In Friday’s (4/30) New York Times, James R. Oestreich writes, “The tensions that have simmered at the Aspen Music Festival and School in Colorado since the resignation of its music director, David Zinman, on April 8, boiled over on Thursday, when the festival corporation delivered a vote of no confidence in the festival’s president and chief executive officer, Alan Fletcher. This is only the latest swing in the fortunes of Mr. Fletcher, who was fired by the executive committee of the board of trustees last October only to be rehired by the full board in November. A majority of the 147-member corporation, which consists of 90 faculty members, 37 board members and 20 members at large, passed the motion of no confidence, said Rob LeBuhn, the board chairman. He declined to give numbers, saying that the vote was confidential. The vote has no binding effect on the 50-member board, which controls hiring and firing.” Oestreich states that the vote “stems largely from [Fletcher’s] attempts to scale down the institution—reducing the number of students and faculty this year, and cutting the season from nine weeks to eight—at least partly in response to the general economic malaise.”
Posted April 30, 2010
