Crisis at San Francisco Symphony as chief exec quits

News broke late last night that Mark Hanson has quit as chief executive of the San Francisco Symphony.

The chief programming officer Matthew Spivey has stepped in on an interim basis but there is no disguising the depth of the crisis.

The orchestra has a new music director coming in and has just undergone a glitzy rebrand. For the CEO to go at this juncture, and after just four years in the job testifies to an impossible situation.

Hanson had established a good workng relationship with Esa-Pekka Salonen (pictured below). The next chief will start from scratch.

No official reason is given for his departure but one insider text says: I had heard that Mark has been weighed down by COVID and DEI.

DEI stands for Diversity, Equality and Inclusion, the demands of a strident minority. The Symphony needed a rethink more than a rebrand.

UPDATE: Hanson said: ‘I have decided that this is the right time to pursue my next professional opportunity within a different environment.’

We wish Mark well in his next endeavour. He was previously CEO at Houston.