Pressure for Merger Charged : Music: Center accused of using financial muscle to force link of O.C. Philharmonic Society, Pacific Symphony.

The Orange County Performing Arts Center is using financial muscle to pressure the Orange County Philharmonic Society into merging with the Pacific Symphony, according to OCPS board president Steven Lupinacci.

The center also is trying to tell the society what kind of programs it can and cannot present, Lupinacci said.

Center President Thomas R. Kendrick refused to comment on the subject. A spokesman he designated could not be reached.

Lupinacci said the society owes the center $75,000 for hall rentals and other charges, and that the center is using that money as leverage in its effort to “take a role” in a proposed merger between the Pacific Symphony, which is the county’s major home-grown orchestra, and the society, the county’s major importer of classical music.

Society executive director Erich Vollmer has said he thinks the center would benefit from such a merger because it could lessen competition with the center’s offerings and would facilitate scheduling.

Supporters of the proposal say it would facilitate fund-raising and reduce administrative costs. But opponents say the mission of each organization is so different that one would swallow the other.

Lupinacci said the society, which operates on a $2.3 million budget, started asking in June that its debt to the center be deferred until spring, when its subscription series renewals begin to come in.

The center has refused to answer the request, Lupinacci said, even though the center has given the Pacific Symphony such deferrals two years in a row.

“Every time we ask for a decision about the deferral of the money we owe them, they ask us if we’re going to merge and when we’re going to merge,” Lupinacci said. “That’s in writing.”

He explained that the deferral would help the society because “like many businesses, our cash comes in the door at different times than the cash that needs to go out the door. The bulk of our cash receipts come in the second half of the year, but a lot of our concerts and children’s programs have to be paid in the beginning of the year, as they occur.”

Meanwhile, the center also has “increased pressure on us through a delay on a decision concerning booking dates for next year,” Lupinacci added.

He said the center has withheld dates for the society’s “C” series next season. The series typically includes recitals, ethnic dance and some popular music events.

“They’ve told us they’re not going to approve the ‘C’ series until it meets their criteria,” even though “we’ve (already) revised it twice because of their suggestions,” Lupinacci said.

Pressed further, Lupinacci would only say “they’ve told us they’d prefer we present only classical symphonic music in their hall. That’s as far as I’ll go because those discussions are ongoing.”

Although the center has booked recitals on its own, it has been loathe to offer popular music and ethnic dance.

Still, in the past the society would usually get the dates it asked for if those dates were available. Society programming has not been challenged in the past.

“What’s going to get hurt and who’s going to get hurt is the children for whom we put on educational projects,” Lupinacci said. “If (center officials) continue to put pressure on us, in the end, those will be the people who will suffer. Putting pressure on our organization puts pressure on all of our programs, and that includes the children’s program. That seems unfair to me.”