O.C. Philharmonic Plays Different Tune

Before Dean Corey came to town, the Philharmonic Society of Orange County was perfectly happy to be the county’s premier promoter of classical concerts, presenting well-known, respected artists and ensembles from around the world.

But then Dean Corey came to town.

Next season, under his stewardship, the society will offer not just the longest but the broadest list of programs in its 43-year history, including not just the cream of the classics but top-flight avant-garde, jazz and world music, much of which never has been played in Orange County before.

Robert Cole, who directs a performing arts series at UC Berkeley, called the roster of 44 concerts “a knockout. It’d be a great season anyplace. But it’s a huge step forward for Orange County.”

“From that point of view, it’s a surprise,” Cole said. “But I’ve been talking to Dean for several years now--and knowing Dean, I’m not surprised.”

Indeed, it’s not the only accomplishment racked up by the deceptively earthy and easy-going classical horn player in the 2 1/2 years since he took over as the society’s executive director.

Corey also has put the organization solidly into the black by a record-breaking $413,000, and has taken it beyond Orange County for the first time. Last year, he booked Nati Cano’s Fiesta Navidad, which began here as a local mariachi holiday event, into three cities around the state. This year, he already has it booked into 21 cities from Seattle to San Antonio.

Corey’s ultimate goal: to expand the audience for different kinds of music. “And to get new audiences,” he said, “you have to do new things.” About a quarter of next season’s programs--which will run the gamut from the Vienna Philharmonic to Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, a Cajun band--will be premieres, debuts or exclusive engagements.

Corey hopes his forward-looking programming will reduce some of the reluctance attached to attending more traditional offerings.

“You hear it all the time,” he said: “ ‘I’d love to come to your concerts, in fact I love classical music--but I don’t want to be with the crowd that goes.’

“Their perception of who goes--which is a perception only; just regular people go to the concerts--is that the stereotypical audience member is somebody who pulls up in a Rolls-Royce dripping in diamonds, which I’ve yet to see . . . and I’ve been out in front waiting for those people!”

Berkeley’s Cole isn’t the only one who has noticed Corey (who drives a 5-year-old Toyota and who showed up for lunch in shirt sleeves). Joseph Melillo, producing director at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), thinks the society’s season is “very impressive . . . a very prestigious spectrum of artistic experiences.

“I had not been aware of the work that they have been doing,” said Melillo. “But I certainly know it now.”

Meanwhile, Peter Clancy, vice president of marketing at Nonesuch Records in New York, is thinking about possible collaborations with the society, similar to those his company has with BAM and its Next Wave Festival--collaborations that could extend the number and variety of concerts here even further.

“We’ve developed a very close relationship with BAM, collaborating on promotional efforts and in other ways,” Clancy said. “Now that I’ve seen Dean’s season, I’m hoping we can do the same sort of thing.”

By bringing in touring musicians, the society forms a triangle of sorts in Orange County with the Pacific Symphony, which is the home-based orchestra, and the Performing Arts Center. Though the center is a rental hall used by the society, the PSO and others, it also presents some of its own classical programs.

A Texas native, Corey has a slight drawl and a relaxed manner. A Yale graduate and a former member of the New York City Ballet orchestra, he has a first-hand knowledge of music that is rare among front-office types.

And, having come to Orange County after working as an orchestra administrator in Rochester, N.Y. and San Diego, he knows about dollars and cents.

“Dean knows his music, and he knows the situation in the musical world,” said Jane Grier, executive vice president of the society board. “It’s time to try new things. The Vienna Philharmonic is a dream we’ve had for a long, long time, and he’s put it together for us. And we feel that we have a chance with some of the newer music we’re bringing in.”

The confidence runs both ways. Other arts administrators in the county complain privately that their boards won’t let them try new things. Corey said the 29-member society board--which he characterizes as a mix from the corporate, volunteer and educational sectors with a deep commitment to music and music education--”knows the worth and value of things.”

To pay for his expanded season, Corey has instituted a number of fiscal changes including a program for donors of $50,000 that has attracted 13 so far, and year-round telemarketing that is reaping $200,000 annually. He has reduced overhead from 35% to 22%.

Last year the society received a gift of $680,000 from insurance heir William J. Gillespie. Corey regards the grant as not so much money to be spent, but as a safety net so he and the board “can take more chances” by presenting a greater variety of acts that may be more challenging to audiences.

He is especially interested in developing young audiences (he and his wife, Gayle, have two children--a 21-year-old daughter pursuing a career in theater, currently doing a show in Tokyo for Disneyland, and a 16-year-old son on a similar track).

“People worry that oh my gosh, young people haven’t had the background. This whole notion that you must have this great knowledge of classical music, and this background . . . 19th-century audiences had no recordings--there was no background.

“Kids today, even though we have methods of transmitting information, just don’t have the information. Essentially, the 20th-century kid and the 19th-century kid are in the same boat. One couldn’t get the information, the other doesn’t get the information. I don’t see the real dilemma here.”

One possible dilemma, though, could be the butting of heads with the Performing Arts Center. Center President Tom Tomlinson said he “applauds [the society’s] ability to bring major classical orchestras to Orange County,” but some have questioned how long two organizations--competing for the same dollars--can keep up the duplication.

Asked if he would be happy to see the center as the sole promoter of classical programs in the county, Tomlinson responded: “I think that’s a very politically charged question. . . . It is unusual to have two presenters in the same space. But the Philharmonic has a long history here [and] we’ll continue to work with them.”

Still, Corey himself is among those who can see that the center might view the society as redundant and expendable, especially if the economy doesn’t improve.

“But,” he said, “the Philharmonic Society has been around for a long time. It’s been the guardian of this kind of quality for decade after decade.

“Organizations can try to economize, or reduce redundancy. At the same time, to do the kind of stuff that we do, you’ve got to have a real artistic commitment. . . . You can’t be necessarily market driven. If you don’t take those chances, and you don’t try to do the best stuff, there’s no point in having a building of [the center’s] quality.”

So far, the center has been relatively conservative in its own programming. Corey, though, defends the hall’s management.

“Look at the dance stuff they’re doing. I would say they have not exactly retrenched into pablum repertory. They’ve stuck it out there.”

The center has not been as adventuresome in other areas (an upcoming k.d. lang concert will only be the center’s third venture into post-World War II pop in nearly 10 years), but Corey notes that its “operation is very large [with a board twice the size and a budget seven times the size of the Society’s]. You’re not going to see dramatic swings the way you might with a smaller organization.”

In any case, there are limits to what Corey will try. He is glad to see the center venturing further into pop, because he won’t. He also feels that orchestras shouldn’t venture into pop.

“The orchestras are all going in the wrong direction,” he said. “They do things that are outside of their realm. ‘Willie Nelson and the Symphony.’ A symphony orchestra can play a passable country-western concert--passable--but Willie Nelson can never do Mozart.”

It’s not that Corey has anything against Willie Nelson. Far from it:

“Frankly, when I have to clear out the day’s confusion as I drive home, Willie will do it. I have a Willie Nelson tape I’ve been putting on for years. . . . But his art is being served. People know it. It already affects their lives.

“It’s the arts that aren’t being served that people need to be introduced to. That’s what I’m into.”

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The Season’s Highlights

Programs and artists presented by the Philharmonic Society of Orange County in 1996-97 will include:

* “Portrait in Blue,” pianist Marcus Roberts plays Gershwin with the Academy of the Ascension, Robert Sadin, conductor (Sept. 28, Plummer Auditorium, Fullerton).

* “Voices of Light: The Passion of Joan of Arc,” Carl Dreyer’s silent film (1928) accompanied by the Los Angeles Mozart Orchestra, I Cantori and Anonymous 4 playing “Voices of Light,” a score by Richard Einhorn (Oct. 10 and 11 at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, Costa Mesa).

* Baritone Bryn Terfel (Oct. 24, OCPAC).

* Varttina, Finnish folk music (Nov. 30, Irvine Barclay Theatre).

* The Kronos Quartet (IBT, Jan. 22).

* Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, Cajun music (IBT, Jan. 25).

* Pianist Ivo Pogorelich (Feb. 9, OCPAC).

* The Vienna Philharmonic, Daniel Barenboim, conductor (March 4 and 5, OCPAC).

* Philip Glass, solo piano (March 10, IBT).

* The Chieftains, traditional Irish music (March 20, OCPAC).

* “The Cave,” music by Steve Reich, video by Beryl Korot (May 3, OCPAC).

Information: (714) 553-2422.