Clark Resigns as Director of Symphony, Board Says

Three days after narrowly voting not to extend his contract, the board of the Pacific Symphony announced Keith Clark’s resignation Thursday as music director of the orchestra he founded nine years ago.

The resignation, the board said, will take effect at the end of the 1988-89 season.

Board President John Evans said Clark was not “forced out.”

A committee will be formed “within a week” to find a replacement for Clark, he said. Board member Stewart Woodard said the board already has heard “that there are some fine conductors who are interested in coming aboard.”

Clark, reached in Czechoslovakia where he has been recording with the Radio Symphony of Bratislava, refused to comment. As recently as Wednesday he had promised to fight any attempts to oust him.

The board, which had been secretive about the matter since voting at a closed meeting Monday night, issued a statement late Thursday afternoon announcing that Clark “has resigned his post” and expressing appreciation for his work in Orange County.

Tension had been growing between Clark and board members, who had been saying privately that the orchestra had outgrown the musical and administrative abilities of its founder and that, as one source said Thursday, “he was arrogant and temperamental.”

On Monday, said a board member who asked not to be identified, the board voted 12 to 11 against renewing Clark’s contract when it expires in August. Evans confirmed Thursday that “it was a close vote.”

When the action was made public Wednesday, Clark said: “If I felt that there was not significant support for my leadership, I would resign. I would not wish to stay. But I think the support is there.”

Reached Thursday in Czechoslovakia, Clark refused to discuss the matter until next week, when his recording sessions are completed.

Asked if Clark had been forced out by the vote Monday, Evans said, “I don’t wish to characterize it that way.

‘Not Seen Eye to Eye

“The board and the music director have not seen eye to eye on everything, although there are many things we have agreed upon,” he said.

Any differences, Evans said, have concerned “approach to music.” Evans would not elaborate. “No two people agree on everything,” he said.

“There were those who felt he was not the easiest person to work with,” he added. “I personally didn’t find that.”

A source close to the board said “the die was really cast last summer” when the board asked Clark to sign a contract for the first time in the orchestra’s history and decided to make it for only one year. “If a majority voted for one year rather than five years, then you know you’re not going to get renewed. Clark knew that. The writing was on the wall. . . .”

“The group that was against him finally won the battle,” the source said. “They thought he was arrogant and temperamental . . . and they got him out.”

Woodard said Thursday that he was among those who voted Monday against extending the contract. “I felt it was time for Keith to go,” he said. “The time has come for the organization to have some new blood.

“Keith took the orchestra through the rough years where he had to lick stamps one moment and conduct the orchestra the next. This is something that happens to regional organizations. . . .

“They all go through these transition steps from being a nice little organization to potentially being a very fine regional organization with a larger budget. It was hard for Keith to go. It is hard giving up the reins.”

‘Tragic Mistake’

Raymond J. Ikola, a former board chairman and current member, disagreed.

“It would be a tragic mistake if Clark should leave,” Ikola said. “It would result from a lack of recognition of what Keith has meant to this community and of the contributions that he could continue to make to the fabric of our cultural life.

“I think that Keith has brought us a commitment to building an indigenous orchestra in Orange County, and I don’t think that commitment is something we will have an easy time finding in someone else.”

The board’s statement quoted Evans: “I am sure I speak for the entire board and the community when I say we are, and will always be, extremely grateful to Dr. Clark for his tireless efforts in furthering classical music in Orange County. Over the last nine years, he has dedicated himself to building this orchestra and has made it the focus of his life.

“I know that Maestro Clark has many opportunities available to him for a wonderful career throughout the country and indeed the world, and we wish him every success.”

Evans said Clark will conduct six of nine concerts in the classical subscription series of the orchestra’s 10th anniversary season.

Woodard said the board has “begun laying the foundation for a national search for a new music director. We’ve heard from many sources that there are some fine conductors who are interested in coming aboard. There are names we are aware of and we are interested in.

“There will be a search committee, and we have already talked to about four or five people who will be on the search committee. I know the names being considered, and they are people who are knowledgeable about music.”

He said the committee will be looking for people like James DePreist, a conductor who has turned the Oregon Symphony from a small and unknown organization into a success story when many orchestras across the country are failing financially. Woodard said DePreist has not been approached for the job.

Clark, 42, was principal guest conductor of the Vienna Chamber Orchestra and acting assistant conductor of the San Francisco Symphony before he founded the Pacific Symphony with, as he recalled in an interview in October, “a grant of $2,000 and plans on my kitchen table.” Some of the orchestra’s earliest engagements were at Knott’s Berry Farm. Now, its annual budget has reached $3 million and it plays regularly at the $72-million Orange County Performing Arts Center.

Though praised by his supporters as a tireless promoter of music in Orange County, Clark has been criticized for trying to handle both administrative and musical duties. The time he has spent on administrative tasks sometimes has left him unprepared at rehearsals and performances, musicians have said.

Times staff writers Allan Jalon and Randy Lewis contributed to this story.