Troubled Times : The War Hits Home for San Diego Symphony’s Israeli Conductor

If the brow of San Diego Symphony music director Yoav Talmi appears furrowed these days, it’s not due to musical problems. Keeping the horns on pitch or the violins together is the easy part of his conducting duties. Dealing with the war in Tel Aviv, where Talmi and his family reside, and the economy in San Diego, which has deflated symphony attendance, has put an unexpected cloud over the conductor’s inaugural year.

When the first SCUD missiles started falling on Israel, Talmi was in Norway leading the Bergen Philharmonic.

“The first attack on Israel was the night I conducted the Bruckner Seventh Symphony. I distinctly remember that I was so preoccupied and so tense that during the entire symphony, which I conducted as always without score, I remember thinking about everything else in the world but the Bruckner. I, later on, asked members of the Bergen Philharmonic if I gave all the entrances. Apparently there was not one mistake, and everything went smoothly, which just shows that our brain can work in miraculous ways.”

Because of restricted air travel to Israel, it took Talmi three days to get home to his wife and daughter in Tel Aviv.

“Almost every other night, we were awakened by alarms. We had 90 seconds to get into our sealed room and put on our gas masks. It is frightening, I can tell you that much.”

In the ensuing two weeks, before Talmi and his wife Er’Ella came to San Diego for this month’s San Diego Symphony concerts, no SCUD missiles fell in the couple’s neighborhood of Kfar Saba.

“But when I arrived here, two missiles in one night landed in our area,” Talmi said.

Because Talmi had recently acquired a condominium in San Diego, moving his family here for the duration of the Persian Gulf War was a practical consideration. Talmi’s son Gil, a first-year student at UCLA, was in the United States when the missiles started falling on Israel. He decided to break his studies and be with his family in Tel Aviv rather than remain safely abroad.

“It was always safer for us to be here, and we had many possibilities to flee out of Israel if we wanted to,” Talmi explained. “But we decided that we had to stay in Israel. Israel is such a small country, that if people will run out in a case like this, there will be no Israel. It’s as simple as that.”

Resolving problems of conscience, however, may prove easier for Talmi than resolving the symphony’s attendance problems.

“Usually in a year where a music director is appointed, it translates into increased ticket sales. Unfortunately, it did not for us, and it troubles me a great deal,” Talmi explained. “I unfortunately realize now that I came at a time when

the country is getting into a recession. It hits hard everywhere--most of the orchestras are now suffering from a reduction in ticket buying. People spend less money, come to fewer evenings.”

Symphony officials confirmed that attendance averaged only 55% of the house for the first three months of the 1990-91 season. (Copley Symphony Hall seats 2,200.) Although January saw a slight upturn, 61% and rising, according to symphony spokesman Les Smith, the orchestra will have to significantly beef up attendance this spring just to make the target average of 60% attendance, on which the organization’s annual budget counts.

To stimulate attendance, Talmi visits any local organization that is willing to listen to him extol the orchestra’s virtues. And at some concerts, he offers his own verbal program notes from the podium to cultivate the patrons who do show up.

“There is a little barrier between the stage and the public, but when the conductor turns to speak, it makes the situation more informal,” Talmi added.

Looking for some good in the situation, Talmi speculated that the demoralizing effects of the war could provide added impetus for patrons to return to the symphony.

“Maybe at this time of war, there will be more need for people to come to the concert hall in order to escape into music. It lets you forget for a few hours everything else that is going on.”

Talmi noted that concert life in Israel has just about come to a halt because of the night missile attacks. Concerts can only be given midday and only in small halls with air-raid shelters. He said the Israel Philharmonic has ceased to play except for recording and radio broadcasts.

“I know that in Israel, if now we could have evening concerts, I predict that we would have more people coming to concerts than in normal times.”

Talmi’s consolation in face of the sluggish attendance at San Diego Symphony concerts is the improvement he sees in the orchestraunder his direction.

“The general artistic atmosphere of the orchestra is very constructive. People are willing to work hard, and we are getting good reviews. What I set up to achieve in terms of musical improvement is well under way.”