Texan to San Antonio

When the doctors told him last month to give his heart a rest, San Antonio Symphony Conductor Max Reiter, 45, paused long enough to make sure that the orchestra he had built from scratch (TIME, July 14, 1947) would carry on in good hands. As guest conductor, he recommended Victor Alessandro, 35, Texas-born conductor of the Oklahoma City Symphony. Max Reiter's condition was more serious than he thought; within a week he was dead.

Last week, mightily pleased with Texan Alessandro, and with Max Reiter's wishes in mind, the San Antonio Symphony Society gave their guest conductor a three-year contract.

Oklahomans were sorry to see Alessandro go. After studying in Rome and Salzburg, he had headed back to the Southwest. At 22, he had taken the WPA-supported Oklahoma State Symphony in hand, built it into a self-supporting outfit (with 4,500 subscribers) that any state could be proud of. Said Daily Oklahoman Critic Tracy Silvester last week: "In an area that has run pretty much to hillbilly and jukebox renditions, he has developed a literate orchestra [public] through sheer grit in presenting only what he thought was good music."

In San Antonio, Conductor Alessandro will have a tradition to carry on, but it should come easy. Max Reiter was a zealot for contemporary music; so is Alessandro. With his Oklahomans last year, Alessandro put on a 13-week series of music by 20th Century composers.

Conductor Alessandro's new job puts him a rung up the ladder as U.S. conductorships go (he will have $320,000 to spend on San Antonio's symphony and opera seasons, as compared to $157,000 at Oklahoma City). Says Alessandro: "There comes a time in a musical career when a change is best. You never know when this will bethere are no Drew Pearsons in the musical world. But it is best for the orchestra as well as the conductor."

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