Oops, San Antonio Did It Again

The mixed messages continue to pour out of the San Antonio Symphony executive offices…

Just when you thought the situation in San Antonio might bet settling down in anticipation of improving David Green, SAS president & CEO, was quoted in the 12/08/06 edition of the San Antonio Express-News contradicting himself.

Express-News writer, Mike Greenberg, put together two superbly written articles that provide some more insight into the orchestra’s recent events. Prior to this article, David Green and the SAS board chair and chair-elect have publicly stated that one of the primary reasons influencing their decision not to renew music director, Larry Rachleff’s contract is because he would not reside in San Antonio.

In fact, this was such a paramount issue to the SAS executive board that when David Green was initially talking about prospective music director candidates to the Express-News, he said “If you’re not prepared to move to San Antonio, don’t apply.”

Now, 31 days later, David Green is quoted in the 12/08/06 edition of the same newspaper saying “Nonresidency is not a deal-breaker if [a new music director] can provide the presence and provide the role we envision. It’s the level of involvement.”

To all intents and purposes, the SAS executive board has now moved from demanding a residency requirement for any new music director to downgrading it to status of not being a deal-breaker. For however long the executive board decides to keep this new mantra, their focus now seems to be on finding a candidate that meets the executive board’s parameters for an acceptable level of involvement.

Unfortunately, the SAS executive board hasn’t been able to clearly express exactly what those parameters are although it would be useful to patrons and stakeholders if they did exactly that. Clearly, the executive board had discussed what these parameters are and ranked them in order of importance; otherwise, they would not have been able to arrive at the decision to not renew Mr. Rachleff’s contract.

As such, it should be a fairly simple task to publicly outline each of the issues within those parameters so the public can see exactly what it is the executive board wishes to find in a new music director. All anyone in the San Antonio area can do at this point is to wait and see if the executive board decides that is something they plan to do.