Musicians Union and LACO Out of Tune?

O, the doing and undoing O, the sighing and the suing --W. S. Gilbert

The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra has had more than its share of financial crises and managerial and administrative changes over the years. But the musical unit put onstage has been remarkably durable and consistent in personnel.

The orchestra began this season, however, with a new music director, Iona Brown, appointed in February. She is only the third person to hold that position since the ensemble gave its first concert in October, 1969.

LACO also began the season without Paul Shure, its concertmaster of the previous 14 seasons, and Janet Lakatos, a member of the orchestra since 1975 and principal violist since 1979.

And therein lies a tale. It is, however, a tale told only reluctantly and partially--or not at all--by the principal actors.

The parting has not been amicable. On Oct. 22, attorneys for American Federation of Musicians Local 47 filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court on behalf of Shure and Lakatos--who have taken no other legal actions--asking for compensatory damages and $1 million in punitive damages. The next evening, union workers distributed leaflets before the orchestra’s season-opening concert, asking the audience not to applaud Iona Brown on her entrance as a form of protest.

The suit names Brown, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, board of directors president Ronald Rosen, executive director Deborah Rutter and 20 Does as defendants and lists six causes of action: breach of contract; breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing; fraud and deceit; negligent misrepresentation; intentional infliction of emotional distress, and invasion of privacy.

Lakatos says she postponed a vacation departure April 1 to meet with Rosen and Rutter at their urgent request. She was told then that “when we send out renewals (for the next season), you won’t be getting one,” as she recalled in a recent interview. According to the suit, Rosen told Lakatos that the orchestra management did not have to give her a reason for her release, and intimated that it was due to “musical incompatibility.”

The following day, Shure attended a similar meeting, with similar results. He was told, according to the court document, that his contract would not be renewed because of “artistic differences.”

Both Shure and Lakatos completed the remaining engagements of the 1986-87 season. Neither, however, accepts the reasons they were given for not being renewed. They are not happy with either the action itself or the manner in which it was done.

“I resent this treatment,” Shure says. “I think it is insulting and demeaning.” Lakatos concurs: “I really feel that we were treated very shabbily.”

Brown’s role in the releases is unclear. Neither she nor the other defendants would comment directly on the lawsuit. In response to requests for interviews, Rosen told The Times in a prepared statement that “the orchestra acted properly and within the rights granted under the Collective Bargaining Agreement” and refused to comment publicly on personnel matters.

Brown, who is performing in Europe with one of her other ensembles, the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, did not respond directly to a reporter’s questions submitted via LACO management. Instead, she offered her own statement, expressing only her pleasure at working with the orchestra and her optimistic hopes for a long and happy relationship, and did not comment on the suit.

Shure and Lakatos trace the roots of the problem to the period following the resignation of Gerard Schwarz as music director in June, 1985. During the search for a new music director, LACO administrators and board members actively solicited the opinions of the orchestra’s musicians about each potential director, verbally and by questionnaire.

Shure and Lakatos freely expressed their reservations about the prospect of Brown’s selection to the position, they said. Brown is accustomed to leading small orchestras while playing her violin, either standing up in works in which she is also the soloist, or seated at the first desk. This practice, Shure and Lakatos felt, would restrict the type of repertory that the orchestra could play.

Brown, who was named music adviser during the search period for a new music director, led performances of a Vivaldi/Tchaikovsky program in January. According to Shure and Lakatos--and confirmed by other members of the orchestra--there was some tension between them and Brown during the preparation for those concerts. Both believe that Brown was apprised of their opinions regarding her suitability for the music director position, and state that they approached her to discuss matters, but were rebuffed.

When she was appointed music director the next month, Brown expressed no doubts or dissatisfactions with her new orchestra. In an interview with The Times in February, she described LACO as “a fantastic group of musicians, a great orchestra that still has enormous potential to go further. And we seem to have a marvelous working relationship.”

Little more than a month later, Shure and Lakatos were told that they would not receive contract renewals. Prior to the meetings with Rosen and Rutter, they were “given no indication that their engagements were not likely because of poor performance or for any other reason,” in the words of the suit.

Under the terms of the master agreement negotiated between the union and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra Society, staff musicians are offered a personal services contract each year. The agreement includes stipulations regarding the number and disposition of staff musicians in the orchestra and a clause that renewed musicians do not have to reaudition.

Tenure, however, is not included in the agreement. That may change, though, when the agreement now in force expires in May, 1989. Union president Bernie Fleischer foresees very difficult negotiations ahead, depending on how the suit is resolved.

LACO musicians, as represented by their Orchestra Committee, hope that resolution will take place out-of-court.

“The committee is neutral,” chairperson Kimaree Titmus says, “so that we can talk to both parties.”

So far, there has been no movement towards a negotiated settlement. A trial date has not been set, either, and LACO attorney Nancy Abell declined comment on her client’s future steps.

There have been indications, however, that not all members of the musicians’ union support the action taken on behalf of Shure and Lakatos. Musicians outside of LACO have questioned the decision to undertake such potentially extended legal efforts, which seem to them to benefit only a few members of the union.

Shure takes a different view of the matter.

“I did not instigate the lawsuit,” he stated in a recent interview. “The whole brouhaha is not so much over whether Janet and I should be in the orchestra, as whether the orchestra should treat the musicians this way.”

Fleischer concurs: “This action is being taken on behalf of all 15,000 members of our local, as well as Paul and Janet. The people who are doing this (contesting the union’s action) are a few disgruntled, jealous dissidents who have no idea about the current realities of American orchestras.”

Fleischer states that the orchestra was promised that no jobs would be lost as a result of hiring Brown--a promise that some members of the orchestra also report. He also notes that the union supported the orchestra in its most recent financial crisis, during the ‘84-85 and ‘85-86 seasons, when scheduled concerts had to be abruptly canceled.

“It’s been a long pull for us with that orchestra, it really has,” he stated. “We feel that the musicians have sacrificed a lot for this orchestra, and so has the union.”

pichar

Shure and Lakatos--who continue working in recording studios and serve as concertmaster and principal violist, respectively, of the Pasadena Symphony--have yet to be replaced. As a result of other resignations, LACO played its assignments with Music Center Opera and preseason concerts with flutist James Galway with a viola section composed entirely of temporary players, led by an acting principal. The section positions have now been filled, but no schedule has been set for hiring a new concertmaster or principal violist.

Otherwise, the orchestra is working normally. Those members of the orchestra who were interviewed deny any tension in rehearsals as a result of the lawsuit. “We want to work together with the music director to have the best music experience possible,” Titmus stated.

The number of players in the orchestra varies from concert to concert, depending on the repertory, but averages around 30. Personnel expenses accounted for $1.2 million of the orchestra’s $1.7 million total expenses in 1987. The financial implications of the lawsuit are uncertain. When asked if the orchestra carried any type of liability insurance that might pay the costs of a decision for the plaintiffs, an orchestra spokesman responded that “that is not germane to the story.” When LACO attorney Nancy Abell was asked if she is taking the case pro bono --because even winning the suit could leave large legal bills--she replied that she was not in a position to comment about that.

Board president Ronald Rosen and executive director Deborah Rutter, however, face the future with optimism and enthusiasm. “Iona gives us a strong identity as a chamber orchestra, that we’re not just a small symphony orchestra,” Rosen states.

A formal extension of Brown’s contract beyond its current three-year period has not been made, but planning is well under way for events celebrating the bicentennial of Mozart’s death in 1991 (which is also the year of Brown’s 50th birthday). The orchestra plans an emphasis on American music for next season, hoping to commission new works and establish some sort of composer-in-residence program.

LACO is also applying to the National Endowment for the Arts for a challenge grant to create a cash reserve, with the establishment of an endowment the ultimate goal. A U.S. tour is projected for the ‘89-90 season, with a European tour the following season. According to Rutter, major record companies are interested in increasing the orchestra’s already impressive discography.