Sour Note Over Money: Symphony Pulls Out of Concert With Chorale

The Pacific Symphony has pulled out of a Feb. 9 concert with the Master Chorale of Orange County over money owed by the chorale for previous engagements.

John Rhynerson, chairman of the board for the Costa Mesa-based Master Chorale, confirmed that the chorale owes the orchestra about $37,000 for performing in the chorale’s Oct. 27 and Dec. 3 concerts at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

Rhynerson said the chorale released the orchestra from the Feb. 9 concert at the Center with a letter dated Dec. 22, when it became clear that the chorale could not retire the debt before a 30-day cancellation clause went into effect for the coming performance. The chorale plans to pay off the debt Monday, Rhynerson said.

Officials at the Pacific Symphony could not be reached for comment Thursday.

The chorale is assembling its own orchestra for the Feb. 9 concert through the local musicians’ union, with no changes planned in the performance program. Ironically, Rhynerson noted, many Pacific Symphony musicians will probably perform in what has been dubbed the Master Chorale Orchestra.

Rhynerson stressed that the situation does not signal a financial crisis for the chorale, which has traditionally had cash-flow problems in the second half of its season.

“I certainly can’t deny the fact that we owe them money,” Rhynerson said.

However, he added: “We are not in a major financial problem. We have money set aside for the rest of the year.”

This week the chorale mailed out a fund-raising pitch asking donors to “buy a chair in the Master Chorale orchestra,” putting price tags on everything from a clarinetist ($250) to a principal player ($500) to one of two vocal soloists ($2,000) and even conductor William Hall ($5,000).

The Pacific Symphony, Rhynerson said, has in the past been lenient in collecting fees from the chorale but this year has decided to put payments on a tighter schedule. The orchestra had signaled that it would bow out of the Feb. 9 concert if previous debts were not retired 30 days before the performance.

Rhynerson said the new stringency “certainly surprises us. . . . We will pay them and we have always.”

He added that the situation may affect the chorale’s future relationship with the Pacific, with the possibility that the chorale will turn to contracting with its own orchestra for future subscription dates. The chorale has used the Pacific for the last two seasons but assembled its own orchestra before that.

“I’ll have to take that up with our board,” Rhynerson said.