Itkin and the leaders of the Las Vegas orchestra have announced they have signed a “letter of intention” to appoint him as its new music director, effective July 1. His first concert there will be the orchestra’s annual July 4 outdoor “Star Spangled Spectacular.”

“We’re still working out some contract details,” Itkin said Saturday.

He will succeed Harold Weller, who founded the orchestra in 1998 and who is retiring. Weller will become the Philharmonic’s Founding Music Director / Conductor Laureate for life, according to a news release from the Las Vegas orchestra.

“David Itkin will bring extraordinary vision and energy to our organization and our community,” said Philharmonic Executive Director Philip Koslow in the release.

Itkin beat out more than 250 applicants for the position in a two-year selection process that included a guest-conducting spot in November 2006 with cellist Matt Haimovitz.

The Las Vegas Sun described Itkin’s program — the Overture to Beatrice and Benedict by Hector Berlioz, Samuel Barber’s Cello Concerto and Symphony No. 5 by Sergei Prokofiev — as risky because it was music that was “challenging for the orchestra and the audience.”

“It was kind of a go-for-broke program,” Itkin admitted, one that he thought would show off his strengths and the orchestra’s capabilities, including “what they would do if they were further challenged.”

Itkin got high marks from the audience and critics for his pre-concert lecture and comments during the performance, something he regularly does for Arkansas Symphony audiences, and he also had the support of the orchestra’s players.

He is choosing programs and guest artists for the Philharmonic’s 2007-08 season, which includes six classical concerts or concert pairs, three “Connoisseur Series” chamber concerts and several “special events,” such as the annual July 4 concert.

Itkin will continue as music director of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, which he has led since 1993, and the Abilene (Texas ) Philharmonic, which he took over in 2005.