The Pacific Ends Its Fiscal Year With Surplus

The Pacific Symphony, the county’s major classical orchestra, ended its 1998 fiscal year with a modest surplus of $44,000, balancing its budget for the sixth consecutive year, orchestra officials announced Friday.

Income from all sources for the period that ended June 30 was $6.93 million. Expenses totaled $6.89 million. Revenue from ticket sales increased 4% over the previous year, to $3.8 million.

Ticket sales for the Pacific’s classical series at the Orange County Performing Arts Center and summer series concerts at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre increased slightly; the three-concert Classical Connection series jumped dramatically to $83,000 from $50,000. Sales for the pops series and the Saturday family concerts were down slightly.

“We tend to have some fluctuations in pops revenue depending on the artists we have,” Pacific executive director John E. Forsyte said. “In general, our pops series is among the most profitable in the county and still contributes a quarter of a million dollars to the bottom line.

“The Musical Mornings [family] series is our best-selling series for this coming year,” he said. “So I don’t think that decrease last year was a trend. It’s really going great. I don’t see any red flags right now.”

Donations from individuals, corporations and foundations totaled $2.4 million, up 9% from the previous season.

The endowment fund grew to from $3.1 million to $3.6 million.

In other news, Douglas K. Freeman has been elected president of the orchestra’s board. Former president Janice M. Johnson has become board chairwoman.

The orchestra’s new season begins Oct. 1 with a concert led by music director Carl St.Clair at the center.