSO, he jumped right on it.
“The organization is doing really interesting things and I’m so excited to get to do the work I love doing in a place that increasingly feels like home,” Yost shared.
In his everyday life, Yost loves reading, great television and his biggest hobby — cooking. He has a big cookbook and looks forward to enjoying Farmer’s Market in Olympia.
His love of the performing arts developed as a member of his community choir in Charlotte, North Carolina, singing primarily tenor (but exploring soprano and alto at different points) from fifth grade through high school.
“We would sing both sacred and secular music,” Yost said. “We would do these really intensive concerts and a tour every year. I got to tour for one year in English when I was in high school.”
According to Yost, choir was his team sport and it taught him not only how to read and perform music, but larger lessons on discipline and how to be a part of something larger than yourself.
“I use the lessons that I learned in choir every single day of my life," he said.
Yost added, “Being in choir built a passion in me both for the performing art itself and for youth arts education … I am so excited to be at OSO where there’s such a strong commitment to that.”
Speaking on OSO and the intentionality in the programming, Yost said “Alexandra Arrieche wants to draw you in through the emotions of the piece … what you’re going to feel, and how you are going to experience the music.”
He continued, “I think she is fabulous and has the right frame of mind for what a relevant orchestra looks like these days, and I can’t wait to be a part of amplifying that.”
When asked about his mindset going into this job, Yost told me he is still learning.
“The first thing I want to do is get to know the community. What I know of it in the time I have spent in it is that it is tremendously creative, compassionate and embraces all the arts," he said.
Adding to that, Yost shared that he is going to make sure OSO finds a way to make everything they are doing sustainable.
“Every single performing arts organization has been faced with rising costs, changes in the way funding models work for them, and impacts of inflation and the overall state of the economy affecting what we can do as an organization," he said.
Yost will help stabilize things, maintain sustainability and broaden OSO’s reach.
“What the orchestra is doing is right where it needs to be, so my job will be to amplify what is already going on. … So I don’t think you are going to see a lot change, but I do think you’re going to see us start talking about the organization in new ways and reminding people that we’re here … just being really vocal about what we are doing," he said.
Wrapping up our conversation, I asked Yost the question I ask everyone (including you dear reader): Why are the arts so important to today’s world and society?
“The arts connect us to other people, places, histories, and help us understand other cultures. They offer a way to communicate when words fail. The arts can be a source of hope, possibility, and comfort. The arts are a source of nourishment. ... I think it is as simple as that," he said.
Come experience what arts can do in your personal life. I invite you to get your artistic passport ready for the adventures ahead by buying at least one ticket to an upcoming show or becoming a subscriber for OSO’s 2026-27 "Kaleidoscope” season.