Who Would Want This Job?

The much-beleaguered Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre will soon have a new executive director, and he will have his hands full the minute he sets foot in his office on February 1. But even before officially starting work, Harris Ferris (currently head of Nevada Ballet Theatre) is attempting to mend some of the in-house fences that were demolished when the PBT made the decision to lay off its entire orchestra for the 2005-06 season. Ferris will meet with the orchestra this week in what he says is an effort to “eliminate the acrimony,” and to listen to the musicians’ complaints about PBT’s management system. Ferris says it is still possible that the orchestra could return this season, but those comments were undermined when PBT cut ties with its conductor over the weekend.