NEW YORK, NY.- Gary Ginstling, the New York Philharmonic’s president and CEO, abruptly resigned Thursday after just a year on the job, leaving the orchestra in limbo as it grapples with challenges including an investigation into its workplace culture after two players were accused of misconduct.

His departure comes as the orchestra’s musicians and the administration are in heated talks over a new labor contract; the current agreement expires in September. The musicians have been seeking large wage increases.

As the orchestra prepares for its 2024-25 season, it is facing another leadership void: It will not have a music director. Jaap van Zweden’s six-year tenure comes to an end this summer, and his successor, star conductor Gustavo Dudamel, does not start in the role until 2026.

The Philharmonic said that it would convene a “transition leadership team” that includes the chairs of the Philharmonic’s board, Peter W. May and Oscar L. Tang, and Ginstling’s predecessor, Deborah Borda, who had held the post from 2017 until last year.

In a statement, Ginstling said, “The New York Philharmonic is an extraordinary institution, and it has been an honor to be a part of it. However, it has become clear to me that the institution needs a different type of leadership, and I have tendered my resignation.”

May and Tang, who declined to be interviewed, informed the Philharmonic players of the decision Thursday afternoon. The orchestra recently returned from a tour to China and will begin a tour in Colorado next week.

Ginstling took the reins at the Philharmonic last year, at a high point for the organization. After years of stagnation, the ensemble had poached Dudamel from the Los Angeles Philharmonic to serve as its music and artistic director. A glittering, $550 million renovation of its home, David Geffen Hall, had recently been completed ahead of schedule, after the project had stalled for years.

As he took over, attendance was stronger than those of many other orchestras trying to emerge from the pandemic, and last fall the institution received a $40 million gift.

The Philharmonic had seemed to take pains to ensure a smooth transition from Borda’s tenure. Ginstling, a veteran orchestra executive who had most recently been the executive director of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, joined the Philharmonic in 2022 as its executive director. That allowed him to work alongside Borda — a major figure in the orchestra world who had previously helped bring the Los Angeles Philharmonic to new heights — before succeeding her when she stepped down last summer. She remained as an adviser to Ginstling and the Philharmonic’s board, maintaining a Philharmonic email address and an assistant.

In recent months, the relationship between the orchestra and Ginstling grew more strained. An article in New York magazine in April revived accusations of misconduct against two players. The administration had tried to fire the players in 2018 but was forced to reinstate them in 2020 after the musicians union challenged their dismissal. The article prompted an uproar among musicians. (The two players have denied wrongdoing.)

Ginstling suspended the two players with pay and promised an investigation into the Philharmonic’s workplace culture. But the ensemble has yet to decide the fate of the players, and some of their peers said they would not perform alongside them. Early on, Ginstling seemed to indicate that the orchestra had few options because it was bound by a 2020 ruling by an independent arbitrator that found the players had been terminated without just cause.

“The determination was through binding arbitration,” Ginstling said this spring. “Binding is the key word.”

The two players sued the Philharmonic, claiming that they had been wrongfully suspended. The orchestra’s response to the controversy was sometimes muddled. Shortly after appointing an outside lawyer, Katya Jestin, to lead the investigation into the organization’s culture, Ginstling quietly authorized a separate inquiry by another lawyer, Tracey Levy, to “receive and investigate allegations of sexual harassment or otherwise inappropriate conduct by musicians or other current employees of the Philharmonic.”

It is unclear when a permanent successor to Ginstling will be named.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.