O.C. Philharmonic Society Records $387,359 Shortfall

Despite an increase in attendance, record ticket income and a boost in fund-raising, the Philharmonic Society of Orange County ran its first deficit in a decade in 2001-02--a shortfall of $387,359, according to figures released Tuesday.

The key problem, said associate director Sandy Robertson, was that Sept. 11 struck just as the organization, one of Orange County’s three chief presenters, was putting on a push for its most ambitious season. The third-annual Eclectic Orange Festival, a multidisciplinary, multi-venue event that the society has made its centerpiece, began on Sept. 28.

“We got hit with that right up front,” Robertson said. “It was a very unusual year.”

Robertson said that even though ticket sales were up for the year--65,000 compared with 45,600 the year before--they fell short of what was needed to balance the budget in a season of expensive productions, including visits by the Berlin and Vienna philharmonics, the Southern California premiere of the Mark Morris staging of the Rameau opera “Platee,” and the U.S. premiere of Hal Hartley’s avant-garde play “Soon.”

Performance costs were $3.3 million, a $1.4-million increase over the year before. Ticket income went up $530,000, from $1.24 million to $1.77 million, and contributions grew $400,000, from $2.7 million to $3.1 million.

The Irvine-based Philharmonic Society also had a $110,000 increase in administrative and personnel costs. Total expenses were $5.27 million, and revenue was $4.88 million.

Robertson said the society covered the deficit with money that had built up from past years’ surpluses.