DOS Orchestra #48 - 14 December, 95

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

Topics

Boston Symphony: New Wind Players

Music director Seiji Ozawa has appointed two new members of the Boston Symphony's wind section: Scott Andrews, second clarinet, and Mark McEwen, second oboe. The orchestra announced the appointments on November 30.

Andrews is a graduate of the New England Conservatory and has played as a substitute musician with the Boston Symphony and the Boston Pops. He studied with former BSO principal clarinetist Harold Wright, as well as with Sidney Forrest and Edward Knakal. He joins the orchestra on January 1, replacing William R. Hudgins, who was appointed BSO principal clarinet in August 1994.

McEwen, a native of Canada, graduated from the Curtis Institute and has played with the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, the Florida Orchestra, and the Milwaukee Symphony. He will join the orchestra next season, replacing Wayne Rapier.

Detroit Symphony: Bowing for Blood

The Detroit Symphony will sponsor one of two "Save-A-Life" blood drives at numerous Red Cross sites in the Detroit metropolitan area on December 23. The first 500 people who attempt to donate blood on that day will receive a single admission voucher for a select Detroit Symphony performance between January and June of 1996, as well as a CD of either jazz, pop. classical or Detroit Symphony recordings, compliments of Borders Books-Music-Cafe. Donors will also receive a reduced-rate voucher for the Doubletree Guest Suites-Southfield, as well as chocolate chip cookies from the hotel after their donation.

An ensemble from the Detroit Symphony Civic Orchestra will perform for blood donors at the Livonia donor center for two hours, while recordings of the DSO will be played at all the sites.

The second blood drive, to be held on December 30, will be sponsored by the Michigan Opera Theater and the Ritz-Carlton, Dearborn.

"Both of the Save-A-Life Saturday blood drives are vital to making sure blood is available to area patients who have to spend their holidays in the hospital," said Dan A. Waxman, M.D., principal officer of the Southeastern Michigan Blood Services Region. "Without an adequate blood supply, hospitals may be forced to postpone or cancel some treatments and elective surgeries until after the holidays."

Florida Philharmonic: President Quits, Conductor Raises Money

Florida Philharmonic president Richard Schmidt resigned on December 5, citing differences with executive director John Graham and music director James Judd over the orchestra's future.

Schmidt said he decided to quit Judd and Graham refused to cut the orchestra's budget for next season from $10 million to $6.5 million. Schmidt's proposed reductions came after a $3 million fund drive produced only $800,000. "We've not been successful in getting the orchestra's Dade County leadership to recognize the seriousness of the problem; to accept responsibility and come on board," Schmidt told the Miami ~Herald~. " I thought I would find that, but I did not."

Judd told the paper that Schmidt's proposal was "draconian... there's absolutely no way that we could have an orchestra of any quality with such a budget. I know we have an enormous hurdle to overcome in raising money, but I just don't believe the community will let us die."

Graham said the proposal would require major changes in the orchestra's season. "You'd have to cut a 41-week season back well below 30 weeks," he told the paper.

Upon his resignation, Schmidt made a contribution of $50,000 to the orchestra.

Two days later, Judd announced that he was relinquishing his conducting responsibilities for two months in order to raise money and help reorganize the orchestra's board. "I'm not interested in overseeing the deterioration of this orchestra," he said in announcing the highly unusual move, which Catherine French, executive director of the American Symphony Orchestra League, called "a remarkable declaration of commitment."

Although the orchestra's subscription sales are at an all-time high, it is carrying an accumulated deficit of $2.3 million.

Judd said that he and Graham would be trying to identify new board leadership as well as raise money. He described the next two months as "do all or die," and said he hoped the period would decide "whether or not this community can support a quality orchestra."

Judd will return to conducting the orchestra on February 1 for five performances of Verdi's ~Requiem~ - not, one hopes, an omen.

Kentucky Opera: Hansel and Gretel and Borg and Weektor

The Kentucky Opera opened its inaugural run of Humperdink's "Hansel and Gretel" on December 2 with one musician and two technicians in the pit and a bunch of musicians in the street passing out leaflets to incoming patrons. The occasion was the debut of the "digitalized orchestra," a product of Bianchi & Smith, a Cincinnati-based group specializing in computer-generated theater music. The musicians on the street were members of the Louisville Orchestra, protesting what they saw as yet another obstacle to the orchestra's survival.

Thomas Smille, general manager of the opera company, said that the new technology is not designed to put musicians out of work, but rather, "this allows us to put singers _to_ work." He did admit that the company was saving tens of thousands of dollars by replacing musicians with computers. The company denied, though, that replacing the musicians was the reason for going digital, citing the unavailability of the Louisville Orchestra on account of an extended run of the Louisville Ballet's "Nutcracker."

The score for the opera was entered into a computer by a group of music students, while the sampled sounds were from a disk of instrumental sounds made by the Prague Symphony Orchestra. The two technicians in the pit keep the computer in synch with the production's conductor.

Reviews of the new system were mixed, with most criticism directed at the string sound. One observer noted that the computers sounded like "an elaborate theater organ." The system's creators, David Smith and Fred Bianchi, have said that "it would be accurate to say that a computer-based orchestra will soon be indistinguishable from the original." In what might be read as a tacit admission that such is not yet the case, the Kentucky Opera's advertisements for the production omitted any mention of the "orchestra."

La Scale: Strike Off the Flute

Musicians, choristers and stagehands at La Scala opera called off a threatened strike two days before the company's opening night performance of Mozart's ~The Magic Flute~ on December 7. Management and the house unions had reached a tentative agreement on a new labor agreement on December 1. The negotiations were made more difficult than usual by cutbacks in government funding for Italy's 13 city-run opera houses. Strikes had forced the cancellation of five pre-season performances.

The agreement did not stop workers from auto maker Alfa-Romeo from showing up at the premiere to protest job cuts at their company and condemn Italian Premier Lamberto Dini, who attended the performance. Animal-rights activists were also in attendance, shouting insults at fur-clad audience members.

Milwaukee Symphony: New General Manager

Robert H. Wilkins has been appointed general manager of the Milwaukee Symphony, orchestra officials announced on November 29. He will succeed Jean Hamilton, who left in November to assume a similar position with the National Symphony.

Wilkins comes to the MSO from the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, where he has been Director of Facilities, Broadcasting and Recording since 1979. During his tenure in St. Louis, the orchestra made over 60 recordings, 50 of which were nominated for Grammy awards and 4 of which actually won the prestigious prize.

Prior to joining the St. Louis staff, Wilkins was general manager of the Grant Park Festival in Chicago from 1976 to 1979, where he was responsible for the "initiation, planning, and construction" of the James C. Petrillo performance facility, according to MSO officials. He worked with MSO executive director Steven A. Ovitsky at Grant Park, where Ovitsky was artistic director and general manager until 1990. They also worked together at WNIU-FM at Northern Illinois University.

Wilkins will be responsible for the operational aspects of the orchestra, including artistic administration, contract implementation, seasonal planning, working with artistic and marketing personnel on long-term repertoire and programming, electronic media, and touring. He will assume his duties full-time in Milwaukee by February 1, 1996.

Minnesota Orchestra: Smaller Deficit than Expected

from the Minnesota Orchestra, December 8:

At its annual meeting today, the Minnesota Orchestral Association (MOA) celebrated its artistic and financial successes for the 1994-95 fiscal year, and honored Nicky B. Carpenter for her distinguished and unprecedented five-year tenure as chairman. Carpenter passed the gavel to Michael E. Shannon, who will serve a three-year term, and she was awarded the post chairman emeritus--the first time this honor has been bestowed in the Minnesota Orchestra's 93-year history.

MOA President David J. Hyslop also announced that the MOA has commissioned a work by Minnesota composer Janika Vandervelde in honor of Carpenter's tenure. This ten-minute original orchestral setting of the Chinese folk tale ~The Weaving of a Dream~ will be premiered by the Minnesota Orchestra on Sunday, December 8, 1996, during two afternoon Adventures in Music for Families concerts.

Both Carpenter and Hyslop also announced that the MOA continues to reduce its annual operating deficit, confirming today that its 1994-95 fiscal year ended on August 31, 1995, with a deficit of $654,000--$3,000 favorable to its projected budget loss of $657,000.

During the past four years the MOA has made significant gains in reducing its annual operating deficit. At its annual meeting two years ago, the MOA announced that it had cut its deficit in half--from $2.488 million to $1.25 million. Last year the MOA ended its 1993-94 fiscal year with a deficit of $801,000. The MOA's aggressive and successful long-range plan, adopted in June 1991, calls for a balanced operating budget at the close of the 1996-97 fiscal year. A deficit of $278,000 is projected for 1995-96.

"Our long-range plan works," Hyslop said, "thanks to hard work and creative thinking. The plan recognizes the need to balance the Minnesota Orchestra's artistic quality with financial parameters that eliminate operating deficits."

Working within a total operating budget of $22 million in fiscal 1994-95, Hyslop said, the MOA continues to increase earned revenue. Ticket sales for Orchestra concerts and presentations totaled 372,275, contributing $7.92 million in revenue, and the MOA surpassed its Annual Fund goal, raising $7.12 million from 22,000 donors. Increases in baseline operating expenses stayed below 3 percent.

Also during the 1994-95 fiscal year, the musicians and staff of the Minnesota Orchestra accepted a year-long wage freeze, which had a significant impact as the MOA reached its targeted deficit. "Our long-range plan process works because it is flexible," said Chairman Nicky B. Carpenter. "Last year we realized that we were going to face a larger-than-expected gap between revenues and expenses in upcoming years, and we undertook a major re-examination of the plan. Following an extensive review by our long-range planning committee, we were able to revise the plan to keep us on track toward a balanced budget in 1996-97. We are especially grateful to our musicians and staff for accepting a wage freeze during the 1994-95 fiscal year. We couldn't have met our goals without their contribution."

Carpenter also presented Douglas Leatherdale with the MOA's Distinguished Service Award for his outstanding work chairing the current $50 million endowment/capital campaign.

Saint Louis Symphony: Pledge with Strings

E. Desmond Lee, a retired businessman and member of the board of the Saint Louis Symphony, has pledged a "challenge gift" of $2 million upon his death to pay off the orchestra's debt to the State of Missouri.

The gift, which was reported by the St. Louis ~Post-Dispatch~ on October 30, has some conditions attached. Lee has stipulated that members of Civic Progress must donate $5 million to the orchestra and the orchestra's board, Friends of the Symphony, and others must give another $5 million in order for his bequest to be received.

Lee told the ~Post-Dispatch~ that "what I want to do is to provide an additional $10 million so we will ensure the Symphony having sound finances and a balanced budget for five years... my interest is that the organization is sound. We have a world-renowned orchestra, and I want it to continue that way."

The orchestra incurred the $2 million debt to the state in 1985, when it appealed for a state grant. The legislature extended the loan instead, along with a $1 million loan to the Kansas City (MO) Symphony. Both debts were originally due in 1993, but were extended to 1998. In 1994, Governor Mel Carnahan offered to forgive the debts for a series of free concerts throughout the state, but was forced to withdraw the offer after many legislators objected.

San Diego Symphony: Did She Turn Out the Lights?

Maureen McNamara, marketing director for the San Diego Symphony, has resigned effective December 8. McNamara was the last senior staff person remaining since the departure of executive director Michael Tiknis in April. Since then, the orchestra has lost its general manager, administrative and finance director, development director, and corporate sponsor development assistant.

The San Diego ~Daily Transcript~ reported on December 5 that Tom Bacchetti, the former executive director of the Atlanta Symphony, was under consideration to become interim executive director of the financially ailing San Diego Symphony.

The orchestra was able to meet its November payroll as a result of a gift of $250,000 in late November from Ellen Revelle Eckis, publisher of the ~Daily Transcript~.

People and Happenings

Liza Hirsch Du Brul, legal counsel to the Regional Orchestras Players Association and negotiating counsel to some of the largest American orchestras, has sharply reduced her negotiating activity to become District Director to San Diego Congressman Bob Filner (D-CA). This position involves being his surrogate when he is in Washington DC as well as supervising the ten-person staff of his San Diego office. Filner, the only Democratic congressman south of Los Angeles and west of Phoenix, is reportedly one of Speaker Newt Gingrich's targeted foes in the House of Representatives.

Du Brul, during a fifteen-year career as an orchestra negotiator, has represented the musicians of the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the San Francisco Opera, the Atlanta Symphony, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and many other American orchestras. She also served as co-counsel to ICSOM from 1983 to 1990, when her partnership with current ICSOM counsel Leonard Leibowitz was dissolved. She has been negotiating counsel in some of the most difficult orchestral labor negotiations of the past several years, including Milwaukee, Louisville, and the current situation in San Diego.

In a letter to her clients announcing her new position, Du Brul, who is fluent in Spanish, said that it "gives me a chance to use my bilingualism and to weigh in on more and broader issues as we hurl toward the millennium fighting threats against not only collective bargaining, but also many other basic rights and needs pertaining to all of us on the proverbial uphill side which cannot always be addressed within the musicians' union or the labor community in general." She also cited family concerns.

She will continue to represent the musicians of the Louisville Orchestra and their local union, ROPA, and the San Francisco Opera and Ballet Orchestras, with the approval of Counsel to the House Ethics Committee.
Esa-Pekka Salonen, music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, has been appointed Fellow of the Royal College of Music by the Prince of Wales. Salonen received the honorary title at a ceremony in London, along with fellow honoree and former Beatle Paul McCartney. Past Fellows have included Sir Thomas Beecham, Pablo Casals, Jean Sibelius and Richard Strauss.
Frederic Waldman, former music director of the Juilliard Opera Theater and Musica Aeterna, died at his home in New York on December 1. He was 92.

While at Juilliard, Waldman conducted the American premieres of Strauss' ~Capriccio~, Kodaly's ~Hary Janos~, and Britten's arrangement of ~The Beggar's Opera~.

He was born in Vienna on April 17, 1903. He studied with George Szell and Karl Wiegl, and assisted Strauss and Toscanini in the 1930's in various opera productions. He left Austria in 1935 for England and moved to New York in 1941, where he taught at the Mannes College of Music before joining the Juilliard faculty. He founded the Musica Aeterna Orchestra in 1961 with the assistance of the philanthropist Alice Tully.

Waldman is survived by his wife, Rachel Aubrey, and two step-children.
The disposition of a Stradivarius violin, lost in 1967 by a member of a UCLA student quartet who may have put the instrument on top of his car before driving off to a restaurant, was finalized on December 11. The University of California, Los Angeles, which had owned the "Duke of Alcantara" Strad before its disappearance, agreed to pay $11,500 to Teresa Salvato, who said that a relative had found the instrument near a freeway off-ramp in 1967.

The instrument was identified by a Northern California luthier. UCLA sued Salvato after she refused to return it.
Copyright 1995, International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians

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