Philharmonic Born in Wake of Symphony Cancellation

To the chagrin of the San Diego Symphony Assn. leadership, a new orchestra has been formed with the announced purpose of filling the vacuum created by the cancellation of the symphony season.

Called the San Diego Philharmonic, the orchestra will present concerts by the symphony’s out-of-work musicians. The symphony canceled its winter season last week due to stalled contract talks with the musicians.

“The purpose is to sponsor musical symphonic performances in San Diego during the period of time when they are not otherwise available,” said attorney Charles Froehlich Jr., who conceived the new musical organization. Froehlich’s wife, Millicent, is a violinist in the San Diego Symphony.

Attorney Lew Silverberg, who was elected as the philharmonic’s first president, denied that the philharmonic--which was formed Wednesday night--is “an alternative orchestra.”

“We thought it would be desirable to have some means for symphonic music to be performed,” Silverberg said. He said the philharmonic will provide the musicians a reason to stay in San Diego and to keep their playing skills honed.

“We fully expect to terminate when the symphony resumes,” Silverberg said.

Symphony President Herbert J. Solomon was not pleased to learn of the new, albeit temporary, orchestra.

“I don’t think it’s in the best interest of the community,” Solomon said. “I don’t think it’s constructive for the community or the musicians. Anything that gives encouragement to the musicians to continue their unwillingness to understand and accept the financial realities of the San Diego Symphony delays the musicians’ entering into a renewal of their agreement with the symphony on a responsible basis. It’s detrimental to the best interests of the symphony association.

“If the musicians want to form a separate organization and discontinue their relationship with the San Diego Symphony, maybe that’s an alternative,” Solomon said.

The players have independently scheduled several performances, such as a concert Tuesday night at the East County Performing Arts Center in El Cajon, to generate some funds.

The players have not been paid by the symphony since Sept. 15. Virtually all are receiving unemployment checks and weekly checks from the musicians’ union strike fund. (The musicians have not struck, but were locked out by the symphony association.)

Berton said the idea behind the new organization was to put performances, such as those already planned, under the umbrella of the nonprofit philharmonic.

Berton heads the players’ negotiating team in talks with the symphony association and is a member of the philharmonic’s board of directors.

However, no board or staff members of the symphony were invited to be on the philharmonic’s board, a philharmonic spokesman said, because of a potential legal conflict connected with the labor talks.

“I don’t think the (philharmonic’s) express purpose is to take over as our employer, but if it can provide the musicians with any additional income it would be helpful,” Berton said. “There’s always the potential of draining off money that could go to the symphony, but that’s not the intent.”

At Wednesday’s organizational meeting, philharmonic directors discussed the possibility of approaching COMBO, the private local arts funding body, for funding. COMBO senior vice president Diane Annala was sent a copy of the minutes of the meeting. Annala said no funds were available.

“We allocate our funds annually,” she said. “Those for the symphony are in escrow and cannot be touched.”

On Thursday, COMBO suspended its monthly symphony funding for two months because of the season cancellation.

Silverberg was unsure where the funding for the new orchestra’s concerts would come from or what concerts the philharmonic would schedule. “We have no device at the moment to pay the musicians,” he said. “We’re not sure where we’ll get our money, where we’ll get our conductor or from where we’ll pull our symphony (musicians). We don’t want to detract from the (San Diego) symphony” fund-raising.

Besides Berton, other philharmonic board members are Silverberg, Maggie Mazur, Darryl Solberg, Gloria Melville and Paul Black.

Legally, the philharmonic is organized like the symphony as a charitable, nonprofit corporation.