Choice of Chorale Conductor Is Not the Only Problem

When merger talks between the Pacific Chorale and the Master Chorale of Orange County broke down--at least temporarily--last week, not everyone was surprised.

So what went wrong with the proposal that both groups embraced so optimistically earlier this year?

Foremost was the seemingly irreconcilable dilemma that had been hanging in the air virtually from the moment talks were announced in January: Who would lead the new organization?

Top contenders were John Alexander, who has been at the helm of the Pacific since 1971, and William Hall, appointed artistic director of the Master Chorale in March. Alexander is well-known and respected in Orange County; Hall has established an enviable reputation through leadership of his own Los Angeles-based chorale, which he continues to direct.

Which of them would get the job? Or would a third person be brought in? It was a problem to tax the wisdom of Solomon.

“There’s no doubt that (the new director) was the sticking point,” Master Chorale board chairman John Rhynerson said.

But stewardship over the combined chorales wasn’t the only source of friction.

Rhynerson now describes the Pacific’s initial approach for a merger as a “a takeover attempt,” although Pacific’s board chairman, Anne Nutt, disputes that charge.

“It was not approached as a takeover,” she said Tuesday. “We tried to develop a formula to remove barriers, to find points of agreement.” In fact, she said, “I suggested that scenario (of an open search for a new conductor) as a way to answer the question, ‘How can we do something to facilitate the transition?’ ”

Nutt had asked Merritt Johnson, president of United Way in Orange County, to facilitate discussions between the two groups. But he dropped out early in the process because it was proceeding so favorably, he said Tuesday.

“I thought they were coming along well,” Johnson said Tuesday. “They were setting up committees, (they were) including each other in the discussion of those committees, all moving in all the areas we had approached. They really didn’t need to come and talk to me any more.”

In hindsight, however, Johnson said that along the way, a problem developed because of board member changes at both organizations. “In negotiations, it’s important to have a continuity of people and deal with the same people. (Otherwise) you have to bring the new people up to speed.”

Although Johnson said he spotted no clouds on the horizon at that time, a knowledge of the groups’ bloodlines might have sparked some concern. There has been friction of a family kind for years.

Both groups can trace their emergence into prominence to the same conductor: Maurice Allard. After assisting Roger Wagner set up the choral department at UC Irvine in the ‘60s, Allard started a community chorus in 1974 that would evolve into the Pacific Chorale. Allard conducted the group for four years, then in 1978 took over the Anaheim Choraleers, which eventually became the Master Chorale.

Over the years, the two groups have publicly denied any friction or competition, but privately they have tended to regard each other warily, especially when the stakes for support and audiences rose markedly after the opening of the Orange Performing Arts Center in September, 1986.

Still, each group appeared to have established distinct profiles: The Pacific offered straight classical repertory; the Master Chorale did that as well, but also staged pops repertory.

But Rhynerson objects to the local bromide that the pre-William Hall Master Chorale was little more than a pops group.

“Since the pops concert was so popular with the constituency, (Allard) agreed to have one pops concert per season. . . . For us to be labeled a pops group was certainly unfair,” Rhynerson said.

Allard’s sudden resignation in October, 1987--over control of the pops group The Californians--plunged the Master Chorale into administrative and fiscal turmoil, and left the organization facing a potential deficit of $110,000, according to Rhynerson.

That is when the idea of a merger, discussed informally for years, first seemed realistic. Under the circumstances, it held out benefits for both groups: The Pacific Chorale could pick up the Master Chorale’s support base while offering some members of the organization a new, financially stable home.

At about the same time, Hall was asked to guest conduct the Master Chorale’s imminent Christmas concert--and in March was appointed new music director. Why appoint a new director after entering into merger discussions?

“The merger talks were just preliminary,” Rhynerson explained. “We knew we had a season to fulfill and season subscribers to satisfy. We just couldn’t stop and roll over. . . . (Indeed) we rebounded and finished the year in the black.”

His group was willing to put Hall into the running in an open search, Rhynerson said, acceding to Nutt’s idea. “From the very beginning, it was clear that the only way to proceed was to have this search,” Rhynerson said. “Now one side (the Master Chorale) has said it would continue to take the risk. The other side doesn’t want to continue with the risk.”

Nutt agreed. Initially, the Pacific board supported her suggestion, “but it also felt strongly that John was our best resource and that he should have that position,” she said. “But at that time (the previous board) was willing to leave it up for grabs. That was the risk.”

When statements began appearing in the local press, including disagreements over the time line for the merger, the public began to flex its muscle. “We got pressure from subscribers and sponsors, asking ‘What is going on?,’ ” Nutt said. “So we issued our statement (last week) in support of John. . . . It was a business decision on the part of the board.”

That statement, which insisted that Alexander head up the new organization, precipitated the crisis that ended the talks.

What lies ahead?

Both groups say they are concentrating on their new seasons and drumming up subscriptions. Each says it is healthy enough to continue on its own. No merger talks are scheduled. But the merger issue refuses to die.

Nutt said last week that the Pacific was “leaving the door open” for the Master Chorale to accept its demands. Rhynerson said that talks could resume if the Pacific “can revert to the originally agreed-upon search.”

Adviser Johnson says he still has hope.

“I still think there is a possibility of the merger,” Johnson said, “if they can keep their focus on what the issues are, and not just keep hammering away at who is the best or who individually has done more in the county.”