Low Rating Angers Orchestra Official

An official of the Garden Grove Symphony reacted with anger to the reported comments of a California Arts Council advisory panel that last week characterized the orchestra as “very poor.”

“I feel slapped on the face for something we did two or three years ago,” general manager Yaakov Dvir-Djerassi said Monday.

The panel, whose ratings provide the basis for arts council grants, had complained that the orchestra’s programming “tends to be very light and popular in orientation. Each concert borders on a pops flavor.”

It gave the orchestra a 2+ on its scale of 1 to 4. Groups rated below 3- rarely get state arts money.

Dvir-Djerassi called the criticism “out of date.”

“The programming three years ago was different from what we have now. This season we separated the classics from the pops programs. Next season, we will do strictly the classics.

“I think it was an unfair judgment on their part. We are more careful of programming today than at any other time.”

The orchestra has failed to qualify for CAC grants for the last three years.

“I don’t think that Sacramento really knows the role the Garden Grove Symphony plays in its community,” the general manager said. “It is a bridge not only to the regular classical music audience but also to minorities, youth and the underprivileged.

“We’re doing all sorts of things to advance the cultural aspects of the performing arts north of the (Garden Grove) Freeway--which apparently to Sacramento means absolutely nothing.”

Dvir-Djerassi also complained that the arts council has sent just one adviser to hear the orchestra live.

“The only time he came was when he did the Brent Pierce Salute to the Centennial of Orange County,” he said. “So we had a commissioned work. I don’t know too many orchestras in Orange County who are doing commissioned works.”

One positive comment offered by the arts council adviser who visited the orchestra, Dvir-Djerassi added, was about “the community support for the orchestra.

“The lowest attendance we had was always 80% of a 1,500-seat auditorium, which says quite a bit for the orchestra,” Dvir-Djerassi said.

The general manager understands how an arts council grant bestows legitimacy upon an organization.

“I know I can get more grants based on their grant,” he said. “So we always read (the arts council reports) very carefully and correct the things that should be corrected. We take those things very seriously.

“This season and last, we eliminated all the student musicians so people won’t say, ‘You have student players.’ The composition of the orchestra is like any major orchestra. We do everything to justify the artistic quality of the entity.”

Dvir-Djerassi said that despite low ratings, he is not discouraged and plans to continue applying for grants.

“There is next year always,” he said. “We will get it eventually. The road to heaven is paved with lots of problems. . . . If after 10 years, every year they tell us the same thing, then I’ll worry. But we have a few more years to get there.”