Ricardo Morales, the incoming principal clarinetist of the New York Philharmonic and the orchestra's most touted acquisition in recent history, has suddenly resigned, citing family reasons. He was to start in September but will now return to the Philadelphia Orchestra where he has been the principal clarinetist since 2003.

"We are pleased to have him rejoin the Orchestra," said the Philadelphia Orchestra is a brief statement. Messages left at Morales's office in Philadelphia were not immediately returned.

A much sought-after orchestral player, Morales was to have succeeded Stanley Drucker, the New York Philharmonic’s principal clarinetist who retired in 2009 after 60 years in the job. Morales was the subject of a long courtship before he was officially hired in April 2011.

The Philharmonic had built one of its June 2013 subscription concerts around Morales, planning to feature him as the soloist in Aaron Copland’s Clarinet Concerto, a signature work and the very piece with which Druckner ended his tenure in 2009.

The new appointment would also have enabled Morales to solidify a base in New York, where he serves on the faculty of the Juilliard School, and where he got his first major job as principal clarinetist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra at age 21. He also teaches clarinet at Temple University and the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.

Morales's wife, Amy Oshiro, is a violinist in the Philadelphia Orchestra.

“The New York Philharmonic wishes Mr. Morales well in his future endeavors,” the orchestra said in a statement.