ATHERTON STAYS ON AT SAN DIEGO

SAN DIEGO — David Atherton, the San Diego Symphony’s music director, has signed a new three-year contract, the orchestra announced Thursday.

Atherton’s contract, which will extend through the summer of 1989, is the first multiyear pact that he has reached with the orchestra since he signed on as music director in 1980 for a four-year period. The contract’s financial details were not revealed.