Nation’s Orchestras on an Up Tempo

With sales of classical recordings at less than 2.7% of the market and recent newspaper headlines of orchestras in financial crisis, it’s easy to think that classical music is a dying art. The average person probably regards American orchestras--if he or she thinks of them at all--as elitist organizations going bankrupt as they play music composed by dead people to dwindling, graying audiences.

Not so, says Charles Olton, CEO and president of the American Symphony Orchestra League, a New York-based organization charged with providing leadership and services to American orchestras.

“There was a period in the ‘80s of heavy deficits,” Olton said during a recent visit to California. “But in the 1990s, deficits became a minor problem. From 1990 to 1999, only nine orchestras went bankrupt, and eight of them are back in business and are now successful.

“That suggests, first, that there’s nothing inherent in an orchestra that makes them go bankrupt and, secondly, the public really wants them. All eight came back. They didn’t come back by themselves. The communities fought to get them back. San Diego is the poster child on that subject. The only orchestra that went bankrupt in that decade that has not come back--so far--is Sacramento.”

The San Diego Symphony declared bankruptcy in 1996 but came back to life two years later, finishing its 1999-2000 season with a surplus of almost $387,000.

It came back at a cost, however. According to the NonProfit Times, the leading business publication for nonprofit management, orchestra members were all owed at least five figures in back salary, but they settled for less than five cents on the dollar for work they had already done. They were out of work for 21/2 years, and when they came back it was to dramatically reduced salaries. For all that, between 75% and 80% of them returned.

Sarah Tuck, acting principal flute for the San Diego Symphony, moved to Indiana to play with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic. She decided to return to San Diego, as she told the NonProfit Times, “but with a healthy skepticism.”

Olton was being interviewed while on a trip to confer with orchestras from San Diego to San Francisco, raise money from local foundations to support league enterprises and award the Pacific Symphony a certificate of recognition for its commitment to contemporary American composers.

He was upbeat but acknowledged that not all is smooth sailing in the new decade.

The Chicago Symphony has reported its first deficit in eight years. The Los Angeles Philharmonic may be operating with a deficit. (Figures won’t be available until the end of January, according to a spokesperson.)

The San Jose Symphony, the oldest orchestra west of the Mississippi, recently crashed. Faced with a $2.5-million deficit--a third of its budget--the orchestra in October canceled all upcoming concerts, laid off its administrative staff and reorganized its board. A new interim CEO hopes to have the operation back up and running in February.

Two other major orchestras, the St. Louis Symphony and the Toronto Symphony, are also on the brink of bankruptcy and are asking their musicians to take pay cuts and shorter seasons.

“There is no question that there are orchestras out there that have deficits,” Olton said, “but that doesn’t mean they are all struggling. That would include Chicago. Given the size of its budget [$59 million] and its endowment [$168 million], to wind up with a deficit of about $1.3 million in a year when the orchestra has come out of the end of a period of terrific expansion isn’t that worrisome.”

Olton said he believes most of the organizations will survive.

“Even strong institutions go through transitions, bad periods,” he said. “But when failures occur, speaking generally, they derive from some breakdown in the board or its relationship with management or the musicians or the music directors, because the board is the responsible party. The board holds the orchestra in trust for the public. That’s its role. There are orchestras with good boards and they succeed. And there are orchestras with bad boards and they don’t succeed.

“The question is: Are [these orchestras] going to stay collapsed?”

Not if the league and the proactive Olton have anything to do with it. Olton came from outside the field, having spent his entire career in higher education before taking over his position in 1997. He had been dean of the Parsons School of Design in New York and before that, dean of faculty at Barnard College at Columbia University.

The league had been bloodied over its 1993 report titled “Americanizing the American Orchestra”--which called for an affirmative-action program of seemingly radical proportions--and decided it needed new, outside blood at the top if it were to embody credible change and pursue new directions. Enter Olton.

Under his direction, the organization began a leadership academy to explore how boards, managers and musicians could better work together.

“Is it surprising that many boards struggle with their governing responsibilities?” he asked. “It shouldn’t be. Who trains these people? Basically, nobody. A new member learns from colleagues already on the board. Are there some basic practices that can be taught? We believe there are. That’s what the leadership academy addresses. We see our job is to look way down into the future and begin talking about these issues before they become a crisis.”

Other initiatives include audience development projects, re-imaging campaigns and expanding the conductor workshop programs to help younger conductors get the hands-on experience they need to develop their craft.

The league runs such programs with the New World Symphony in Florida, the National Symphony in Washington and the Aspen Music Festival. It will also initiate a New Music Workshop with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in September to help conductors and composers by giving them a chance to hear what their music sounds like in a real performance. (To promote such works by contemporary composers, the league also maintains an informational Web site: newmusicnow.org).

Funds for these activities come from foundations such as the Mellon, Knight, Whitaker Fund and American Express, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Contributed income is projected to double to $2.4 million in 2002 from 1.2 million in 2000.

“One of the things we do not do is pass through grants,” Olton said. “There are organizations that do. Opera America does. It raises money and gives out grants to companies. It would be difficult for the league to do that. We have such an enormous number and different kinds of orchestras. There are 60 opera companies in America. There are 900 symphony orchestras, and they are so different--some are youth orchestras, some are community orchestras, some are professional orchestras.

“What we try to do instead is to try to raise money to develop programs that are responsive to felt needs in the field.”

To Olton, the future couldn’t look brighter.

“There are very large numbers of gifted conductors and music directors who are leading the enterprise, not least of whom is Esa-Pekka [Salonen].

“Plus, the quality of the musicians is extraordinarily high. American conservatories and music schools turn out fabulously good musicians. When any orchestra has an opening, there are not just scores, but hundreds ready to audition, and a great many of them are fully qualified. It’s choosing between better and best.”

And they won’t be playing for smaller and smaller numbers of older and older people, either.

The average age of subscribers at the Los Angeles Philharmonic is 45, according to an orchestra spokesperson, and it has remained constant at that age for several years.

The Pacific Symphony audience for its classical concerts averages in the mid-50s, according to orchestra president John Forsyte, and that average also has remained constant. (The average age for the Pacific pops concerts is “slightly older,” said Forsyte, “which is counterintuitive.”)

“The graying of the classical orchestra audience is a myth,” said Olton.

Other data also add an upbeat spin on things.

A recent American Symphony Orchestra League survey reported that income from ticket sales has more than doubled between the 1990-91 season and the 1999-2002 season.

Contributed income from individuals has nearly doubled in less than a decade, while business and corporate giving has increased by more than one-third in roughly the same period. The number of concerts rose 16.5% over the decade, and that doesn’t count concerts by foreign orchestras touring the U.S.

“Orchestras are not only artistically and financially strong institutions, but in addition to that, they’re meaningful institutions,” Olton said.

“If there was one bright light from Sept. 11, it was that orchestras provided a great salve and healing for American communities, all over the country.

“There were many memorial concerts. Many of them were free. I went to six myself. What that told me was that orchestras really do matter to the fabric of a society. It’s easy to forget that when you see one that stubs its toe along the way.”