The nine-page job description distributed by the association and the firm charged with searching for a new president stipulates that the candidate should be "inspirational, charismatic—but also someone with the collaborative gene."

The candidate should also bring ideas for building new audiences through technology, according to the Inquirer.

Whoever takes the job will face such challenges as contract negotiations with musicians (whose contract expires in 2007), the acoustical renovation of the concert hall at the Kimmel Center, the dwindling audiences at the Mann Center for the Performing Arts, and ongoing fundraising.

Joseph H. Kluger, the association's previous president, who stepped down in August, drew a salary of $285,000, which, according to the Inquirer, is up to a third of what the position usually pays.

No time line has been set for hiring a new president.