New Contract Keeps Brott on Symphony Podium

Boris Brott, founding music director of New West Symphony, has secured a new three-year contract that provides a six-figure income and travel expenses from his home in Canada.

Brott is in the final year of his current three-year contract. The new agreement will take effect Sept. 1 and run through the orchestra’s 10th season that concludes in spring 2005.

Under the contract, Brott, 57, will commit nine weeks to the Thousand Oaks-based symphony in each of the first two years and 10 weeks in the final year. The New West Symphony’s season runs from September to May.

His responsibilities include conducting the symphony’s six Masterpiece Series concerts, an opening night gala concert, a pair of Discovery Artists concerts, plus the educational outreach Symphonic Adventures programs.

Brott’s current contract pays him $87,000 for an eight-week commitment. His revised contract will pay him $100,000 each season and will include a 5% increase in the second and third years, said Betsy Chess, the symphony’s executive director.

Called an “evergreen contract,” the agreement will renew every second year for an additional year unless Brott or the symphony decides to alter the terms.

A $30,000 stipend that Brott receives to cover expenses--which include air travel between Ventura County and his home in Hamilton, Ontario--also comes out of New West Symphony’s $2.2-million operating budget, Chess said.

While conductors’ salaries can differ greatly, Brott’s compensation is within the range of salaries of orchestras with budgets of $1 million to $3.5 million, said Kris Saslow Sinclair, executive director of the Assn. of California Symphony Orchestras.

New West Symphony was created through the merger of the Ventura County Symphony and the Conejo Symphony in 1995.

“Boris has played a vital role in the artistic growth of our orchestra since its inception,” Chess said.

In addition to his position with the New West Symphony and numerous international guest appearances, Brott is artistic director of the Brott Music Festival, which is held in three Canadian cities from spring through fall, and conductor of the McGill Chamber Orchestra in Montreal.