Phila. Orchestra’s president to step down next year

In a surprise move, still-new Philadelphia Orchestra president and chief executive officer James Undercofler will step down next summer.

Undercofler, who has been in the job for only two years, said yesterday that he would leave on July 31, when his contract expires. He said that his decision - announced as Christoph Eschenbach exits as music director and chief conductor, and artistic adviser Charles Dutoit arrives - "was made freely," and that he would stay in Philadelphia to pursue freelance projects in arts education.

"It's been a wonderful two years. It's been a thrill working with the greatest orchestra in the world," he said. "I have sure learned a lot - I did my Ph.D. in orchestra management."

Undercofler declined to elaborate on why he was leaving at the end of only three years. His predecessor, Joseph H. Kluger, stayed 16.

"He's decided for personal reasons and otherwise," board chairman Harold A. Sorgenti said yesterday. "I think 65 is old enough." Actually, Undercofler will be 63 when he steps down. "The world is changing. He has to decide what he wants to do with the rest of his life."

Asked whether he thought Undercofler had done a good job, Sorgenti said:

"He's taken us to a certain level. The question is, what is the future going to be? We have to work on our strategic plan."

Another board member, John F. Salveson, principal of an executive search firm, said Undercofler had informed the executive committee of his decision Monday. Asked whether he would have liked Undercofler to continue, Salveson said: "I don't know. . . . We need - I'd like to see Jim do the right thing for his career."

A former horn player, Undercofler - who was born in Center City and attended Lower Merion High School - came to the orchestra as the result of a yearlong search.

He was dean of the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y., and had just signed a five-year contract to continue in that position in April 2006 when he accepted the offer to lead the Philadelphia Orchestra - his first orchestra job.

In his two years here, Undercofler - who was paid $383,000 for his first year, according to tax forms - has quickly moved around an extraordinary number of big pieces at the notoriously tradition-bound organization. He negotiated an innovative labor contract with musicians. He did the delicate work of cutting loose Eschenbach after an unusually short tenure of five years, eased Dutoit into an untraditional four-year role as chief conductor and artistic adviser, and hired a new artistic administrator.

He supported staff initiatives to dramatically change the way the orchestra packages and sells seats, and explored new relationships for the ensemble, bringing the orchestra back to Longwood Gardens after an absence of several decades.

Recently, citing a deteriorating economy and referring vaguely to budget woes, Undercofler pulled the plug on the orchestra's prestigious European festivals tour planned for August 2009.

Exactly what the orchestra's financial condition is will be revealed tomorrow at the orchestra's annual meeting.

Among the items likely to be left undone before Undercofler leaves is the naming of a new music director to take over after Dutoit's commitment ends after the 2011-12 season. Additionally, he has begun preliminary planning on remedial work to Verizon Hall, whose acoustic is considered less than optimal. Also in progress is an endowment campaign whose conclusion is expected shortly.

Musicians generally have expressed warm feelings for Undercofler, though in recent weeks rumors have circulated that financial problems might cause management to reopen the labor agreement.

"I was aware that they were feeling financial pressure, but I know that Jim would never ask us to do that, as a matter of principle," said cellist Gloria de Pasquale, a member of the search committee that helped to hire him.

Undercofler yesterday said that it was not the case that musicians would be asked to make such concessions: "We have no intent of opening the musicians' contract."

Like other musicians, de Pasquale praised Undercofler's performance.

"I'm sad he's leaving," she said. "I think we have had one of the best working relationships with a CEO we've ever had. Working with him was a real breath of fresh air."

"There have been a number of challenges in the last couple of years, and I think he handled things very professionally and sensibly," said John Koen, another cellist who has been on a number of orchestra committees. "He is a very honest person, and that's a very admirable quality."