San Antonio Symphony News and Archive

Symphony sets hunt for leader among its goals




By Ihosvani Rodriguez

from the San Antonio Express News 12/9/98



At its first meeting, the scaled-down version of the San Antonio Symphony's executive board Tuesday set its top priorities: finding a new executive leader and forming a community advisory board.

The meeting came just one day after the symphony's executive director, David Schillhammer, resigned and a major reorganization of the board was announced.

The board - trimmed from 60 members to 14 - met mostly to make formal introductions and to briefly discuss its immediate priorities, Board Chairman Charles Lutz said.

The new board consists mostly of San Antonio corporate leaders, three elected musicians representing the orchestra and Schillhammer, whose resignation takes effect Dec. 31.

According to the symphony's new bylaws, the board may have 15 members. Of the 14 named this week, six are carryovers from the previous board: Lutz, Schillhammer, Vice Chairman and Treasurer Rick Lindner, Linda Winston and symphony musicians Elizabeth Stoppels and Joan Christenson. A seventh, musician Jean Robinson, the orchestra committee chairwoman, was formally elected to the board at Monday's meeting, but had been filling a vacant musician's post during the summer.

"There was lots of energy in the meeting and the feeling that we were all ready to take care of all the many things that must be done immediately," Lutz said.

At the top of the agenda will be conducting a nationwide search for a new executive director. A subcommittee has been formed to define the conduct of the search and the director's qualifications.

While the new corporate-modeled board shed its community-based look, Lutz said the group still plans to form a community advisory board to help with marketing, fund raising, educational outreach and other activities.

The new bylaws require the creation of the advisory board. Board members and musicians continued to emphasize that all the changes were needed for the symphony's very survival.

"None of these changes are unexpected," concertmaster Stephanie Sant'Ambrogio said. "These were all things the musicians had asked for. We didn't have faith in management, and something needed to be done."

Sant'Ambrogio said the musicians had suggested that a new executive director be chosen, but such a change wasn't required under the agreement they signed with management in late September, ending an impasse over wages.

Schillhammer could not be reached for comment. Lutz and other symphony members stressed that his resignation was nothing personal.

In fact, Lutz noted that during Schillhammer's five-year tenure, donations to the annual fund increased from a base of $2.4 million in 1994 to a base of $3.2 million in 1998.

Music Director Christopher Wilkins added to the praise by crediting Schillhammer with "an outstanding job of leading this orchestra through a period of rapid organization and artistic growth."

At the same time, Lutz agreed that the donor community had expressed a sentiment for a change of guard.

"They made it very clear that we need to change directions," Lutz said. "It was our impression today that we've done that."

The latest events come at the heels of the symphony's near-death experience earlier in the fall.

In late September, with its 1998-99 season on hold, the symphony avoided bankruptcy and a complete shutdown when the musicians ratified a new three-year collective bargaining agreement.

The pact called for musicians' salaries to be frozen at last year's base level for two years, to be followed by a pay raise. The deal enabled the symphony to operate within a balanced budget.

As part of the musicians' agreement, the symphony agreed not to reduce the size of the orchestra below last season's 77 musicians.



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