DOS Orchestra 014 27-September-94

News from the world of professional orchestras.
Copyright 1994, International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians

Topics

Atlanta Symphony: Woodruff Center May Break Even

Officials of the Woodruff Center in Atlanta, of which the Atlanta Symphony is a division, announced on Sept. 21 that they anticipated that the facility would break even this year.

The annual fund campaign began on Sept. 21 with a kickoff event at which both US Poet Laureate Maya Angelou and NEA chairperson Jane Alexander spoke. Both women came because of personal ties to Ingrid Saunders Jones, an executive with Coca-Cola who is heading the campaign. Alexander said that with Jones as the first woman to head the campaign it was bound to be success.

Charles Glassick, president of the Woodruff Center, said "you can tell I'm excited about this year. We anticipate a balanced budget for the whole operation, and maybe even the symphony can get balanced operations."

The center has an annual budget of approximately $40 million. It lost a little less than $1 million in its last fiscal year, and has an accumulated deficit of around $5 million. The goal for this year is $4.7 million, while the four divisions of the center (the Atlanta Symphony, the Alliance Theater, the High Museum, and the Atlanta College of Art, raise another $5 million between them. In addition, the Woodruff Center is raising another $16 million for renovations, and has just completed a $30 million endowment campaign.

Woodruff Center chair James S. Balloun said "we are not absolutely out of the wilderness yet. We still have a serious crunch to deal with."

Chicago Symphony: Eschenbach Appointed to Ravinia Post

Christoph Eschenbach has been appointed music director of the Ravinia Festival, summer home of the Chicago Symphony. The announcement was made by Festival executive director Zarin Mehta on Sept. 27.

Eschenbach, who is currently music director of the Houston Symphony, succeeds James Levine to become the third music director of the festival. His contract, which runs for three years, calls for him to conduct three weeks of concerts in the summer of 1995 and four weeks in 1996 and 1997. Eschenbach, who is considered one of the finest pianists of his generation, will also perform and direct master classes at the Steans Young Artists Institute at Ravinia.

Of his appointment, Eschenbach said "Ravinia is a unique place, a perfect place. It's unique because it has a Rolls-Royce of an orchestra. It's great for me to realize my musical visions and dreams with this orchestra and to deliver music to an enthusiastic audience... It's important to continue what made Ravinia great in the last decades. Fortunately, I can give a little more than just conducting an orchestra."

Green Bay Symphony: Kiwi Hired as Executive Director

Michael Maxwell, former executive director of the Memphis Symphony, has been appointed executive director of the Green Bay (Wisconsin) Symphony.Maxwell, who is 58 and a native of New Zealand, moves from running an orchestra with a $2.2 million budget to one of $600,000. He resigned from his position in Memphis in November 1993.

The Green Bay Symphony is also looking for a new music director to replace long-time conductor Miroslav Pansky, who has retired.

Long Beach Civic Light Opera: Lovely Mimi Meter Maid

Downtown Long Beach Associates (DLBS) this week proposed to the Long Beach (California) City Council that parking meter rates downtown be raised from $.25 to $.50 per hour to support the Civic Light Opera and reduce its own dependence on Redevelopment Agency funds. John Morris, president of DLBS, an association of Long Beach businesspersons, said that DLBS would waive its portion of the increased revenue for two years and divert it to the opera company. Last week the City Council approved a grant of $490,000 to the financially troubled CLO, but the opera company is required to raise an equivalent figure in matching funds. The increased revenues from the proposed parking meter rates could be used to match the City Council appropriation.

New York Philharmonic Dedicates Opening to Moseley

The New York Philharmonic dedicated the opening of its concert season to past president, managing director and chairman Carlos Moseley, who will celebrate his 80th birthday on September 28th. Stephen Samas, current chairman of the orchestra's board of directors, said of the dedication, "it enables us to say thanks to Carlos for all he's done for us over the years. He's been the inspiration and the guiding force for the Philharmonic all these years."

Oregon Symphony: Surplus, Adams Commission Announced

Renowned American composer John Adams will pen a work to commemorate the Oregon Symphony's 1996 Centennial, announced Music Director and Conductor James DePreist today. The announcement was a highlight of the Symphony's 1994 Annual Meeting, held on stage at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. Outgoing Board Chairman William C. Scott cited a $4,000 surplus and substantial endowment growth as indicators that the Symphony is a more financially solid organization than it was two years ago: "Balancing the budget for two years has not been a simple task," said Scott, "and it in no way guarantees that the financial challenges of recent years are behind us. But I have confidence in Chair-Elect Bud Lindstrand's leadership -- and that he will take advantage of the upcoming Centennial season to raise more endowment, with the ultimate goal of covering predictable expenses with predictable income rather than relying on special annual fundraising to balance the budget."

The Annual Meeting began with remarks by Scott to mark the 10th anniversary of the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall (ASCH); he also recognized the 10th anniversary of the Heathman Hotel and thanked owner Wallace Stevenson and General Manager Mary Arnstad for the partnership that exists between the two organizations. More than two million people have attended Symphony concerts at the ASCH since it became the orchestra's full-time home; and Heathman sales have doubled in the past five years, growth that has been attributed in part to performing arts center activities. "Arts mean business," Arnstad has said.

Other artistic announcements by DePreist included the orchestra's first commercial telecast with KOIN-TV Channel 6. KOIN Vice President and General Manager Greg Veon presented a 10- minute preview of the 60-minute telecast, which will air locally as a Martin Luther King Day special on Sunday, January 11, at 8 p.m. The telecast will feature the Oregon Symphony's Sept. 11 performance of Joseph Schwantner's "New Morning for the World: Daybreak of Freedom," in addition to interviews with Schwantner and others regarding the civil rights leader's legacy; it will be co-hosted by DePreist and KOIN anchor Ken Boddie. This first commercial telecast was made possible by a provision in the orchestra's new master agreement which allows for one free, local telecast per season.

An Oregon Symphony recording of the Schwantner work, in addition to the world premiere recording of Nicholas Flagello's "The Passion of Martin Luther King," will be released on KOCH International Classics around Martin Luther King Day. The recording is the Symphony's second with KOCH and will be its fifth classical recording.

Scott cited one key ingredient in the Symphony's growing financial stability as the Centennial Campaign: "Last December when we announced the Centennial Campaign we stood at $6.9 million," said Scott, "as of today we have received $10.5 million in pledges. We are particularly proud to have received a $I million challenge grant from the Meyer Memorial Trust in support of the Regional Touring Program." Scott extended the Symphony's "heartfelt gratitude" to the Meyer Memorial Trust and to all members of the Centennial Campaign's "Centennial Club," which is reserved for donors of $100,000 or more. Centennial Club donors include James and Ginette DePreist and a member of the orchestra.

Paris Opera: Fired Music Director Offers to Work for Free

Myung-Whun Chung, the music director of the Paris Opera who was fired by incoming director Hugues Gall for his refusal to accept changes in his contract, has offered to work for free until the year 2000 if the company abandons plans to eliminate 120 jobs.

At a press conference on Sept. 27, Chung said that his offer would save the Paris Opera $7.5 million over the next six years, while the planned firings of 120 company workers would only save the company $3.7 million. Chung said "120 people are going to be fired and they refuse a gift of F. 40 million." He also said that his offer is good only until October 14, when he is scheduled to conduct his last performance with the company.

Chung is currently paid $660,000 per year. The severance package negotiated between the opera and himself, after a French court reinstated him for the performances of Verdi's "Simon Boccanegra," is reported to total approximately $1.9 million.

Philadelphia Orchestra: Concertmaster Controversy

A major dispute erupted on Sept. 21 between the musicians and management of the Philadelphia Orchestra over management's attempt to bring in a guest concertmaster for the first concert, and recording session, of the new season. Malcolm Lowe, concertmaster of the Boston Symphony, had been hired by orchestra management to play concertmaster for one work on the concert, much to the surprise of the musicians, who were not notified in advance of Lowe's appearance at the first rehearsal on Sept. 21. An orchestra meeting was held before the second rehearsal of the day, and the musicians voted unanimously to boycott the upcoming recording session of the Four Last Songs of Richard Strauss, which features a very prominent and extended violin solo in one movement. John Koen, chair of the orchestra committee, called Lowe's hiring "a slap in the face" to associate concertmaster William de Pasquale, who signed a contract two weeks ago to serve as acting concertmaster for the season.

By the opening concert of the season on Sept. 23, management had backed down and de Pasquale was in the first chair, although Lowe's name was listed in the program. Philadelphia Orchestra president Joseph H. Kluger said "because of the controversy... we asked Mr. Lowe not to play." Regarding the upcoming recording, Kluger said "we've not determined if the recording will be made, but Lowe will not be making it."

At a meeting called by Kluger on Sept. 22, musicians complained that inviting Lowe to play the solo in the Strauss was insulting to the orchestra by implying that the acting concertmaster was not capable, that it set a dangerous precedent with regard to job security, and that hiring Lowe to play concertmaster for the upcoming recording session violated the orchestra's collective bargaining agreement. One musician said "this is just the latest in management's bloody insensitivity to its people." Kluger disagreed with the charge that Lowe's hiring violated the labor agreement,saying "this is not a legal issue but an emotional one...I think we have the right to do this, but I will not force it."

In a statement after the meeting, Koen said "all the players unanimously support our members and their ability to perform this repertoire." Lowe said that he was "deeply hurt" but felt "no hard feelings towards the orchestra, which I understand and support wholeheartedly."

The orchestra has been searching for a new concertmaster to replace Normal Carol, who retired in August. The position had been offered to William Preucil, first violinist of the Cleveland Quartet, but he had turned it down in favor of accepting the concertmastership of the Cleveland Orchestra. Orchestra officials denied that Lowe's hiring for the week would have constituted an audition, as had been widely speculated. According to the labor agreement, that would have required a vote by the musicians. Such a vote had been neither requested by management nor held by the musicians.

Western Piedmont Symphony: Symphony of the NASCAR 500

The Western Piedmont Symphony gave the premiere performance of "Burning' Rubber" by Edward Cionek on Sept. 24 as part of its 30th anniversary celebration. The 4 minute work, which was written at the suggestion of John Gordon Ross, music director of the orchestra, combines various loud noises with arrangements of some of Vivaldi's works. "He's using all sorts of instruments in this piece. He's got a Lion's Roar, which is a string drum that makes a low roaring sound," Ross said of Cionek. "He's got something called a Flexatone, which makes a vibrating sound, and a Thunder Sheet, which is a big piece of sheet metal that can give you a real loud roar... This piece will definitely clean people's ears out. It's going to be loud and it's going to be fun. It's not supposed to be a serious, intellectual piece, and it lives up to that billing."

The program also includes Mendelssohn's overture to "Athali," Copland's "Billy the Kid" suite, and the Rachmaninoff Piano Concert #3.
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