FISCAL WOES FOR OAKLAND, SAN DIEGO SYMPHONIES

Faced with a record deficit of $965,801 and the resistance of its musicians to reopen contract negotiations, the Oakland Symphony has filed for liquidation.

In July, to help defray the deficit, the orchestra association reduced the coming season from 73 events to 36, thereby lowering the budget from $3.75 million to $2.5 million. However, to present this shortened season, the musicians’ approval of a new contract was needed. According to a spokeswoman for the 52-year-old orchestra, the association received no response from Local 6 of the Musicians’ Union.

In August, orchestra management filed for reorganization when cash assets were listed as totaling $117,290. By last week, the spokeswoman said, those funds had been virtually depleted.

The San Diego Symphony, still trying to fight off financial problems, has told its musicians that any new contract must include a 15% pay cut.

The warning from symphony association president Herbert Solomon came Monday. Musicians said their salaries would be the lowest of any in the country if they accepted the pay cut.

The 89 musicians, meanwhile, have not been paid in more than a month.

It was less than a year ago that management said it would file for bankruptcy protection unless it immediately raised $2 million to pay off its accumulated debt. The emergency money was raised in less than two weeks.

On Monday, Solomon said the orchestra was postponing a five-part musical series called “Sounds Unusual” to save money. The regular orchestra season will begin as scheduled Oct. 23, he said.

“If we do not take the painful medicine (of pay cuts), there is a serious risk as to whether the patient will survive. The patient is the symphony and if the symphony doesn’t survive, then the ones who will suffer obviously the most will be the musicians themselves,” Solomon said.