Principal harpist to take reins

The Charleston Symphony Orchestra has tapped one of its own, Kathleen Wilson, to become interim executive director.

The orchestra announced Tuesday that it had chosen its principal harpist of the past 22 seasons to take over the reins from Jan Newcomb, who retired in May.

"I want to go all out in the time that I'm here," Wilson said. "If it ends up being permanent, so be it. And if it isn't, so be it."

CSO President Ted Legasey said the position wasn't temporarily given to

Wilson as an afterthought. "The reason we filled the interim spot is so we can take the necessary time to do a deliberate search and get it right," he said.

Wilson has served on Charleston City Council for three years. In 2008, she was selected for a Liberty Fellowship, a highly competitive program that seeks to inspire outstanding leadership in the state.

In 2001, she became the first South Carolinian to successfully swim the 22-mile-wide English Channel. Since then she's completed swimming's triple crown — the English Channel, the Catalina Channel and circumnavigating Manhattan Island.

Starting immediately, Wilson will begin serving as the CSO's chief executive and oversee all aspects of management and operations. The added responsibilities mean she won't be able to perform with the orchestra for the foreseeable future.

"This is like committing to a long swim," Wilson said. "It could kill me. But this orchestra is in need of help from somebody who knows its business."

In the meantime, the search for a permanent director already has begun and is expected to take some time.

"This could be done in a month or it could take a year," Legasey said of the search. "We can't afford to make a mistake on this hire."

Legasey said he feels that the symphony is at a critical juncture. For the past several seasons, it has been mired in financial problems.

"Money is just one of the challenges that lie ahead," he said. "At the end of this year we have to negotiate with the musicians, and some hard work is going to have to be done. We're trying to strengthen the back office so that it can keep up with the performing end. It's been one of the weak points in the orchestra and we need to fix it if we're going to get out of this routine trouble."

As of Tuesday, the symphony had the resumes of about 25 applicants and was planning on taking them for about another week. Wilson was one of those applicants.