Pacific Chorale Director Says He Welcomes Merger Talks : Meeting With Master Chorale Would Address Competitive Issues, Alexander Declares

Lately, all the news has been about the other chorale. You know, the one whose music director resigned suddenly in October . . . the one that just named a new music director. . . . When mentioned at all, the Pacific Chorale has been linked to the other chorale as a candidate in a possible merger.

The big question these days is whether two chorales in the county are one too many.

Pacific Chorale music director John Alexander is hardly ready to throw in the towel, though he does see some positive benefits coming from merger talks.

“These talks don’t come as a surprise to me,” he said during a recent interview at his home in the Hollywood Hills. “I was active in initiating them, and they were instigated by our board.”

The talks, he said, would squarely address the issue of competition between the Pacific and the Master Chorale of Orange County: “The two organizations have been in competition for years. We’ve both said that we’re not, but the truth is, we are . . . for the same dollars and a place in the county.”

The way Alexander sees it, though, the first purpose of any merger talks should be to determine the function of each chorale.

“If we determine our function is the same, then the merger makes sense,” he said. “But if the Master Chorale has a different function, then this merger is the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard of.”

Alexander wouldn’t venture an answer for the Master Chorale, but he is clear as to the function of the Pacific, which will sing at the Orange County Performing Arts Center Saturday at 8 p.m.

Along with offering its own season, “we have been a professional chorale service organization,” Alexander said.

The group has worked “for the Ojai (Festival), for Hollywood Bowl for the past seven or eight years. We’ve been with Orange County Philharmonic Society since the mid-70s. We’ve dealt with scores of professional conductors who ask for us when they come back.

“That’s the reason we’re so busy. We have a long history of working with them. We’re not a little local group trying to make it.”

Alexander said the Pacific Chorale also has “a long-term investment with the Pacific Symphony”--which has recently appeared in concert with the rival Master Chorale.

At least partly because of that rivalry, Alexander isn’t sure a merger would be easy to pull off, regardless of whether one proves necessary on financial grounds or advisable for artistic reasons.

“Artistic leadership is a difficult nut to crack,” he said. “It would be foolish to pretend that the Pacific Chorale would be content to be told that John Alexander would have to depart. I have been artistic director for 18 years.

“Then there would be a natural resentment from people in the Master Chorale who don’t know me and should decide to come in.

“Am I scared? Worried? Just the opposite.”

Indeed, Alexander’s future looks rosier than ever. From June 23 to July 9, he will take 100 Pacific Chorale singers to summer festivals in England, Belgium and France. Before that he will take his Cal State Northridge group, the 40-member University Singers, on a three-week tour to the Soviet Union.

Then there is Purcell’s “King Arthur” at the Ojai Festival on June 3. The chorale has appeared at the Ojai Festival each of the last five years.

Still, his glasses aren’t exactly rose colored.

“All of our costs are creeping up,” he said. “Our budget is $450,000. We’re going to finish the year in the black. We are by no means swimming in funds, but we are financially secure. We sold (fewer) subscriptions this year than last, but only by about 200. We have more than 1,900 this year.”

He noted, however, that 1,900 concertgoers won’t fill the 3,000 seats in Segerstrom Hall: “Choral music is not a popular art form. You can see that in the community support, not just in Orange County but elsewhere. Opera is posh, symphony is posh. Choral music isn’t. People want it to happen, they approve of it, but (in terms of financial support) it’s the tip at the end of dinner.”

Still, Alexander does take pride in his own survival:

“Of the three music directors who had seasons at the beginning of the year, I’m the only one left.”

PACIFIC CHORALE

Saturday, 8 p.m.

Orange County Performing Arts Center, Costa Mesa

$10--$30

Information: (714) 542-1790