Agreement With Arts Festival Will Allow Red Army Chorus to Perform

After weeks of negotiation, the status of the Red Army Choir’s appearance in San Diego during the Soviet Arts Festival has been settled, although not to everyone’s satisfaction.

The 200 member-plus performing troupe, known formally as the Alexandrov Red Army Song & Dance Ensemble, will perform at the San Diego Sports Arena during, but not as part of, the Soviet Arts Festival. The choir’s appearance here, sponsored by promoters working independently of the festival, had been in question because of protests lodged by Mayor Maureen O’Connor and other organizers of the nonprofit festival.

At a Thursday press conference, Mayor O’Connor said “miscommunication” caused the flap, which at one point had city officials saying the choir would not be allowed to perform here, and local promoters threatening a restraint-of-trade lawsuit.

“The Soviet Union is just like the United States in that they have different agencies handling different aspects of cultural presentations,” said the mayor. “The festival was talking with the Ministry of Culture, the promoters were talking with Gosconcert, and I was talking with the Soviet consul in San Francisco.”

Free Performances Added

The mayor said the American organizers of the choir’s national tour had agreed to add two free performances for area Navy personnel and make a $10,000 “donation,” which will be used for the festival’s education program.

However, a promoter of the choir’s local performances said the dispute was unnecessary and may have undermined the commercial success of the choir’s appearance.

The Red Army Choir is on a U.S. tour organized by Alex Cooley of USSR Artists’ Touring Company in Atlanta. San Diego promoter Donald Hughes, president of La Jolla-based International Attractions Inc., and James A. Doolittle, of the Los Angeles-based nonprofit Southern California Theatre Assn., signed a contract with Cooley to present the choir in Los Angeles Nov. 2-5 and in San Diego Nov. 8-9.

However, the San Diego dates occur during the Soviet Arts Festival, and festival officials threatened to block the choir’s performances, citing a verbal agreement with the Soviets that festival officials said gave them authority to approve all Soviet acts in the city from Oct. 21-Nov. 11. The mayor, who is president of the nonprofit corporation governing the festival, said at the festival’s last board meeting that she didn’t want commercial promoters “riding the coattails” of the festival’s advertising efforts.

The promoters of the local performances said it was Cooley’s responsibility to settle the matter, since he had a signed contract with the Soviets that included the San Diego dates. Recently, the Soviets sent a representative to San Diego to help negotiate the dispute. A source, who asked to not be named, said, “It would have looked odd for the Soviets to allow the choir to perform in every other city on the tour except for San Diego.”

Agreement Worked Out

Hughes and Doolittle signed an agreement with the festival that includes a “hold harmless” clause, which states the festival and the city “have done nothing to adversely affect the performance, promotion or sales in San Diego by the Red Army Choir and that no legal action or efforts of any kind shall be undertaken by” Hughes and Doolittle.

However, Doolittle, who attended the press conference, expressed dissatisfaction with the proceedings.

“It has delayed all promotion of the event,” he said. “We’re the ones underwriting the appearance and bringing the choir here. We’re pleased that there’s an opportunity to bring the choir to San Diego; unfortunately, the delay has possibly affected our opportunity to recoup our investment.”

Doolittle estimated the cost of bringing the choir here at $250,000, not counting promotion and other expenses. Tickets for the choir’s performance will range from $15 to $35. Hughes was out of the country and unavailable for comment.

Rock Group Won’t Appear

O’Connor said the agreement would have no bearing on the status of another independent promoter, Scott Pedersen, whose attempts to bring a Soviet rock group to perform during the festival have been thwarted by the city’s “exclusivity” agreement with the Soviets.

Pedersen said the agreement announced Thursday “seems to parallel the offer I made to the festival to work out an agreement.” After traveling to the Soviet Union and reaching a tentative agreement to bring a Soviet rock band to San Diego, Pedersen was told by the Soviet booking agency to cancel all plans for the appearance.

The mayor has said she doesn’t think Soviet rock would be that popular here, and festival officials have cited their exclusivity agreement with the Soviets in denying Pedersen’s efforts.

The mayor was joined at the press conference by Rear Adm. John W. Adams, commander of the San Diego Naval Base. Together, they announced the choir’s two free performances for Navy personnel and their dependents at the 32nd Street Naval Station and the Naval Training Center on Nov. 8 and Nov. 9.