Galen Wixson, who arrived in 2002 from the Reno Philharmonic,
announces plans to take job with Arkansas Symphony Orchestra

April 25, 2007

By ROBERT LOPEZ

The Enterprise

Galen Wixson, executive director of the Symphony of Southeast Texas for the past five years, will step down at the end of June to become executive director of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra in Little Rock.

The announcement of his departure comes a few months after that of conductor Chris Zimmerman, whose last show was April 14.

But symphony personnel said they expect the organization will handle the high-profile absences well.

"We've been here before," symphony board member Becky Mason said. "We were here about five years ago, when we were looking for a conductor and an executive director at the same time. We've done it before and we'll do it again. And we have several guest conductors, candidates for that position, and we're well along in that process."

Wixson, who arrived from the Reno Philharmonic in 2002 (at about the same time as Zimmerman), helped steer the symphony through fiscal difficulties in the wake of Sept. 11. He also was able to find a series of venues for the organization after the loss of its home, the Julie Rogers Theatre, which was heavily damaged during Hurricane Rita and will reopen early next month.

"We were able to work with different theaters, high schools, all sorts of people in the area to try to keep our season together after the hurricane," Wixson said. "I'm really most proud of that fact. It's pretty remarkable when you think about what happened to the community as a whole."

"He tried to keep the symphony going no matter what," Kim Ellis, a clarinetist with the symphony, said. "We wished the Julie Rogers were open, but having the opportunity to go to the different auditoriums worked for everybody. Just because the Julie Rogers was closed, that was no reason to cancel the season."

A graduate of Wichita State University, the 43-year-old Wixson said he found out about the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra job last year after its executive director, William Vickery Jr., died of a heart attack.

"We have our network of news in the industry," Wixson said. "And I knew him as an acquaintance, and knew he had a very good reputation in the industry. And when the job was posted, it was quite interesting to me.

"It is a much larger orchestra. We have about a $600,000 budget. (The Arkansas symphony has) about a $3 million budget. It's also in a good location for me. My family is located in Kansas, so it I'll be considerably closer. It's also a really vibrant, growing area, and with the opportunities that are there, it just seemed the right move for me and my family."

But he said he did have concerns about leaving while the symphony was looking for Zimmerman's replacement.

"That was one thing I really had to think about," he said. "But here, there is such a strong staff, such a great board, that I really felt it (the conductor search) was in good hands. I would not leave if there was any doubt they could carry on."

Finding a new executive director is in some ways more of a challenge than finding a conductor, Mason said, because not as many people are interested in applying for the director position. Mason said the orchestra received close to 120 applications before Zimmerman was hired; in contrast, only a handful inquired about the directorship.

"It's a shame to have both (Zimmerman and Wixson) gone in the same year," Ellis said.

"It would be nice to have his (Wixson's) input on the evaluation of each conductor candidate," she said. "That would make life a little easier. But I don't think the community is going to suffer. It's just going to be a little bump."

rlopez@beaumontenterprise.com

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