In Tuesday’s (5/17) News Journal (Wilmington, Delaware), Betsy Price reports, “In the end, it was the news that the Delaware Symphony Orchestra and OperaDelaware are prohibited by federal labor-relations law from working together that made Lucinda Williams quit. The executive director of the symphony said she pushed her resignation through May 6 when she was told a deal in the works for a year that would have helped both organizations financially was quashed after the local musicians union questioned it. Williams officially leaves her post July 30, when the books on the 2010-2011 season are closed. … Williams already had been thinking about leaving before the opera deal fell through. She survived a horrific car crash in March 2010, in which she suffered a severe concussion. … The previous year, her parents had moved from Pittsburgh so she could help care for her mom, who has breast cancer. Those health issues, combined with the pressures of her job in a down economy, led her to think she no longer had enough stamina to do her job. … Williams brought new energy and focus to the Delaware Symphony Orchestra when she arrived, retooling the schedule with music director David Amado. ‘I’m going to miss her a lot,’ Amado said. ‘It’s hard to imagine replacing someone like that. She’s a powerhouse.’ ”
Posted May 17, 2011
