Samuel Wong

In a release distributed to media yesterday, Wong said it was time to shift his musical focus to the Mainland and Europe.

"My priority now is to spend more time with my young family in New York," he said in the release. "I will also begin work on an Institute of Music and Healing."

Symphony president Stephen Bloom said the symphony will conduct a search for Wong's replacement as the maestro works through the final year of his contract.

"It will be a long process," Bloom said. "It usually takes several years to hire a musical director. We're probably looking at a two-year process."

Bloom said Wong's decision to step down was unexpected but understandable. Wong's home base is New York, where he has a wife and two young children.

"He wants to concentrate on the Mainland and Europe, and Europe, of course, is the center of our industry," Bloom said. If you want to make it, you have to make it there."

Bloom praised Wong for helping the orchestra grow and for his inclusion of Eastern classical forms.

Wong's impressive run with the symphony includes concerts with renown classical musicians including Yo-Yo Ma, Pinchas Zukerman, Deborah Voigt, Andre Watts, Midori, Peter Serkin, and Emanuel Ax. He led the symphony to its first Mainland concert at the Hollywood Bowl in 1997.

Wong also presided over the innovative East Meets West concert series, which continues to explore the history and influences of Eastern and Western classical music.