IN LONG BEACH : SIDLIN OUSTED BY SYMPHONY DIRECTORS

Five days after a successful season-opening concert by the Long Beach Symphony, the board of directors of the symphony association Thursday voted to end music director Murry Sidlin’s eight-year tenure with the orchestra and to seek a new conductor.

At a meeting at the association’s offices Thursday afternoon, the 37-member board voted, according to one source, “nearly unanimously,” to withhold renewal of the contract.

The 47-year-old American conductor, who has led the Long Beach Symphony since 1979 and reportedly earns $60,000 annually in that post, told The Times on Friday that he was not notified of the decision until two days before the meeting.

“This came out of the blue,” Sidlin said in a telephone interview from his home in New Haven, Conn. “I never heard personally from any official of the (Long Beach) symphony. They notified my management on Tuesday that there would be no further negotiations, but never called me. I am in a quandary and in a depression, and deeply saddened. I never saw this coming.”

In the official announcement, George M. Murchison, president of the board of directors and one of three managing directors of the symphony, said that the orchestral association would “seek new artistic leadership” upon the conclusion of Sidlin’s present contract in June, 1988. “Regarding the reasons for Maestro Sidlin’s departure, the . . . Assn. will not violate the personal nature of employee contract negotiations or performance review,” Murchison’s statement said.

Asked by The Times on Friday to explain, Murchison said, “This decision was not made in a hurry. The three managing directors (Murchison, Margie Masterson and Michael Choppin) have been considering the renegotiation of Mr. Sidlin’s contract for six to nine months. At a certain point, we brought together an advisory committee, for a total of 10 people, including the managing directors. We informed Murry’s management (Shaw Concerts in New York) on Tuesday morning that there would be no further negotiations.”

Murchison refused to give specific reasons for dismissing Sidlin, saying only that “a lot of considerations were part of this decision, some of them financial. But we feel strongly that this is for the benefit of all concerned, including Murry.”

Sidlin said he thought one reason for the board’s action may have been his failure to move from the East Coast to the West Coast, as was specified in his contract. However, he said Friday, “Ironically, I was making plans as recently as last week to relocate--to take an apartment in Southern California at the beginning of the 1988-89 season, and to bring my family out a few months later.” Sidlin’s contract with the New Haven orchestra ends in 1988 also.