S.D. Symphony Gets Anonymous $2.5-Million Gift

The San Diego Symphony has received an anonymous $2.5-million gift that, coupled with four banks’ forgiveness of almost $2 million in loans, lets the symphony retire its $4.4-million capital deficit--the last remnants of the debt caused by buying Symphony Hall in 1984.

The announcement was made at a press conference Thursday by symphony board chairman Herbert Solomon, who said the gift was “the largest single gift ever received by the symphony” and ventured that it might be the single largest gift to an arts or cultural institution in San Diego history.

Solomon, who was careful to hide any clue to the donor’s identity, said it was an “indescribable pleasure” to make the announcement, adding that a stipulation of the gift was that the banks would forgive the debt balance--about $1.9 million.

The consortium of banks was headed by Bank of America and included HomeFed Bank, Great American Bank and San Diego National Bank. The banks stipulated that the symphony must retain ownership of the performing hall for the next 10 years.

“The banks wanted to make sure our objective was retiring the debt and not some other objective,” Solomon said in explaining the banks’ stipulation.

The debt retirement included a loan from symphony patrons Judson and Rachel Grosvenor, who offered their line of credit at a local bank to enable final renovation work at Symphony Hall.

Symphony officials said negotiations with the anonymous donor began in late 1989, after the symphony had agreed to a two-year contract with the musicians’ union in early October. The symphony’s executive director, Wesley O. Brustad, said the debt was not a factor in negotiations with the musicians and management’s contract offers would not have been significantly different even if the debt had been retired before negotiations.

Immediate speculation arose over the symphony’s financial future and whether it will work toward restoring the size of the orchestra, the pay levels and the length of the season that existed before 1986-87, when the symphony’s financial woes caused it to cancel the season.

Orchestra member Becky Campbell, who was a member of the musicians’ negotiating committee in the 1989 contract talks, said she was grateful to symphony management for retiring the debt, adding that perhaps the symphony could now address other issues.

“I hope that means we can go forward and really become a major symphony orchestra,” Campbell, a violist, said in a phone conversation. “I hope we can increase the number of weeks in the season and our salaries so that we can be comparable to orchestras in other cities that have 2 million people.”

Solomon skirted the issue at the press conference, saying, “As we get closer to being able to compensate the musicians’ requirements, it puts additional burdens on us.”

The symphony purchased the former Fox Theater in 1984, spending more than $6 million for the purchase and renovation, and began performing there in November, 1985. About the same time, the organization was accumulating a multimillion-dollar operating deficit. An emergency fund-raising appeal netted $2.4 million in March, 1986, but the symphony still faced an $800,000 operating deficit as it completed the inaugural 1985-86 season in the renovated hall.

The deficit and the failure to sign a contract with the musicians’ union, caused the cancellation of the 1986-87 season. When the symphony returned to the stage for the 1987-88 season, the contract called for a 32-week season--down from a high of 45 weeks in 1985-86.

The size of the orchestra had also shrunk from 89 musicians to 81, which is its current size. The existing contract calls for a 37-week season, increasing by one week in 1990-91.

Brustad said the debt retirement should enable the symphony to secure gifts from potential donors who have been hesitant because of the capital deficit. Solomon added that the symphony must next increase the size of its endowment, saying the organization is “one of the few major symphonies that doesn’t have a significant endowment.” Solomon estimated the current endowment at less than $500,000. Symphonies often use interest from their endowments as operating income.

The symphony’s 1989-90 budget is $7.3 million, and Brustad said ticket revenue is “right on target . . . but we’re struggling a bit with contributed income.” He said the symphony should soon begin to share income from the rental of space in the office building that adjoins Symphony Hall. The symphony has no such agreement with the owners of the Marriott Suites Hotel, which also adjoins the performing hall.