KANSAS CITY, Mo. | March 31, 2025 — The Kansas City Symphony is pleased to announce the appointment of Eva James Toia to lead the organization’s fundraising operations. Toia will join the Symphony in the position of Chief Development Officer on May 1.

Toia brings more than 26 years of fundraising experience in the performing arts and arts education to her role with the Symphony, including positions with Santa Fe Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Dallas Opera and Dallas Wind Symphony. She began her fundraising career with her alma mater, University of North Carolina School of the Arts, where she was Director of Alumni, Career Services and Outreach for 14 years.

“The Symphony is heavily reliant on philanthropy to fuel our artistic services to the community,” said Symphony President and CEO Danny Beckley. “We are delighted to welcome Eva to lead donor development for us, as we aspire to do more and to be more for Kansas City through music.”

As Chief Development Officer, Toia will lead the Symphony’s development team, oversee fundraising efforts, provide support for fundraising by Beckley and the Board of Directors and maintain a portfolio of major donors and prospects.

Toia holds a BFA in Design and Production with an emphasis in Lighting Design and Stage Management from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. She has participated in the Wildacres Leadership Initiative’s William C. Friday Fellowship for Human Relations and received professional development in planned giving at the University of Indiana Lilly School of Philanthropy.

About the Kansas City Symphony

In only its 43rd season, the Kansas City Symphony has already become one of America’s most vibrant major orchestras and has gained national and international recognition. With the 2024/25 season, the Symphony welcomed conductor and composer Matthias Pintscher as its new music director. Pintscher regularly conducts many of the world’s best orchestras and opera companies and ranks as one of the world’s foremost composers of orchestral music.

Continually creating live music experiences in Helzberg Hall, located in the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, the Symphony serves Kansas City’s metro population of more than 2.2 million people. The Symphony’s 80 full-time musicians bring a diverse and dynamic range of musical experiences to audiences in both orchestral and chamber music formats each season. In addition to concerts in Helzberg Hall, Symphony musicians perform throughout the region on an innovative portable stage, the Mobile Music Box. The Symphony also serves as the orchestra for the Kansas City Ballet and the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, adding to the rich cultural experiences that these organizations offer to the community.