Official Seeks to Curb Astronomical Star Fees

Superstar fees have gone through the roof and one local presenter wants to do something about it.

Pebbles Wadsworth, executive director of UCLA’s Center for the Performing Arts, believes the time has come for presenters to band together and refuse to pay what she calls outrageous sums.

While tenor Luciano Pavarotti has long earned more than $100,000 for a one-night stand, Wadsworth deems the $40,000-to-$50,000-per-night fee of superstars such as Itzhak Perlman, Isaac Stern, Leontyne Price or Kiri Te Kanawa “immoral, incorrect and inappropriate.” She also considers a top-flight orchestra’s asking price of $60,000 to $80,000 “excessive,” especially if orchestra members stay at a luxurious Beverly Hills hotel.

“Some presenters pay these fees and it becomes a circular thing,” says Wadsworth, who presides over a $3.9-million budget. “We need to take responsibility in this and not just blame the artists.”

But Wadsworth and other Southland presenters remain adamant that increased artists’ fees not result in higher ticket prices. At UCLA, where prices run from $16 to $40, they “are as high as we can raise them,” Wadsworth says.

Some presenters are using lighter fare to fund classical performances. The South Bay Center for the Arts at El Camino College in Torrance, which puts on a vocal, keyboard and orchestral series and has a top ticket price of $39, bolsters its income with funds generated from country and pop concerts, which usually sell out, as well as a speaker series.

“We would be in deep red ink without these to fund our (classical) events,” says executive director Philip Westin.

But Ambassador Auditorium, with top ticket prices at $60, even with plans to expand its country and jazz series, still must seek outside funding. UCLA concerts also rely heavily on corporate and private support.

Fees for orchestras are also rising fast--hitting well into the double-digit range. Erich Vollmer, executive director of the Orange County Philharmonic Society, which has a $2.7-million budget and this season will present 13 touring orchestras, says the costs of importing ensembles increased about 24% in 1990-91 over the preceding year. Should the trend continue, Vollmer expects to trim forthcoming seasons and step up fund-raising efforts.

Wayne Shilkret, general manager of the Hollywood Bowl, concurs that managers need to contain costs. However, he says that “every fee is negotiable,” even when dealing with highly popular artists.

For instance, artists such as Mirella Freni or Te Kanawa, who command up to $75,000 per performance, will charge less than going rates to organizations that have helped foster their careers.

According to Jack Mastroianni, vice president of Columbia Artists Management Inc., the sopranos are willing “to nod in the direction of Ambassador” because the foundation gave them a break early in their careers. (Freni is in recital at Ambassador Nov. 10; Te Kanawa is not scheduled this year, but has often appeared there.) He also suggests that a top-drawer such as Te Kanawa can sell out an entire subscription series because audiences are loathe to wait until single tickets go on sale.

But, above all, Mastroianni says, it’s a case of supply and demand. If promoters band together, he says, artists will merely go where the demand is high, whether it be Miami, Puerto Rico, Lexington, Ky., or to Europe--where fees are now at an all-time mark.

In fact, to hear Ambassador’s booking manager Bill Wiemhoff tell it, many in the operatic field who find European dates more profitable are no longer crossing the Atlantic and, if they do, won’t tour west of the Mississippi.

Ultimately, it’s an artist’s box-office appeal that determines ticket sales and, according to Pavarotti’s manager, Herbert Breslin, “makes the fee structure go around.”

“The bottom line is if an artist can sell tickets,” Breslin says. “If they can and they want more money they should be entitled to it. No presenter has ever lost a penny on Pavarotti. He is an artist in the classical world who has an enormous following.”