Contract Terms Strain Sound of Orchestra

When is an orchestra not an orchestra? No, it’s not one of those elementary-school conundrums, but a real dilemma facing the Pacific Symphony and other Southland groups that rely heavily on in-demand contract musicians. The answer to the riddle is that an orchestra may be less than a cohesive musical unit whose members think and play as one when its regular members are replaced by substitutes.

“For the orchestra to grow,” says former Pacific Symphony concertmaster Endre Granat, “it’s essential that the musicians are paid well and have enough work so that the Pacific doesn’t lose them from concert to concert or from season to season.”

In simple terms, that means that the orchestra’s contract currently allows players to miss numerous performances each season. With winter subscription concerts at the Orange County Performing Arts Center considered the most important, the contract deems as optional the outdoor summer concerts and other special performances.

“Right now, as a per-service orchestra, the Pacific competes with any other per-service organization, including the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, the Pasadena and the Glendale symphonies and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra,” Granat said.

Further, “the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra pays more, it’s more visible, it’s more prestigious. It’s as simple as that. What happens is that the players don’t stick to the (Pacific), and we are losing them.”

The orchestra’s dilemma is that while some musicians would prefer the security of a contract guaranteeing them full-time employment, others prefer the freedom to accept other more prestigious and/or higher-paying jobs.

According to terms of the Pacific’s current contract, which expires Aug. 31, 1994, players are only allowed “to miss two out of the nine subscription concerts--but (they can skip) anything and everything else,” Granat said.

“In other words, if you play seven subscription concerts, you have fulfilled your contract. . . . That’s true for everybody except for the concertmaster.”

As a result, he said, “sometimes the orchestra is playing with as many as 75% substitutes. It can happen to any concert, but of course, it mostly happens in the summer. It’s a false economy. And that’s wrong. It doesn’t represent the orchestra.”

Pacific executive director Louis Spisto disputed Granat’s 75% figure.

“It’s never been that high,” he said Monday. But he did not dispute the terms of the contract and agreed that “there is no question that we have had difficulty in maintaining the roster during the summer.

“Typically . . . out of an orchestra of 85, you have about 55 Pacific Symphony members from the regular roster, whereas in the winter, it’s rare that we are missing (more than) three or four. But it is a problem in the summer.”

Granat further said that the orchestra cuts its string section from about 16 first violins at the classical winter concerts down to “eight, maybe 10 violins” at pops and family concerts, with the rest of the string section reduced “proportionately.”

“That’s allowed by the contract,” Granat said, “but it misrepresents the music and the orchestra. We’ve played Wagner overtures at the kids’ concerts with eight first violins. Imagine Wagner with eight violins!”

Spisto countered that “it’s very typical for orchestras around the county to use a smaller orchestra for family concerts.

“Our average family and pops concerts utilize 65 players, as opposed to 87-plus for the subscription concerts. The strings are all amplified in the pops concerts. . . . Guest artists are surprised by the size of our pops orchestra. They’re used to working with (even) smaller orchestras.”

Because new contract discussions will begin this winter, Spisto said “it’s not appropriate for me to discuss my specific reactions to the contract at this time.

“But I will say this: There are areas of the contract that I may not be happy with. By and large, they are few. There are areas of the contract that the players may not be happy with.

“The difficulty is that we have a very diverse group of players. . . . In order to give the players the flexibility where they wanted it, we allow the non-classical services to be optional,” Spisto said. “The important point is that, in fact, over 90% of the orchestra makes all the winter services. We have the statistics to bear that out.”

“It’s fair to say, however, that these kinds of issues will be discussed at the next negotiating sessions,” Spisto said.