ORANGE COUNTY SYMPHONY CHIEF QUITS

After three months on the job, Wesley O. Brustad has resigned as executive director of the Orange County Pacific Symphony to assume the same post with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.

“I just wasn’t terribly happy there. It wasn’t right,” Brustad said Thursday. He refused to elaborate.

Brustad, 42, apparently made his exit from Orange County a hasty one. Pacific Symphony Assn. president Michael Gilano said Brustad “gave notice last Thursday and he left Friday. We don’t know why he’s leaving or why he only gave us 24 hours’ notice. We liked what he did (as executive director).”

Gilano said that “word has spread quickly” in the orchestral management community and that inquiries concerning the opening are coming in “from all over the country. We are covered right now.” Gilano, who is president of the Irvine-based Trillion Communications, said that he will serve as Brustad’s replacement until a new executive director is named.

Although the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra recently underwent a financial crisis that saw it on the brink of folding, Brustad stated that the organization seems to be “on its way to a strong turnaround.” He noted that a contract is being hammered out with the Chamber Orchestra. Brustad said he had not signed a contract in Orange County.

In June, the Pacific Symphony announced the hiring of Brustad to the $45,000-a-year post. Brustad, who assumed the post in August, had been executive director of the Spokane (Wash.) Symphony for six years.

Brustad is the third executive director to quit the Pacific Symphony post in two years. He succeeded Topper Smith, who quit on March 5 after 13 months to become orchestra manager for the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.

Smith had succeeded Robert Elias, who left the Pacific in October, 1983, after six weeks. Elias joined the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra in September, 1984. He resigned that post two weeks ago.