Ernest Martin Fleischmann (December 7, 1924 – June 13, 2010) was a German-born American impresario who served for 30 years as executive director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, which he upgraded to become a top-ranked orchestra.
[4] When he became executive director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1969, Zubin Mehta was conductor at the distinguished Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, but the musicians in the orchestra were not paid what they were worth.
[2][4][5] Fleischmann brought in Finn Esa-Pekka Salonen in 1992, who The Wall Street Journal credited with transforming the orchestra into a "lean, disciplined machine".
[3] Reviewer Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times credited Fleischmann with having "transformed a provincial second-rank orchestra into one of the world's best".
[7][8] Described by The New York Times as "a taskmaster and an office tyrant", Fleischmann was once described by an employee as "egocentric, completely unprincipled and yet incredibly brilliant monomaniac in music".