Kindness, Decency Not Yet Extinct : Symphony Born of Backstage Conflict

I confess that I am among those who have no interest in the new symphony for a number of reasons.

First, I am turned off by the cult of the smiling Boris Brott promoted first by the Ventura Symphony and now by the New West Symphony. This is especially grating set against the personnel chaos he created in the Ventura Symphony. Yes, his standards were high, but his meat-cleaver tactics not only destroyed the morale of the old orchestra but led to an amazing event--the unionization of the symphony.

As the president of the Musicians’ Union in 1983-84, I tried to get a collective-bargaining agreement with the symphony but failed due to the general satisfaction among musicians under Frank Salazar. That changed abruptly with the arrival of Brott. The dissolving of the old orchestra and the replacement with a new organization was a convenient solution to the labor-management conflict he created.

Secondly, I think the governing boards of both the Ventura and Conejo symphonies treated their conductors badly. I don’t think dumped is too strong a word for the treatment of both Salazar and Elmer Ramsey. No one disputes the need for new energy and ideas in any organization. Yet there is a nice way and a nasty way to effect change.

Despite the negative origins of the New West Symphony, there is little doubt in my mind the new orchestra will thrive. There is a community need for a good orchestra, and a new audience will replace the old. Flowers and grass eventually cover all battlefields.

It is even ironic and amusing to contemplate that 50 years from now, there will probably be a smiling statue of each of the founding fathers in the performance venues of the future.

BRUCE ALLEN HARDY

Ventura

Bruce Allen Hardy is a member of the music faculty at Pepperdine University.