Symphony Begins Season With Note of Uncertainty

In an era when orchestras throughout the country are struggling to make ends meet, the New West Symphony’s first season could be considered a success.

After a beginning marred by labor disputes and resentment over the dissolution of two beloved community orchestras, the New West Symphony managed to finish its first season in the black and to critical acclaim.

Attendance during the 13-concert season topped 15,000, and twice the orchestra played to sold-out houses.

But as conductor Boris Brott led the musicians through the opening bars of Liszt’s “Totentanz” in the orchestra’s second season opening concert Friday in Thousand Oaks, questions remained about the orchestra’s future.

Just one month ago, Susan Feller, New West’s executive director, who is widely credited for the orchestra’s fund-raising success, left abruptly. The board of directors also suffered attrition with its membership dropping from about 50 to 43.

And the New West Symphony will face competition from three community orchestras, including two that will feature a number of familiar faces: many former members of the Conejo and the Ventura County symphonies who didn’t make the cut when the two blended to create New West.

But with season ticket sales on the rise and an innovative six-program lineup planned for the symphony’s second season, musicians and orchestra officials alike were upbeat about its prospects.

“It’s a beautiful group of people,” said Aram Talalian, the orchestra’s principal cellist. “The conductor is doing a great job, and I think it is going to be a great season.”

Brott was even more emphatic.

“I think that I can safely say that the orchestra is in the process of achieving its goal to be one of the finest orchestras in Southern California,” Brott said. “There is a tremendous feeling within the orchestra. We started out with tensions. But with each successful performance there has been more cohesion.”

The musicians still don’t have a labor contract. But one is about to be signed, according to both management and labor.

“We have spent the entire summer trying to work out a collective bargaining agreement,” said Jeff Bandy who heads the musicians’ negotiating team. “And we are on the threshold of that.”

Bandy said the success of the first season and the progress in the labor negotiations have helped ease, but not erase, the tensions between the musicians and the orchestra’s management.

“The animosity is on the wane,” Bandy said. “But a certain amount of mistrust remains.”

The New West Symphony was created last year after the Conejo and Ventura County symphonies were dissolved. Despite drawing large audiences, the two community orchestras were riddled with debt.

Initially, the New West refused to hire any of the nearly 150 musicians who played with the two community orchestras. But after bitter negotiations led by the American Federation of Musicians, about 40 players were retained. Since then, the orchestra has grown to about 50 musicians.

In a time when both the costs of running an orchestra and the competition for entertainment dollars have increased, financial troubles--and ensuing labor disputes--have become commonplace for many orchestras.

“It is increasingly difficult to fund the arts,” Feller said. “There is a lot of competition for charitable dollars.” And those dollars are essential because ticket sales often cover less than half the costs of running an orchestra, she added.

Just this year, the San Diego and Sacramento symphonies were disbanded because of financial difficulties.

But New West bucked the trend in part, supporters say, because of critical praise for its performances. The orchestra managed to attract enough listeners and sponsors to be in good financial shape, according to the chief financial officer Felice Ginsberg.

“Our having finished our first season in the black is pretty historic,” Ginsberg said. “Most symphonies in the country are running at a loss.”

With generous contributions from sponsors and founding members, New West was also able to pay off most of the nearly $200,000 in debt it assumed from the Conejo and the Ventura County symphonies, Ginsberg said.

The solid financial foundation the orchestra has established in its first year is not likely to be shaken by Feller’s departure, officials said.

“We are very sorry to see Susan Feller go,” said Lawrence Blonquist, the symphony’s past president. “We can attribute much of our success to her.”

Two board members, President Tracy Susman and President-elect Bill Bang, have taken over Feller’s duties until the board hires a replacement, Blonquist said.

Feller, who has managed orchestras for 12 years, said she left because she received a more interesting job offer.

“I have been planning to get out of the symphony management business for a while,” said Feller, who took a job as executive director of Gold Coast Performing Arts Assn., an umbrella organization that manages two local theater groups and a conservatory.

The attrition on the board was also a natural process, Blonquist said. “We have had board members who had left but not because they were dissatisfied,” he said. Many board members had been on the board of one of the two community orchestras for many years and decided it was time to retire, he added.

And despite the attrition, board member contributions are up nearly 30%, Ginsberg said.

Now that the orchestra appears to be on solid ground both musically and financially, some believe it may face its most serious challenges from the outside.

Earlier this year, local music boosters created two community orchestras to replace the Conejo and the Ventura County symphonies. While refraining from bashing their bigger counterpart, organizers of those groups call New West lacking the essence of a community organization.

“We began because we felt there was a need for a community based organization,” said Shirley Garrett, one of the board members of the newly formed Conejo Valley Symphony Orchestra. “We do not feel the New West Symphony is community based. They are a regional orchestra.”

The Conejo Valley Symphony plans a series of four concerts under the direction of Howard Sonstegard. Although one performance will be at the 1,700-seat Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, the fledgling symphony will use the much-smaller Ascension Lutheran Church as its base.

Garrett said several supporters of the old Conejo Symphony felt they were taken over by New West.

“A lot of our musicians were abruptly left out of the loop,” she said.

To make sure that would not happen again, the founders have decided to put the fate of the orchestra in the hands of its members, Garrett said. Anyone who subscribes with $25 or more becomes a member of the orchestra and can vote in board members. “The members have to approve our bylaws and anything that happens to the organization,” Garrett said.

The west county’s offering to the growing symphony world is the Channel Islands Symphony, headed by a six-member organizing board. Armando Lopez, president of the board, said the group was formed to fill the void left by the dissolution of the Ventura County Symphony.

“I was contacted by some of the former musicians of the Ventura County Symphony to help create a symphony that is community based,” Lopez said. “There was an interest in the part of some musicians to form an orchestra to serve west county.”

The symphony, which has been selected to accompany the Channel Islands Ballet for six performances of the “Nutcracker” in December, had its debut at Libbey Bowl in Ojai on July 4. Besides the performances with the ballet, the orchestra has scheduled one more concert at the Oxnard Performing Arts Center in May.

A third community orchestra, the Santa Susana Symphony, has been drawing steadily larger audiences since its inception three years ago.

With eight concerts planned for this season at the 200-seat Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center, the Santa Susana Symphony has the season’s fullest program.

The orchestra works on a small budget, said conductor Phillipe Fanjeaud.

“So far, we have been working with proceeds from the door,” he said. “But since mid-August we have a guild that is taking care of raising funds. So far, this orchestra hasn’t cost a dime to anyone.”

Whether the smaller orchestras will pose a challenge to New West is a matter of opinion.

“It concerns me,” Feller said. “It’s not necessarily a competition, but it is a drain on the artistic dollar available in the community.”

But Lopez pointed to the benefits of having a diversity of musical outlets.

“We are not here to compete with the New West,” he said. “We are not here to say New West is not important for the community. The more arts organizations there are in the community, the better the community will be served. We are part of a family of organizations to support the community.”

New West’s Susman also chose to put an upbeat spin on the issue.

“I am not concerned about the competition,” she said. “I am so impressed that this county loves music so much that it can support all the orchestras. It shows the caliber of people in this county.”