Clark Ally to Quit Over Pacific Symphony Policies : Personnel Chief Says Orchestra Will Be Shifting From Free-Lance Musicians to Full-Time Tenure

The personnel director of the Pacific Symphony, who worked closely with founding conductor Keith Clark to build and expand the orchestra in the last seven years, plans to resign today, largely because of administrative changes that “will limit the need for my job,” Bob Peterson said over the weekend.

Peterson, 32, played in the group as a violinist, but his formative role with the orchestra was rooted in its use of free-lance musicians whose careers focus on Hollywood recording and film studios.

Peterson has been the symphony’s “contractor,” a music-world term for free-lance brokers of free-lance musicians’ labor. Contractors rely on close personal ties with musical employers and “an ear” for matching players with ensembles.

“There are indications that major structural changes are going to take place in this orchestra,” Peterson said. “Musicians may well be hired on a tenured, full-time basis, and there will not be a need for a contractor. If that change takes place, I see a change in the caliber of music-making that is going to take place here, because the free-lancers who have given this orchestra its quality will be driven out.”

Many in-demand studio musicians who work in rehearsals and performances with the Pacific Symphony between their movie, TV and commercial recording sessions would not be able to continue with the orchestra should musicians be contracted full time. Musicians now sign yearly contracts with the orchestra but retain the right to accept to free-lance work.

Peterson said he believes his role will diminish after completion of contract talks between the orchestra and the Orange County local of the American Federation of Musicians. A Pacific Symphony spokesman said the union talks are expected to end before the 1988-89 season starts Oct. 12. Officials with the union and the symphony have declined to discuss their talks.

Tenure would mean that, unlike now, players would be guaranteed career-long employment with the orchestra.

Peterson said that carrot would probably give management leverage to institute daytime rehearsals. Musicians now generally meet only at night. Daytime rehearsals would require a full-time career commitment to the orchestra, a far less lucrative proposition than the studios offer.

Peterson also said the recent appointment of Polish conductor Kazimierz Kord as acting conductor and musical adviser to the orchestra in the 1989-90 season has resonant implications for changes that Peterson does not favor.

“I know for a fact that Kazimierz Kord . . . would very much like to see daytime rehearsals,” Peterson said. “Don’t get me wrong, I admire Kord the musician, but the freedom our musicians have is not something I believe we should sacrifice.”

Peterson said at least a dozen key players would probably quit if daytime rehearsals began. While Hollywood players are in many cases section leaders, the ensemble also draws less experienced musicians who want tenure and would not be opposed to daytime rehearsals.

Peterson said he believes that tenure is something management will probably offer instead of pay increases that it cannot afford.

“If tenure is granted to the orchestra (membership) at this time, it will freeze the ensemble at the caliber it is now,” Peterson asserted. “I am opposed to tenure. It makes people lethargic, and it does not allow for any improvement.”

Meanwhile, Peterson said he is on the losing side of the battle for control of the orchestra waged by new managers and certain board members who opposed Clark. The board ejected Clark from his post last February. He will step down after the upcoming concert season.

Subsequently, an apparently bitter antipathy arose between Clark and executive director Louis G. Spisto; Peterson said that dispute has extended to a coolness between himself and Spisto, who could not be reached for comment on Peterson’s resignation.

Clark, to whom Peterson reports in the orchestra hierarchy, said of Peterson’s departure: “Bob and I built this orchestra together. He committed himself to this. He moved here (from New Orleans) and devoted himself to building this orchestra. The music community of Orange County owes a debt to Bob Peterson that it will never understand.”

Peterson, who moved to the county in 1982, said he and his wife, who also plays violin in the orchestra, plan to leave the area at the end of September and take up new musical lives in Florida.