Honolulu Symphony president
leaves job in June

Stephen Bloom, who became president of the financially strapped Honolulu Symphony in 2001, has resigned effective in June to pursue other interests.

"It's been something I've been thinking about for a while and trying to decide when the right time would be," Bloom said. "With the season coming to an end (in May) and all things pretty even keel, it felt like the right time."

In an emotional meeting Tuesday afternoon, Bloom first told Honolulu Symphony board chairwoman and friend Carolyn Berry of his decision at her Hawaii Loa Ridge home. The following day, Bloom met with senior staff individually to tell them of his decision and later key board members, including former Hawaii first lady Vicky Cayetano, who is in line to be the symphony's first chief executive officer -- an unpaid position.

"After 15 years doing the orchestra business, I believe if I don't make a change now to get into a different business, it'll get more difficult the older I get," Bloom said. "The symphony is on stable footing."

Bloom said his resignation had nothing to with as-yet undisclosed findings by a mainland consultant hired last year and paid for by several board members, or Cayetano's recent CEO appointment, one of the consultant's recommendations.

Consultant Peter Pastreich, a former San Francisco Symphony executive director, has been helping the Honolulu organization with "long-range thinking and better focus," Bloom said.

Bloom said he advocated that Cayetano be appointed CEO to work with the board and staff as "another important leadership position ... and to assist Carolyn Berry," a part-time Hawaii resident who is one of the symphony's major contributors.

Though the symphony's board must still approve Cayetano's year-long appointment, Bloom said the organization has been "getting her geared up." One of her main duties will be recruiting additional prominent board members capable of fund-raising efforts, sources said.

Bloom's surprise move will leave the 83-member, 105-year-old orchestra not only without its president, but also without a musical director since maestro Samuel Wong steps down after nine seasons in June.

Symphony executives will ask Pastreich to work as interim director until a permanent replacement can be found, Cayetano said.

Pastreich's recommendations apparently did not include Bloom stepping down, and neither board members nor Cayetano pressured the president to leave, she said. But based on Pastreich's "concerns and other issues we looked at, if Steve had stayed he would have been asked to address certain concerns," Cayetano said.

Cayetano declined to specify those concerns, at least until she is officially appointed CEO.

Bloom came to Honolulu from the Tacoma Symphony Orchestra, with a mandate to eliminate the Honolulu orchestra's debt. When he took the position, the organization had a $1.4 million deficit, an endowment of just $6 million and an annual budget of $5.9 million.

"We've projected to be within 4 percent of our $6.3 million budget this year, or about a $200,000 deficit," Bloom said. "We have financial stability, a cash reserve in place and are getting to a balanced budget."