Symphony Opens 2nd Season on Note of Optimism

The couple who revived the Valley’s oldest symphony orchestra for three concerts last year will launch a larger second season tonight, relying on a shot of their own money and a measure of faith in the public.

Lois Johnson, music director of the San Fernando Valley Symphony, has scheduled the orchestra to perform in four subscription concerts and two special concerts in 1987.

In her most ambitious artistic undertaking yet, Johnson plans to assemble the Valley’s best church choirs to perform with the orchestra in the 9th Symphony at an all-Beethoven concert in October.

Johnson, 28, said this concert may mark a move from the symphony’s quarters in Reseda High School to the new 900-seat Excalibur Theater, if the group attempting to convert the former Woodland Hills movie theater is successful by then. If not, the concert will be held at the high school, she said.

At the moment, however, financing of the symphony’s second season depends as much upon good fortune as its hopes for a new home.

$10,000 Donation

Only tonight’s concert has been entirely paid for, with a $10,000 donation from Johnson’s 32-year-old husband, business lawyer William Johnson.

Lois Johnson said she expects to secure corporate sponsorship for a pops concert in May and a Christmas concert in December.

Other Valley organizations will help underwrite a performance at the Traditional Music Festival of California State University, Northridge in June, and a repeat of the orchestra’s appearance at a 4th of July celebration at CSUN North Campus.

But, she said, the symphony is depending on Valley residents to come forward with small donations to pay for the all-Beethoven concert in October.

“A lot of this is just on faith that things will happen,” Johnson said. “But last year things happened, and we’re just going to try it and hope they happen again.”

The Johnsons drew upon their business associations last year to revive a symphony orchestra that had been idle almost two years.

The orchestra folded under growing debt in the middle of its 1984 season, ending a string of 37 consecutive concert seasons during which such well-known composers as Henry Mancini and Elmer Bernstein were among its conductors.

Its leaders blamed the orchestra’s collapse on the effects of Proposition 13, the 1978 tax-cutting measure, and a lack of private donations. Throughout its history, the orchestra was publicly underwritten and charged no admission. With limited revenues, it drew upon a mix of professional and amateur musicians.

Started Charging Admission

Last year, the Johnsons set about putting the symphony on a professional footing, establishing an admission charge and staffing the orchestra entirely with union musicians.

The commitment to professionals required the symphony to raise about $10,000 per concert over proceeds from ticket sales, Johnson said.

The first major sponsor was an anonymous Japanese businessman recruited by William Johnson, who specializes in representing Japanese businesses.

Grants from Chevron USA and the Bank of America, along with ticket sales, helped subsidize the orchestra’s other two concerts, bringing the season to a close with a little excess cash, Lois Johnson said.

The symphony’s principal business effort this year will be building a paying membership, the lack of which she called the weakest point in last year’s revenue picture.

“Membership was a very small percentage,” Johnson said. “We’re going to walk the pavement. We’re going to go out and tell people what we’ve done. Tell them how much we are giving and challenge them to do the same.”

Whatever the response, the orchestra will not die, said Johnson, a Sun Valley violinist who studied at the Pierre Monteux School of Conducting in Maine before moving to Southern California several years ago.

The orchestra represents a rare opportunity to fulfill her goal of conducting, and she and her husband don’t intend to let it slip away easily, she said.

“If things get real, real bad, the Johnsons are going to make sure it goes as much as we can,” Johnson said. “But we don’t want to just keep it going by ourselves. We want everyone to participate.”

Tonight, the symphony will perform “Fanfare for the Common Man” by Aaron Copland, Wind Divertimento by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber, “William Tell Overture” by Gioacchino Rossini and Symphony No. 3 by Robert Schumann. Curtain time is 8 p.m. Tickets are $10.