What Happens When Performers Cancel

When an artist cancels, the show may go on. Sometimes with a replacement. Sometimes at a later date with the original artist. Tickets can be exchanged. And audiences--in some cases, whether the show really does or doesn’t go on--can get their money back.

When a replacement is necessary, Wayne Shilkret, director of performing arts for the Ambassador International Cultural Foundation, says he is willing to refund the price of tickets for those who may want their money back.

Michael Blachly, associate director of the UCLA Center for the Arts, adds: “When cancellations occur--and they are one of the realities in this business--we see as our first option a rescheduling of the event. We do that whenever possible. Failing that, we seek a suitable replacement.”

Take the case of Nathan Milstein’s cancellation, for a concert scheduled last Tuesday at Ambassador. It has been long known that cellist Janos Starker would replace him.

Shilkret says: “He gave us enough time so that we could engage Janos Starker, the cellist, but let us know too late to change the brochure, which came out in September.”

The same applies to the scheduled Ambassador recital by pianist Jakob Gimpel, Thursday. Several weeks ago, Gimpel, who is recovering from a fall, asked Shilkret to be released from his contract, promising to return to Ambassador in 1989. Shilkret engaged the Soviet pianist, Nikolai Petrov, who had made his local debut in the same hall, last year.

“But, as always, we will offer the patrons their money back, if they so choose,” the manager says. “Anything less would be unethical.”

Sometimes, says Shilkret, it is “impossible to replace a major artist with another major artist. After all, when there is a cancellation, the replacement must be suitable. We have to be ethical with our public.”

The procedure is this, Shilkret says: “Given one or two days’ notice, we send out the news to the media, then we get on the phone with our subscriber list and call every single patron. I don’t think there is any other fair way to do this.

“And, of course, if they want to exchange that ticket for a ticket to another of our events, we will do that.”

“When we get last-minute notice,” said Robert Harth, general manager of--and second in command at--the Los Angeles Philharmonic, “we have a quick discussion between Ernest (Fleischmann, Philharmonic managing director, and No. 1 in command there), myself and Ara Guzelimian, our artistic administrator.

“In the case of a conductor, we consult only ourselves, and make a decision. When it’s a soloist, we consult the conductor--particularly if it’s a vocal work. We may make a list of possibilities--who we want, who we don’t want, who’s available, and present it to the conductor.”

However, Harth, who will take over the full management of Hollywood Bowl next summer, wants to put the matter in its proper perspective.

“Remember, cancellations are not crises, they are part of our everyday work. We have to be ready to replace anybody on short notice.”

He recalls a set of replacements for the first Philharmonic performances of Shostakovich’s chamber-size 14th Symphony, in April, 1981. Several months before, the scheduled conductor, Carlo Maria Giulini, informed the management that he would not come to Los Angeles for those performances; he was duly replaced by Simon Rattle. Later, Jessye Norman, the soprano soloist, canceled; the British singer Felicity Palmer was contracted. Then, two days before the first performance, basso Simon Estes, the other soloist, became ill. Another British singer, Stafford Dean, flew in from England to replace him.

“What was important there,” Harth comments, “was that we were able to give quality performances even with three major changes in the personnel.”

BALLET THEATRE: Besides the new “Swan Lake” production, American Ballet Theatre’s engagement at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, opening Tuesday, also offers the West Coast premiere of Mark Morris’ “Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes,” as well as two company premieres of pieces by Twyla Tharp, “The Fugue” and “In the Upper Room,” and the U.S. company premiere of “The Garden of Villandry” by Martha Clarke, Robert Barnett and Felix Blaska. Morris’ new ballet for 12 dancers was inspired by Ben Jonson’s poem, written in 1617, and is set to music by Virgil Thomson. See our Listings on Page 73.

IN SAN FRANCISCO: The theatrical achievements and legendary gifts of Sergei Diaghilev will be celebrated in the exhibition “The Art of Enchantment: Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes 1909-1929” at the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum in Golden Gate Park, Saturday through Feb. 26. Given the fragility of “the historic costumes on loan from Castle Howard Estate in England,” San Francisco will be the exclusive venue for the show.

Objects, costumes and designs by Leon Bakst, Alexandre Benois, Jean Cocteau, Natalia Goncharova, Mikhail Larionov, Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso will be on view; some of the works represented are “Scheherazade” (1910), “Le Sacre du Printemps” (1913) and “Le Chant du Rossignol” (1920). In addition, original posters, photographs and archival material will provide the historical background for the costumes and related works of art.

The exhibition was organized by Nancy van Norman Baer, curator for theater and dance for the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Information: (415) 750-3614.