Cellist Lynn Harrell Named to Symphony Music Adviser Post

Internationally noted cellist Lynn Harrell has been named to the newly created post of music adviser, the San Diego Symphony announced Thursday. Harrell will provide artistic direction in the absence of a music director, a position the symphony said it still intends to fill.

Harrell, who gave a recital with Vladimir Ashkenazy earlier this month at the Civic Theatre, is an acclaimed soloist who has recorded more than 30 albums, with symphonies such as the Cleveland Orchestra, the Concertgebouw Orchestra and the Berlin Radio Symphony, as well as on his own.

He is artistic director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute and holds the International Chair of Cello Studies at the Royal Academy in London. He also is the first holder of the Piatigorsky Chair of Cello at the University of Southern California.

His appointment as music adviser partly fills a void left in the area of musical knowledge and leadership following the resignation in February, 1987, of symphony music director David Atherton.

“Mr. Harrell’s name was advanced simultaneously--and independently--by both musicians and management as the ideal creative artist to help us in this period of recovery,” symphony executive director Wesley O. Brustad said in a statement released Thursday.

Brustad said Harrell’s “expertise and counsel will contribute greatly to the artistic stability of the symphony over the next two seasons.”

As music adviser, Harrell will offer guidance to symphony administrators in selecting the repertory, conductors and soloists for the 1989-90 season. He will also participate in the auditions, offer advice on personnel matters and direct orchestra members on artistic matters, according to the statement.

Harrell could not be reached for comment Thursday.