New Times has acquired a Phoenix Symphony memo stating that president and CEO Maryellen H. Gleason is leaving the Phoenix Symphony for a job with the Milwaukee Symphony.
According to the memo, the announcement was made during yesterday's board of directors meeting. The memo also states that Gleason's last day with the Phoenix Symphony is December 18, and her appointment with the Milwaukee Symphony begins January 4, 2011.
As of the time this post was published, multiple calls and e-mails by New Times to Phoenix Symphony staff had not been returned.
(read more about Gleason's departure and her controversial run with the Phoenix Symphony after the jump ...)
Phoenix Symphony board member and principal trumpeter Chuck Berginc tells New Times that a board meeting did take place yesterday. (Berginc was unable to attend because he was out of town.) And though he couldn't confirm or deny the announcement, Berginc did call the news of Gleason's departure "a double-edged sword situation."
"It's going to be difficult to replace her on such short notice since we're so short staffed, but with every difficulty comes an opportunity," says Berginc.
Since Gleason's appointment in December 2002, the Symphony has experienced much turmoil, including an alleged cleaning house of the organization's most established musicians.
As was previously reported by New Times in March 2009, multiple Symphony members filed mistreatment complaints (many based on age discrimination) against the organization's higher-ups, including Gleason and music director/conductor Michael Christie. As a result, the Phoenix office of the National Labor Relations Board issued a formal complaint against the Symphony's leadership.
Please check Jackalope Ranch for further developments.
