Legal Tangle Over Stranded Soviet Tour

Trying to help people in trouble sometimes results in more trouble. Take the New York-based Howard Gilman Foundation, for instance. In early February, the foundation came to the aid of the Donetsk State Opera and Ballet Theatre, touring with several Soviet dance soloists under the name, “Stars of Russian Ballet.”

According to the original tour sponsor, Heart of Art Inc. of Santa Rosa, Calif., the company was scheduled to visit 15 East Coast and Midwestern cities.

But Heart of Art says its financial backers withdrew their support when only one of 10 promised stars showed up. The tour then broke down, stranding the dancers in Baltimore after only two performances.

At that point, the Gilman Foundation stepped in to help, according to Natalie Moody, a spokesman for the foundation, by paying hotel bills and providing meal money. The foundation took over the sponsorship of the tour, underwriting hall rentals for subsequent performances--those performances arranged by ICM Artists.

Moody estimates the foundation spent “several hundred thousands of dollars” on the stranded troupe from the Ukraine.

But a summons delivered April 20 by Heart of Art (HOA) accuses the Gilman Foundation and ICM, Ltd., of taking over the tour before the original sponsor, HOA, canceled out.

One of the specific charges in the suit, which seeks a half-million dollars and unspecified punitive damages, is intentional interference with contract right, according to attorney John Kelleher of Kelleher and Withiam in Ithaca, N.Y.

It’s also possible that the original investors, who lost a purported $300,000, may sue HOA, according to David Hermon, the organization’s CEO.

“Yes, it’s a very real possibility. They certainly have the grounds to bring action against us,” Hermon said.

Bill Merriman, artistic director of HOA, said that the Soviet dancers returned home taking $37,000 worth of costumes, which HOA had bought for their production of “Giselle.”

Other expenses which HOA wants to recoup are sets and music recorded by the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra specifically for the tour. Hermon estimates that this property, along with numerous trips to Moscow and 2 1/2 years of work, has a total value of “$300,000 to $400,000.”

According to Lee Lamont, president of ICM Artists, Ltd., ICM also got involved when the tour stalled. Responding to a request from Gosconcert, the Soviet state artists management, ICM arranged engagements for a new tour.

“We donated our services, and arranged performances for the company in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Washington,” Lamont told the Times.

ASCAP AWARDS: There may be some irony in ex-L.A. Philharmonic music director Andre Previn’s being honored with a cash prize by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) for “adventuresome programming of contemporary music.” There was considerable controversy surrounding Previn’s editing--without the composer’s consent or knowledge--of one contemporary work given this season, Robert Erickson’s “Corona.”

To be presented at the 44th meeting of the American Symphony Orchestra League in San Francisco next month, the awards will go to 23 American orchestras.

Top prize and $3,000 goes to the Louisville Orchestra (Lawrence Leighton Smith, music director) for “strongest commitment to new American music.”

In the major-orchestra (annual operating income in excess of $3.6 million) category, the Cleveland Orchestra (Christoph von Dohnanyi), the Los Angeles Philharmonic (Andre Previn) and the Cincinnati Symphony (Jesus Lopez-Cobos) took first ($3,000), second ($1,000) and third (no cash) prizes, respectively.

BRIEFLY: Visiting from Leningrad, Irina Kolpakova, said to be the last ballerina trained by Agrippina Vaganova at the Kirov School in that city, and legendary as Mikhail Baryshnikov’s partner at the time of his defection from the touring Kirov company--in Canada in 1974--is teaching and coaching at American Ballet Theatre studios in New York this month. . . .

Calendar intern Frank A. Fisher contributed to the research for this column.