Donor will help Charlotte Symphony find leader

The Charlotte Symphony, which has a tight budget to say the least, will get some financial help for its search for a new executive director. 


A donor came forth with a "highly timely and welcome offer" to pitch in toward the expenses of finding Jonathan Martin's successor, board chair Emily Smith said Friday. 


Martin announced Monday that he'll step down in August to become president and chief executive of the Dallas Symphony. The orchestra's leaders learned about his plans Monday only a little before the rest of us. 


The orchestra's "first priority" is finding an interim director, Smith said. The board's executive committee met Friday morning and made a list of potential interim directors. The group hopes to line someone up in time for him or her to work alongside Martin before his departure in mid-August. 


The executive committee also drew up a list of potential chairs for the search committee. The money from the donor, who is remaining anonymous, will go toward the cost of a search firm, the orchestra said. 


The orchestra's leaders hope to have Martin's replacement on the job by spring, Smith said. 


If the orchestra meets that target, the search will have gone a little faster than the one that found Martin. His predecessor, Richard Early, announced his departure in June 2007. Martin, who came from the Cleveland Orchestra, arrived for duty nearly a year later, in May 2008.  


"Jonathan had a wonderful combination of artistic instincts and business acumen," board member Robert Stickler said Friday. "That's the kind of person we need to continue to enhance the symphony."