Symphony CEO Hanson to step down after 4 years
Sudden departure is second lately for big S.F. arts organization
Mark C. Hanson, the CEO of the San Francisco Symphony since 2017, will step down from the position Aug. 31. In an announcement made by the orchestra on Thursday, July 15, Hanson gave no specific reason for the decision.
“The San Francisco Symphony is a dynamic organization, and it has been a true honor to lead them through complex transitions and challenges,” he said in a written statement. “With the San Francisco Symphony now back up and performing as a full ensemble for live audiences following our successful pandemic pivots, I have decided that this is the right time to pursue my next professional opportunity within a different environment.”
Hanson did not return a phone message seeking comment.
A statement by Symphony President Priscilla Geeslin said, “The Board fully understands Mark’s decision and thanks him for his steadfast work with appreciation for the experience, commitment and passion with which he led the San Francisco Symphony over the past four years.”
In a brief telephone interview, Geeslin said that Hanson’s decision had come on “recently” but declined to be more specific about the timing. She said the board would swing into action “immediately” to begin the search for Hanson’s successor, which she hoped would be a matter of months.
Matthew Spivey, the orchestra’s chief programming officer, has been
appointed interim CEO.
Hanson is the second top arts leader in San Francisco to step down abruptly in recent weeks. On June 28, Kelly Tweeddale resigned as executive director of the San Francisco Ballet after less than two years in her post.
Hanson, 47, came to San Francisco after a visibly successful sevenyear stint with the Houston Symphony that saw the orchestra expand its subscriber and donor base and reach out more concertedly to Houston’s Black, Latino and Asian American communities.
The most consequential piece of his San Francisco tenure emerged a year after his arrival, when the Symphony hired the Finnish conductor EsaPekka Salonen to succeed Michael Tilson Thomas as music director. In 2018, the Symphony was among the arts organizations pushing for the passage of Proposition E, by which San Francisco voters opted overwhelmingly to earmark a portion of the revenue from the city’s hotel tax for the arts and cultural programming.
That year also brought a new fouryear labor contract with the orchestra’s musicians, and the establishment of a multi-constituency DEI Workgroup with representatives from the board, orchestra and staff.
But like all arts leaders, Hanson has spent the past year and a half grappling with the fallout from the COVID19 pandemic — beginning with the cancellation of a European tour and continuing through the 14 months during which live performances were impossible. The orchestra’s innovative online programming during that period took place on Hanson’s watch.
The Symphony is currently playing live concerts at its home in Davies Symphony Hall, as well as outdoors at the Frost Amphitheater on the Stanford Campus. The “Reopening Night Gala” to inaugurate the 202122 concert season is scheduled for Oct. 1.