DOS Orchestra #47 - 2 December, 95

News from the world of professional orchestras.
Copyright 1995, International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians

Topics

Akron Symphony: First Recording

The Akron Symphony has released the first recording in its history, a CD of works of three African-American composers.The CD, which is on the Telarc label, went on sale on November 18 at a a performance by the orchestra of works of Billy Childs, David Baker and William Banfield. The CD features jazz vocalist Carmen Lundy and percussionists Thomas Kelley and Nana Yaw Asiedu performing with the orchestra. Akron Symphony music director Alan Balter, an accomplished clarinetist, plays on the CD as well as conducts.

The release is the result of a three-year project of the Minority Outreach Committee of the Greater Akron Musical Association, the orchestra's parent organization. All three works were commissioned by the orchestra for performance and recording.The project was partly funded by the orchestra's "Gospel Meets Symphony" benefit concert, which featured orchestra members performing with singers from Akron area church groups and choirs.

Boston Symphony: Perahia Cancels

Pianist Murray Perahia canceled several performances with the Boston Symphony during the week of November 13. Perahia has had hand problems for the past several years, but has been accepting engagements for this season. BSO management announced on November 9 that Perahia had informed them that he had not fully recovered from recent surgery on a thumb.

Robert Levin, noted Mozart scholar and performer currently on the faculty at Harvard University, will replace Perahia in performances of the Mozart concerto in E flat (K. 484) with the orchestra conducted by Bernard Haitink.

Buffalo Philharmonic: Merger Discussions on Hold

The interim executive director of the Buffalo Philharmonic announced on November 21 that merger discussions with the management of the Rochester Philharmonic had been put on hold.

Joseph E. Goodell told the Buffalo ~News~ that the orchestras were "very close" to agreement before the talks were postponed by the Rochester management, which is currently trying to obtain concessions from its musicians.

Nan Harman, president and CEO of the Rochester Philharmonic, declined to comment on the merger discussions "until our contract is resolved." But she did tell the Buffalo ~News~ that she had had "ongoing discussions with Buffalo about the possible efficiencies we could gain." The current collective bargaining agreement in Rochester includes a "no merge" clause, and the Rochester board is reportedly split on the issue. Musicians in both orchestras have criticized the concept.

Both orchestras have taken repeated salary cuts over the past several seasons. The Buffalo orchestra had suspended operations twice during the 1993-94 season, and canceled most of the 1995 summer season. In September, the musicians of the orchestra voted to accept a one-year contract that lowered their annual income from $28,879 to $23,008.

Chicago Symphony: Cheeseheads in the Windy City

from the management of the Chicago Symphony, November 29:

Chicago Symphony Orchestra Executive Director Henry Fogel announced today that Kraft Foods will sponsor the Orchestra's popular series of family concerts. This season's four-concert program has been renamed the ~Kraft Family Matinee Series~.

Kraft Foods has taken on the sponsorship of the family concert series in honor of John M. Richman, retiring chairman of The Orchestral Association and former Chairman and CEO of Kraft.

"In recognition of Mr. Richman's work with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, all of us at Kraft would like to pay tribute to him by providing a special grant to become the new sponsors of the family matinee series," said Kraft Chairman and CEO Robert S. Morrison. "The ~Kraft Family Matinee Series~ of concerts will reach twenty thousand children of all ages. It particularly targets families from the Greater Chicago area who would not normally have the opportunity to attend a concert at Orchestra Hall. This series is often a child's first introduction to symphonic music, and we at Kraft are extremely pleased to be a part of that special mission."

Formerly known as the Weekend Family Matinee Series, these performances are a favorite with families who wish to expose their children to classical music and education through exciting, live entertainment.

"We are grateful and thrilled at the generous support offered by Kraft Foods for our family concert series," Mr. Fogel said in response to the sponsorship. "This series has been special to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in that it provides engaging symphonic music to children and their parents in the context of lively, affordable presentations featuring musicians of the Orchestra and special guest artists. We are proud to have the support of Kraft Foods in making this possible."

Cincinnati Symphony: New (?) Concertmaster

Alexander Kerr has been appointed concertmaster of the Cincinnati Symphony, orchestra officials announced on November 29. Kerr, who had been appointed acting concertmaster after national auditions for the permanent concertmastership held in April, won the permanent position in a further set of national auditions earlier in the week. He was one of two finalists for the CSO concertmaster position in the April auditions. The most recent set of auditions produced five finalists.

Kerr, 25, has been concertmaster of the Charleston (SC) Symphony since 1993. He studied at the Juilliard School and the Curtis Institute.

Detroit Symphony Hosts Symposium

from PRNewswire, November 30:

This Saturday, December 2, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Unisys Corporation will host a symposium titled "The African-American Composer: Literary Influences Past & Present." The event will take place from 1 to 3 p.m., at the Focus:HOPE Center for Advanced Technologies at 1400 Oakman Boulevard, between Linwood and LaSalle streets, in Detroit. The event is free and open to the public. Reservations can be made for groups or individuals to attend by calling Detroit Symphony Orchestra Hall at 313-833-3362, Ext. 138. Focus:HOPE is a 27-year old Detroit civil and human rights organization.

The symposium will be accessible on a national scale, via ECI Teleconferencing System. Individuals or groups can register to audit the event by calling the Detroit Symphony Orchestra at 313-833-3362, Ext. 138. Eight historically black colleges around the country have been designated as hubs for two-way communication during a Question & Answer portion of the symposium. They include such institutions as Howard University in Washington DC, Morehouse College in Atlanta, and Tuskegee University in Tuskegee, Alabama.

Featuring a panel of respected artists and scholars, the symposium will offer a dialogue on the subject of the composer and the written word, and issues facing the classical music industry and African- American musicians. The symposium is the conclusion of the educational and outreach program titled the Unisys African-American Composers Residency & National Symposium, which brought two resident Composers to Detroit this year: Grammy-nominated composer and Harvard University lecturer Anthony Davis, and Jonathan Holland, a Michigan native, currently a student at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.

Panelists for Saturday's symposium include 1995 Unisys Composers-in-Residence with the DSO, Anthony Davis (author of the opera X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X) and Jonathan Holland; composer and poet Dr. Frederic Tillis, Professor of Afro-American Music at the University of Massachusetts; world-famous poet and civil rights activist, Dr. Nikki Giovanni; composer/poet/author Dorothy Rudd-Moore, composer of the opera "Frederic Douglass;" conductor/composer/arranger/ pianist William Appling, Director of Choral Activities at Vassar College; and author/poet/critic A.B. Spellman, Associate Deputy for Program Coordination at the National Endowment for the Arts.

Both the Composers-in-Residence with the DSO have a close relationship with the written word. The objective of the panel discussions will be to explore the influence of the written word on the creative process of composition. The symposium title reflects the DSO's plan to select a different arts discipline each year and to examine its influences on the composer. Future Unisys Symposiums may incorporate dance, the visual arts, or communications and technology as an integral theme.

The Unisys Composer Residency also involved Davis and Holland in a myriad of educational activities with Michigan audiences, July through December. The program also provided a commission for Jonathan Holland to complete a new work which receives its World Premiere by Music Director Neeme Jarvi and the DSO. Holland's new work titled "Fanfares and Flourishes on an Ostinato," as well as the piece "Notes from Underground" by Anthony Davis, will be featured on the DSO's subscription concerts this weekend, November 30 through December 2, 1995.

Internal Revenue Service: Musicians 2, IRS Zip

Two musicians with the New York Philharmonic who won a landmark tax case against the Internal Revenue Service won an appeal of that decision by the IRS to a Federal appeals court.

The original decision, made in August 1994, restored the deduction that Richard and Fiona Simon claimed regarding their two Tourte bows. The Simons had claimed 21% depreciation on the bows, which cost $21,500 and $20,000. The IRS claimed that the bows were works of art that appreciated with the passage of time, while the Simons, represented by Arthur Pelikow of New York City, contended that the bows were tools that were subject to wear and tear and thus depreciable under revisions to the tax code made in 1981.

The 2-1 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit was handed down on October 13. It leaves the IRS with the options of going to the Supreme Court or trying to have the law changed by Congress.

Judge Ralph K. Winter, writing for the majority, found that the bows were tangible business property of a "character subject to the allowance for depreciation." He rejected the IRS's key argument that the phrase "of a character subject to depreciation" required a showing by taxpayers that the property in question has a "determinable useful life" as was required by tax regulations prior to 1981. In examining the legislative history of the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981, Winter concluded that "when a coherent regulatory system has been repudiated by statute, as this one has, it is inappropriate to use a judicial shoehorn to retain an isolated element of the now-dismantled regulation." He also wrote that, if the ruling gives "favorable treatment to past investment decisions that some regard as wasteful, such as a law firm's purchase of expensive antique desks," it was nonetheless "not our function to draw subjective lines between the wasteful and the productive."

Some of the Simon's ongoing legal expenses have been underwritten by Local 802 (New York City) of the American Federation of Musicians and by the International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians, which is continuing to encourage its members to contribute to a fund set up by Local 802 for this purpose.

Israel Philharmonic: Memorial Concert

The Israel Philharmonic performed a free concert on November 16 in Jerusalem in memory of assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. The concert, consisting of the Beethoven "Eroica" symphony and his third piano concerto, was conducted by Daniel Barenboim, who also was the soloist in the concerto. Leah Rabin, widow of the assassinated Prime Minister, attended the concert.

Barenboim and the orchestra visited Rabin's gave before performing the concert.

Memphis Symphony: Cello Stolen

A new member of the Memphis Symphony had his cello stolen on November 5. Stanley Morgan, a cellist with the orchestra and a doctoral candidate at the University of Memphis, reported that the car containing his instrument had been broken into while parked at a restaurant in East Memphis.

Morgan has offered a reward of $500 for the instrument. Anyone with information is urged to call (901) 458-6197.

Milwaukee Symphony: Budget Surplus (Just)

The Milwaukee Symphony ended its 1994-95 season with a budget surplus of $52, officials announced at the orchestra's annual meeting on November 16. Treasurer/Secretary James S. Cook reported income of $11,456,280 and expenses of $11,456,228 for the fiscal year ending August 31. Contributed income, including income from the orchestra's two endowment funds, rose by 9%, from $6,473,848 in 1993-94 to $7,056,929 in 1994-95. Earned income rose 2.2% from the previous year, from $4,304,331 to $4,399,351. Total expenses increased 9.2% from the 1993-94 figure.

This is the first time that the orchestra has reported a surplus since the 1991-92 season. Last season the orchestra reported a deficit of $95,000 after the musicians had agreed to a cut in the orchestra's season from 48 weeks to 41 weeks. The season before that, when the orchestra's board was demanding major concessions from the musicians, the orchestra ran a deficit of $900,000.

Allen M. Rieselbach, a partner in one of Milwaukee's largest law firms, was elected to a two-year term as president of the MSO by acclamation. Rieselbach replaces Edwin P. Wiley, who served a two-year term as president during the last part of the orchestra's negotiations with its musicians over the reduced season.

Philadelphia Orchestra: New Film

The Philadelphia Orchestra is the centerpiece of a new film to be shown at the Franklin Institute's Tuttleman Omniverse Theater. The six-minute film, which will be shown before feature films on the four-story movie screen, will be called "Symphony Philadelphia" and will debut on June 14, 1996. It replaces "Philadelphia Anthem," the Institute's first film, which had been seen by an estimated 3 million people attending the theater.

The new film opens with a shot of orchestra music director Wolfgang Sawallisch on the podium in an apparent re-creation of the opening shot Leopold Stokowski in Walt Disney's "Fantasia" - the first film that featured the Philadelphia Orchestra. In the new film, the orchestra performs excerpts from Stokowski's arrangement of Bach's "Wachet Auf!" and Dvorak "New World" symphony.

The film also features aerial photography of the city's famous landmarks.

Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra: Hogwood, McFerrin Re-up

Christopher Hogwood, principal guest conductor of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and Bobby McFerrin, the orchestra's Creative Chair, have both renewed their contracts through the 1997-98 season, orchestra officials announced on November 2.

Hogwood was a member of the orchestra's Artistic Commission, which replaced retiring music director Pinchas Zukerman in 1988. The commission included Hugh Wolf, now the orchestra's music director, as principal conductor, and John Adams as Creative Chair, in addition to Hogwood, whose title was director of music. As principal guest conductor, Hogwood has conducted 4 weeks of the orchestra's season.

McFerrin, who joined the orchestra's conducting staff in 1994, will lead the orchestra in one to two subscription concerts each season and an annual regional tour and the the orchestra's educational program.

San Diego Symphony: Board Votes to Downsize

The board of directors of the San Diego Symphony voted on November 19 to approve a budget of $5.7 million for the 1995-96 season. This budget would require cuts in expenditures of $3.8 million over previous budgeted amounts and will require the orchestra to fire six musicians to reduce its payroll to 75 full-time musicians. The adopted budget will also require reductions in the orchestra's season from 36 weeks to 27 weeks.

Music director Yoav Talmi told the San Diego ~Union-Tribune~ that he will not agree to the reduction in the orchestra's size. "I will not be a part of it... I will oppose it as strong as I can," he said.

Liza Hirsch Du Brul, who has been the musicians' chief negotiator for the past several years, told the San Diego ~Daily Transcript~ on November 19 that the union has not agreed to renegotiate the existing labor agreement, which was reached last season. That agreement began to restore some of the income that the musicians lost as a result of several rounds of concessionary bargaining and an 18-month lockout of the musicians by the orchestra's board.

"It is clear to the musicians that the board is still not engaged in finding true solutions," Du Brul told the paper. "The board still thinks the cure for the San Diego Symphony is its destruction, while the musicians are trying every avenue to try to save the organization."

Du Brul also said that the musicians had received a budget document from Edward J. McIntyre, the symphony association's attorney, last week. She said that it was not a proposal, but rather a budget document.

The musicians worked all night to put together a response to the document, but, according to Du Brul, "the musicians have never received a response - or even an acknowledgement (of their reply)." According to the ~Daily Transcript~, McIntyre had left town until December 2.

Board president Elsie Weston said she did not know until November 19 that McIntyre would not be available and was looking for other legal counsel.

The orchestra's executive director, Michael Tiknis, resigned last May, citing health concerns brought on by the pressure of trying to raise money for the orchestra, which was falling farther and farther behind in its contributed income goals. During Tiknis' two-year tenure with the orchestra, the orchestra's audience for the winter season had increased approximately 30% per year after several years of declining attendance, while attendance for the SummerPops season had doubled. In the wake of Tiknis' departure, the orchestra was run by Tom Morgan, president of the orchestra's board at the time. Much of the orchestra's development staff departed the orchestra under what Morgan called "various circumstances" shortly after Tiknis' resignation as well.

Financially, things went from bad to worse. An emergency fund drive to raise $2 million fell short of its goal by $500,000, while the orchestra has frequently failed to meet its payroll on time.

Welton Jones of the San Diego ~Union-Tribune~ reported on November 21 that the board's first choice to replace Tiknis as executive director had withdrawn his name from consideration after he had declined to accept the position until the organization's cash-flow problems were fixed.

Seattle Symphony: Benaroya Hall Design Revealed

from PRNewswire, November 29:

The Seattle Symphony today presented its design for the new downtown concert hall, describing it as a "once in a lifetime" project that will serve as a cultural center for all of Seattle and the Puget Sound region.

Deborah R. Card, executive director of the Seattle Symphony, officially announced the name of the new venue: Benaroya Hall, named in honor of benefactors Jack and Becky Benaroya, and their family. Scheduled to open in September 1998, the hall will be built on the full city block bounded by Second and Third Avenues, and University and Union Streets in downtown Seattle. Construction will begin in the spring of 1996 with the demolition of the Jones Building.

"Seattle will have, for the first time, a world class concert hall, a cultural center that showcases the best of our talent in a vibrant urban setting that offers sweeping vistas of Puget Sound," Jean Gardner, president of the Seattle Symphony said. "The new hall will also bring additional vibrancy and economic activity to the downtown core."

The Seattle-based firm of Loschky, Marquardt & Nesholm, one of the nation's premier architects of public assembly buildings, is designing Benaroya Hall. The hall will feature a lantern-like lobby surrounded by public arcades and garden spaces. "The design of Benaroya Hall seeks to capture the essence of Seattle: a cultural centerpiece which engages its urban surroundings and celebrates Seattle's distinctive character with extensive garden spaces, views of water and mountains, and a dramatic treatment of light and color that mimics the soft reflected light of a Seattle sunset," said Mark Reddington, LMN partner and project designer.

The main auditorium is built in the form of a large rectangular box, utilizing the same acoustic principles as the great traditional concert halls such as Boston Symphony and Grosser Musikvereinssaal in Vienna. The "shoebox" is a separate, isolated enclosure in the middle of the building. World-renowned acoustics expert Cyril M. Harris, of New York City, was hired in 1993. His stated goal is to "create the best concert hall in the world."

The design also includes a two-story public arcade with retail space along the length of Third Avenue.

The project will cost $109 million, including land, site development, and construction expenses. It will include two performance spaces, one seating 2,500 and the other 540; a restaurant; retail outlets that will be open during the day and at night; underground parking for 430 cars, and half an acre of open space that will include a Garden of Remembrance in honor of Washington state veterans.

Plans for the hall have been a matter of public discussion since 1986. Among the changes that have been incorporated into the design are a Second Avenue entrance to the Metro bus tunnel on Third Avenue, additional retail space on Second Avenue, and pedestrian amenities including display windows on the Union Street side of the hall, and additional windows in the facade along Second Avenue and University Street.

"Benaroya Hall represents an important cooperative effort between the public and private sectors," Gardner said. "The Symphony has undertaken a private fund-raising effort that will provide slightly more than half of the funds needed for the project, and the City will own the facility when we're done. We appreciate the support and input we have receive to date," Gardner said.

Although the Symphony will be its major tenant, Benaroya Hall will also provide a venue for other community arts groups, classical and popular guest artists, touring orchestras, lectures, films and other community events.

Card said the hall will give the Symphony and these other groups greater flexibility in frequency and timing of performances allowing for broad access for an expanding audience, thus engendering box-office success.

The Opera House is now booked 360 days a year. By relieving scheduling pressure on the Opera House, the move will give many of Seattle's performing arts companies more flexibility in scheduling special programs and extending the runs of their most popular offerings.

Card also announced the findings of an economic impact study that determined concert hall operations and patron expenditures are expected to generate annual revenue of $46 million (1998 dollars) state-wide, of which $34 million will be in King County. The study was produced by University of Washington professor, William Beyers, and expert in economic impact studies who has produced studies for The Seattle Mariners and the Corporate Council for the Arts.

The study also shows that direct project expenditures will yield business sales of $180 million (1995 dollars) in the state, with $142 million occurring in King County. The project will create the equivalent of nearly 1,700 jobs over the three-year construction period, resulting in $64 million in labor income.

Robert H. Wicklein, Project Director, announced that Baugh Construction has been selected as the general contractor.

"With the combination of LMN, Cyril Harris PhD, and Baugh, we have assembled a first-class team to create a world-class concert hall, truly a project of a lifetime that will be a civic treasure for many generations to come," Card said.

The main auditorium will include a 51-stop, $1 million pipe organ created by C. B. Fisk, Inc., of Gloucester, Mass., an internationally recognized builder of organs. Fisk built the Lay Family Organ in the new Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas and its currently building an organ for a new concert hall in Yokohama.

Plans call for the organ facade piping to be completed and installed by the opening of the concert hall in 1998 although the organ itself will not be ready for dedication until September 2000. This will be the first Fisk organ in the Northwest.

About $54 million in public money has been committed to the project; the remainder will come from private sources. The public monies include $40.77 million from the City of Seattle; $5 million from King County; and $8.1 million from the State of Washington State Department of Community Trade and Economic Development through the Corporate Council for the Arts' "Building for the Arts" program. Another $8.5 million will be earned through other funding activities such as the sale of transferable development rights (TDR's).

The remaining funds for the project will be raised through private donations. The $15 million donation from the Benaroyas initiated a "leadership gifts" phase of this private fundraising campaign in May 1993 followed closely by a $3 million gift from The Boeing Company.

Deaths

Anson Bianchini, a violinist with the San Francisco Symphony in the 1930's, died on November 9 at his home in Cupertino (CA). He was 81.

After leaving the orchestra during the Depression, Bianchini joined his father's flower business. He eventually started his own nursery on Cupertino.

Bianchini was active in the Host Lions Club in Cupertino, where he helped initiate the national Lions Flag Day. The Cupertino club coordinated a distribution of American flags to Lions Clubs throughout the U.S. every year for distribution to schools.

He is survived by a daughter, a brother, six grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
Roland Gamble, an original member of the Akron Symphony and a long-time music educator with the Hudson (OH) schools, died on November 11 at the age of 66.

Gamble, an Ohio native, received bachelor's and master's degrees from Kent State University, where he studied horn. He spent 28 years with the Hudson school district, where he directed the high school band and served as head of the music department before retiring in 1983.

He is survived by his wife, Ann Lee, two sons, and one grandson.
Paul Orlando, the editor of ~Stagebill~, the Philadelphia Orchestra's program guide, died on November 20 in Philadelphia of liver cancer. He was 37.

Orlando joined the orchestra's staff in 1982 after graduating from Trinity College in Hartford (CT), where he majored in German and minored in music. He moved to the orchestra's subscription staff to the publication and education department in 1987, and was named program editor in 1992.

Joseph H. Kluger, the president of the orchestra association, praised Orlando's knowledge and ability. "His knowledge of symphony music and the Philadelphia Orchestra's history was astonishing... it was genuinely encyclopedic and a precious resource to the rest of the staff. [His] devotion to the Philadelphia Orchestra... was inspiring," said Kruger.

He is survived by his parents, two brothers, and a sister.
Copyright 1995, International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians

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