The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s longtime concertmaster will retire at the end of the 2026-27 season after a 25-year career in Charm City, the orchestra announced Wednesday.

Jonathan Carney has served as the orchestra’s top violinist, highest-paid musician and de facto second-in-command since 2001.

Carney’s tenure is notable not only for his longevity, but for his commitment to the broader mid-Atlantic music community and his many recordings under the baton of former music director Marin Alsop. It was also marked by allegations of inappropriate behavior, ranging from a 2005 proposed sexual encounter to a 2018 temporary peace order after he allegedly threatened a Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra employee.

An international search for a new concertmaster will begin immediately, the orchestra said.

“Jonathan Carney’s leadership as concertmaster under three music directors has greatly contributed to the BSO’s artistic growth since the turn of the century,” Mark C. Hanson, BSO president and CEO, said in a statement. He also praised Carney’s participation in education, community and fundraising activities.

Carney is the longest-serving concertmaster in BSO history. He was appointed by former music director Yuri Temirkanov, and initially praised by fellow musicians for his congeniality and willingness to play low-profile gigs like school field trips. Although American, Carney came to Baltimore with his former wife, Ruth, and three children after a dozen years as concertmaster of London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Read More

Did the BSO just find its groove? Look at ticket sales.

Jan 10, 2025

“It has been my life’s greatest honor to lead the extraordinary members of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra as concertmaster this past quarter century,” Carney said in the release. For his “long-time service,” he will be given the honorary title of concertmaster laureate after retiring, a first for the orchestra.

Carney will appear “on a reduced performance schedule” beginning this fall, according to an internal email to BSO staff shared with The Banner.

Carney had been absent from several recent concerts conducted by Jonathon Heyward, the young conductor who succeeded Alsop in 2023.

Heyward, who was not made available for comment, will personally lead the search for a new concertmaster, the email to staff said. The BSO did not give a reason why Carney was leaving. As recently as November, BSO attorney and board member Stephen Shawe defended the rockier moments of Carney’s long tenure and gave no indication the concertmaster would be stepping down.

“Believe me, he is not a choir boy,” Shawe said late last year. “He’s been talked to.”

Allegations of inappropriate behavior first surfaced in 2006, when principal oboist Katherine Needleman told a union rep and orchestra personnel staff that Carney made a 3 a.m. visit to her hotel room while the orchestra was touring Spain. He initially denied the encounter and romantic overtures. But when Needleman raised the issue again 2017, in the wake of the #MeToo movement, the orchestra engaged a lawyer to investigate.

In her 31-page report, attorney Melissa McGuire absolved Carney of “illegal sexual harassment” and retaliation, though established the encounter occurred.

The report also uncovered a series of other issues. For example, multiple witnesses told the investigator that Carney once followed two female colleagues into a women’s restroom and wanted “to see them kiss.” Carney also admitted to romantic relationships with three other musicians who were either BSO members or substitutes, including one he initially failed to disclose.

Two former personnel managers shared evidence that Carney inappropriately sought BSO gigs for Julie Savignon, the substitute violinist who eventually became his second wife, even though students from the Peabody Conservatory ranked above her on the orchestra’s list of substitutes.

In 2016, a personnel manager requested all substitute violinists to re-audition or be eliminated from the roster. Sauvignon did not attend the audition and fell from third to twelfth on the substitute list.

The investigator recommended sensitivity training for Carney and warned him against lobbying for Savignon.

Arts organizations typically keep these reports confidential. The BSO only released a brief summary, however, the full report is now available via a Freedom of Information Act request to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, where Needleman lodged a complaint. Some of those documents are also posted on her website, including sworn affidavits from two young Baltimore musicians. One alleged he talked about her breasts in front of others, and the other alleged she was verbally harassed. Carney denied both allegations through his attorney, Baltimore Symphony donor Neil Ruther, and was suspended from the BSO while the matter was pending.

The most recent eye-brow raising incident involving the concertmaster occurred in March 2022, when the BSO attempted to suspend Carney for making a rude remark about guest pianist Benjamin Grosvernor while the audience applauded.

That concert series happened to mark the first time Heyward guest conducted the BSO. In a statement released via his publicist, Grosvenor said orchestra staff handled the situation “with the utmost sensitivity and respect.”He received a letter of apology from the orchestraand considers the matter closed.

According to Ruther, Carney successfully overturned the suspension via union arbitration.

Carney’s retirement announcement has prompted other BSO supporters and alumni to reflect positively on his time in Baltimore. Former assistant concertmaster Igor Yuzefovich, who now serves as the BBC Symphony’s top violinist, said in a Facebook message that “It was an immense honor” to play alongside Carney.

“Jon is one of the Concertmaster titans of our era, someone who infused his musical personality and style into every note he played, and elevated and inspired the sound and artistic involvement of everyone around him on the stage,” Yuzefovich said.

Rebecca J. Ritzel is an arts and culture writer from Baltimore.