This is a sad tale – I used to play in the Prince William Symphony when I was a student at the University of Maryland. Apparently there has been a good deal of trouble there since I worked there. It underlines a basic tenet of mine: let the musicians play music, let the managers manage, let the music director take care of the artistic concerns, and keep the three as separate as possible. It sounds like the executive director there drank his own kool-aid, and decided to run the artistic side of things as well. You can find the whole story here.
Thirty-two members of the Prince William Symphony Orchestra resigned last week. The musicians said this was a result of months of difficulties with the new executive music director, David Montgomery, and the Board of Directors.
For the musicians, the firing of a 16-year member of the orchestra exacerbated the situation and led to the resignations, including the concertmaster and the personnel manager.