Spisto Accepts Job With American Ballet

Louis G. Spisto, who served as executive director of the Pacific Symphony for 10 years before taking the top administrative post at Detroit Symphony Hall last year, will become executive director of American Ballet Theatre in New York on Sept. 1.

“It’s a tremendous opportunity for me to work with, in my opinion, the best dance company in America today and return to my home in New York City,” Spisto said by phone from Detroit on Friday.

“We’ve made a lot of changes here over the last year and a half,” he said. “I’ve had a great time expanding the programming and the vision of this orchestra. We’ve increased ticket sales from $6.8 million to $8.2 million, and we’ve erased the organization’s deficit.

During his tenure with the Pacific, Spisto more than doubled the orchestra’s budget from $3.1 million to $7.5 million, led a $5-million fund-raising campaign that in 1993 erased a $658,000 deficit three years ahead of schedule and created the orchestra’s first endowment, which totaled about $3.5 million at his departure.

He also oversaw a two-year search for a new music director that culminated in the hiring in 1990 of Carl St.Clair, whose latest contract extends through 2001.

Spisto was a finalist in the Orange County Performing Arts Center’s search for a new president in 1997, but shortly after Jerry E. Mandel landed that post, he accepted the offer in Detroit.