O.C. Classical Groups Eye Merger Plan : Music: The departure of the Philharmonic Society’s director has added urgency to the question of combining forces with the Pacific Symphony.

To merge or not to merge? That is the question--again.

The issue of whether Orange County’s two biggest classical-music organizations should form an alliance has taken on new urgency with the imminent departure of Erich A. Vollmer as executive director of the Orange County Philharmonic Society.

In its first regular meeting since Vollmer announced his decision to leave, the Philharmonic Society’s board of directors resolved Monday night to “explore ways to form an alliance with the Pacific Symphony.” At the same time, however, it formed a new committee to “explore alternatives” to such an alliance, according to a statement released Tuesday.

At the heart of the question is whether the two groups, and Orange County audiences, would be better served by a single organization that has its own orchestra--the Pacific Symphony--and brings major touring orchestras and soloists to the county, as the Philharmonic Society has done for 39 years.

Merger supporters have argued that a union would make fund raising easier and streamline administrative costs; opponents have suggested the missions of each group are different enough that one ultimately would become subservient to the other.

Society board President Steven Lupinacci said it is too early to say what the alternatives to a merger might include, other than maintaining business as usual. “The public can expect the two organizations to work together to explore what’s best for classical music in the county,” Lupinacci said. “The two organizations are talking, working together--not competing, but cooperating.”

Also at Monday’s meeting, the Philharmonic Society board named education coordinator JoAnn Feurbringer as interim manager for the society. It also established a search committee to “identify potential candidates” for a long-term replacement for Vollmer. Another new committee, to “continue exploring donor support,” was also established.

Meanwhile, the Pacific Symphony board of directors met Tuesday morning and issued a board statement vowing to “continue to pursue a resolution to the merger issue.”

Talk of joining the two groups reached a high pitch in 1991, but since early 1992, merger discussions have taken a back seat to deficit reduction and other concerns. Lupinacci credited Vollmer’s departure, set for Feb. 5, with reviving the issue; Pacific Symphony President Janice M. Johnson said Tuesday that merger talks “have been very serious for about a month.”

“Several of us have always thought the two organizations should come together for the good of classical music and for Orange County,” Johnson said. “It’s just right at this point. (But) I have a feeling we’ll both get through our fiscal year before anything concrete happens.”

Vollmer announced his resignation from the Philharmonic Society earlier this month after eight years as executive director. He will take over the top administrative post at the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra on Feb. 15.

The Philharmonic Society, which will celebrate its 40th anniversary this season, books touring musicians into the Orange County Performing Arts Center and the Irvine Barclay Theatre; in conjunction with the Laguna Beach Chamber Music Society, the society also presents a series of chamber-music concerts at the Irvine Barclay Theatre. The 15-year-old Pacific Symphony is the county’s largest orchestra, performing classical and pops series in Segerstrom Hall and a summer series at the outdoor Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre.

Both organizations grew dramatically after the 1986 opening of the Performing Arts Center. The Philharmonic Society’s budget roughly tripled in the years after the center’s opening, while the Pacific Symphony’s budget quintupled. Current annual budgets for the groups stand at $5.4 million for the Pacific Symphony and $2.3 million for the Philharmonic Society.

That expansion has been accompanied by growing pains, however, as the groups grew faster than their ability to raise funds. Both groups gathered substantial deficits: at the end of the 1990-91 fiscal year, accumulated deficits reached $800,000 for the Pacific Symphony and $275,000 for the Philharmonic Society.

The deficits have since been reduced to $658,000 for the orchestra and $110,000 for the Philharmonic Society. But it was in the fall of 1991, not long after those deficits were announced, that serious merger talks between the two groups were first publicized.

At that time, boosters of the proposed merger cited greater operational efficiency in marketing and fund raising as reasons to join forces, and that remains a driving force in the renewed discussions. Johnson said a merger “would eliminate a lot of confusion in people’s minds”--in terms of which organization does what--”and would be so much more be cost-effective,” Johnson said. She estimated a combined annual $250,000 saving in administrative, marketing and other costs.

In 1991, merger talks eventually faltered under public and private criticism and merger efforts were put on a back burner. Some classical-music supporters wondered aloud how well a single organization could tackle two seemingly divergent objectives: catering to home-team pride by nurturing the artistic and organizational growth of the Pacific Symphony, and continuing to meet the county’s desire to see established national and international orchestras, such as the Chicago Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra and the Royal Concertgebouw of Amsterdam.

One of the biggest concerns during previous discussions was the fate of the Philharmonic Society’s extensive education programs--which reach more than 300,000 schoolchildren annually--and its women’s committees that raise money to support them, should a merger take place.

Reconciling the differing objectives of the two organizations remains the stickiest issue in merger talks. Johnson on Tuesday put the ball in the Philharmonic Society’s court: “I think the biggest thing that has to happen is that OCPS has to truly embrace our orchestra. That’s our mission, to build our orchestra. On the other hand, we’re very willing to present outside orchestras, especially world-class orchestras.”