A weekly program focusing on the arts and entertainment

Conductor and music director Carlo Ponti makes his final appearance with the San Bernardino Symphony on May 19.

And although several rumors have been circulating about his departure, orchestra president Mary Schnepp tells Arts and Entertainment Editor Bob Sokolsky that the parting with Ponti is an amicable one.

His career, she says is on the rise and is “taking him in other directions.”

Ponti, Sokolsky notes, has been with the Symphony for 11 years and, while overshadowed by the late Patrick Flynn, the colorful conductor of the Riverside County Philharmonic, was still able to establish the orchestra as a major cultural force in the Inland Empire.