GETTING OVER MONDAY EVENING BLAHS

There’s no denying it, says Dorrance Stalvey, these have been tough times for Monday Evening Concerts. In recent years, audiences have dwindled, season subscriptions have dropped and more than one critic has questioned the viability of the venerable new-music forum.

The 56-year-old director of music programs for the sponsoring County Museum of Art chooses his words carefully in discussing the problems that have plagued the series, which opens its 49th year this week at the Bing Theater with a performance by the contemporary Swedish group Sonanza.

“This has been a difficult transition for us,” he says, referring both to the change in control, two years ago, from the now defunct Southern California Chamber Music Society to the museum itself and to the nearby construction of the Robert O. Anderson Building, due to be completed next month.

Stalvey claims that the latter has served as an obstacle for patrons: “It’s hard to measure the effect (of the construction), but it does make it hard to get to the hall.” The change in leadership, he emphasizes, is a larger factor, resulting in what he terms “the loss of a lot of loyalties.” Asked to clarify, Stalvey obfuscates: “There have been a lot of unfortunate hard feelings that I hope are mended. A lot of what happened was beyond my control, but now it’s time to cultivate new loyalties.”

Regarding the question of museum support, he similarly remains guarded, refusing to divulge or discuss the budget. Have audiences simply soured on the series? “Through the transition, subscriptions have deteriorated. Now we rely mostly on single-ticket sales. Apparently they don’t want the whole package, but prefer to pick what they want.”

What they want, Stalvey believes, is more contemporary music. The 10 events for this season represent “a shift in scope. There is no early music now. The concerts are truly 100% of what they were noted for: presenting music that is unknown in this community.”

In addition to the banishment of pre-20th-Century music (repertory, he points out, that is already well represented in Southern California), Stalvey notes also that the short-lived Day Before Monday and Never on Monday series have also been eliminated. “They weren’t unsuccessful,” he insists. “This move is simply what I did this year.”

The crowds, he feels, will return, as adventurous as always. “If they’re unhappy, they’ll let me know.” And the unhappiness of critics? Stalvey is unconcerned.

“Oh, I think things always look better that were. They (critics) tend to overlook the fact that reviews were bad back then, as well.”

HOMES AWAY FROM HOME: The Los Angeles Philharmonic will present concerts at three venues this week--none of them being the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

On Thursday, Kurt Sanderling (who will occupy the podium when the orchestra officially begins its season at the Pavilion on Oct. 16) will lead the Philharmonic at Segerstrom Hall, Costa Mesa, in Wagner’s “Meistersinger” prelude, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8 and two solo vehicles for violinist Isaac Stern--Dvorak’s Romance and Mendelssohn’s E-minor Concerto. Both violin works, incidentally, appeared on the same Hollywood Bowl program earlier this summer (played by Itzhak Perlman).

On Friday and Saturday, Sanderling and the orchestra will conclude the three-part Beethoven series, which begins tonight, at the Wiltern Theater. At these events, Peter Roesel will be soloist in the five piano concertos.

Next Sunday the orchestra, led by Rachael Worby in the morning and Henry Lewis in the afternoon, makes its annual visit to the Peninsula Music Fair in Palos Verdes.

IN BRIEF: In January, the Joffrey Ballet will launch an apprentice program in Los Angeles, consisting of classes (held at Michelle Mazur’s studio in Encino) and scholarships to aid promising students at their own schools. When the company is in town, Artistic Director Robert Joffrey will preside at the studio. This move marks the first step in the establishment of a Joffrey Ballet Scholarship School here, serving as a feed into the Joffrey II company. Information: Joffrey Ballet, 135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles 90012.

The Cologne Opera has appointed James Conlon, 36, as chief conductor for the 1989-90 season. Conlon, a native of New York, signed a four-year contract with the West German company. He has served as music director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic for the last three years. The Cologne Opera currently is conducted by Sir John Pritchard, who will remain in Cologne as the first permanent guest conductor under Conlon.

Speaking of Germany, Joseph Silverstein and his Utah Symphony recently completed a ground-breaking visit to East and West Berlin, the first U.S. ensemble to do so on the same tour, which ends on Friday. Samuel Barber was the only non-German composer represented in the repertory. The itinerary also included stops in Yugoslavia and Austria.

Roy Travis, a veteran member of the UCLA music faculty, has been named as a recipient of an award presented annually by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.