Philadelphia Orchestra 'emerges from bankrupty'

[Guest]

Some good news about the Philadelphia Orchestra ....

"A reorganisation plan, including the loss of ten musicians and a 15% pay cut for the remaining 95, was approved by a US Bankruptcy Court judge in June.

The orchestra addressed debts, claims and liabilities of around $100m (£64m).

A statement from the Philadelphia Orchestra Association, and its subsidiary, the Academy of Music, said they had reached a settlement of $5.49m (£3.5m).

"We are deeply grateful to all who have championed and supported our Orchestra during this difficult yet necessary process," said CEO and association president Allison Vulgamore.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-19078179

:


Great name the CEO has too

[BBMmk2]

Yes indeed she has amateur51!!

Good to see that orchesdtra cominmg in out of that cold period! If I was aphilanthropist I would've helped out to!!

[cloughie]

Yes indeed she has amateur51!!

Good to see that orchesdtra cominmg in out of that cold period! If I was aphilanthropist I would've helped out to!!

Stoki and Eugene can rest easily in their graves now the Orchestra they built up and maintained for all those years is safe again.

[bluestateprommer]

Stoki and Eugene can rest easily in their graves now the Orchestra they built up and maintained for all those years is safe again.

I wouldn't actually speak so soon about the Fabulous Philadelphians being "safe" just yet. There's a lot of bad blood between the orchestra and management, which one can sense by reading between the lines of this post from the Philadelphia Inquirer's Peter Dobrin:

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/artswatch/Philadelphia-Orchestra-Association-exits-bankruptcy.html

Slightly easier reading version: http://www.philly.com/philly/columni...ankruptcy.html

(Granted, there's a lot of back history regarding Dobrin and the past 10 years in covering the Philadelphia Orchestra and particularly the prior music director, Christoph Eschenbach, but that's a topic for another day.) I know of one musician who was in Philadelphia and was on the negotiating committee, and apparently his experience there was an eye-opener, and not in a nice way. When he won a post with Boston in the wake of the bankruptcy controversy, he took it with full intention of leaving Philadelphia. However, apparently his wife won a principal chair in another city's orchestra, so decisions have to be made there.

On perhaps a slightly more upbeat side, this more recent article by the Inquirer's other classical critic, David Patrick Stearns, talks about the orchestra's summer residency in Saratoga, NY:

http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/20120814_Sweet_harmony__Saratoga_and_the_Phila__Orchestra.html

Regarding financial stresses with the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) and the orchestra's concerts:

'However, each of its performances costs SPAC an average of $180,000. And though corporate giving remains healthy, individual donations are not.

In fact, the orchestra has dropped its fees since 2008 - Vulgamore won't say how much, but described the decrease as "impactful" - in recognition of the fund-raising challenges.

Attendance figures are best perceived through various theories of relativity, and specific figures weren't available. The facility's covered seats number about 5,200, which means a full house is equal to two sellouts in many indoor theaters (Verizon Hall holds about 2,500). Some empty seats are to be expected. But almost half were empty on last week's rainy Thursday.

The hard numbers, says White, are "close to being flat, which is the new 'up.' So I think we'll be in pretty good shape."'

It'll be interesting to see what happens in the fall when Yannick Nézet-Séguin takes over full time as music director there. There should be honeymoon buzz his 1st season, of course, but then the test is the aftermath, to state the incredibly obvious.

[bluestateprommer]

The first weekend of Philadelphia Orchestra subscription concerts with their new music director, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, is just about to be completed as of this afternoon. There was a gala opening concert, featuring Renee Fleming, reviewed by the Philadelphia Inquirer's Peter Dobrin here:

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/homepage/20121019_Orchestra_s_Nzet-Sguin_debuts_on_a_high_note.html

The Inquirer's other classical critic, David Patrick Stearns, has this more puff-piece-like feature on how well YNS works with singers:

http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/david_patrick_stearns/20121014_A_chorus_of_praise_for_Yannick_s_way_with_singers.html

DPS also got to review the actual opening subscription program, the Verdi Requiem, with vocal soloists Marina Poplovskaya, Christine Rice, Rolando Villazon, and Mikhail Petrenko:

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/nation_world/20121021_Nzet-Sguin_takes__Requiem__to_new_place.html

BTW, Poplovskaya had to pull out for today's performance, and Angela Meade will be taking her place. The Fabulous Philadelphians are scheduled to go to Carnegie Hall with this program on Tuesday. Poplovskaya is still listed on the soloists' roster for Carnegie. The Carnegie Hall website says "Limited Availability" for tickets, which should be a morale boost for the orchestra after all they've gone/been put through.

Dobrin had this separate article on YNS' arrival as music director in Philadelphia:

http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/peter_dobrin/20121021_Orchestra_s_new_maestro_looks_ahead_with_verve.html

I noted one borderline crass-sounding passage:

"He wasn't the orchestra's first choice for the job.....Talks with Simon Rattle had gotten far enough along that he and the orchestra were discussing where Rattle would live and which school his children might attend. Rattle instead stayed with the Berlin Philharmonic."

Doesn't seem like a terribly flattering thing to say about a new music director when he's just getting started. The article is otherwise pretty sympathetic, especially in discussing YNS' relationship with his partner, Pierre Tourville. In any event, fingers crossed for the Philadelphia Orchestra this season, as well as down the line.

[french frank]

Thanks for the update, bsp. That all sounds very encouraging - I hope they and YNS hit it off with the public. Slightly surprised at the suggestion that Rattle was in the picture, though I suppose he isn't guaranteed a job for life with the BPO. And anyway, he's getting on for 60 now - I think YNS's youthful energy will be the shot in the arm they need.

[richardfinegold]

The first weekend of Philadelphia Orchestra subscription concerts with their new music director, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, is just about to be completed as of this afternoon. There was a gala opening concert, featuring Renee Fleming, reviewed by the Philadelphia Inquirer's Peter Dobrin here:

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/homepage/20121019_Orchestra_s_Nzet-Sguin_debuts_on_a_high_note.html

The Inquirer's other classical critic, David Patrick Stearns, has this more puff-piece-like feature on how well YNS works with singers:

http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/david_patrick_stearns/20121014_A_chorus_of_praise_for_Yannick_s_way_with_singers.html

DPS also got to review the actual opening subscription program, the Verdi Requiem, with vocal soloists Marina Poplovskaya, Christine Rice, Rolando Villazon, and Mikhail Petrenko:

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/nation_world/20121021_Nzet-Sguin_takes__Requiem__to_new_place.html

BTW, Poplovskaya had to pull out for today's performance, and Angela Meade will be taking her place. The Fabulous Philadelphians are scheduled to go to Carnegie Hall with this program on Tuesday. Poplovskaya is still listed on the soloists' roster for Carnegie. The Carnegie Hall website says "Limited Availability" for tickets, which should be a morale boost for the orchestra after all they've gone/been put through.

Dobrin had this separate article on YNS' arrival as music director in Philadelphia:

http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/peter_dobrin/20121021_Orchestra_s_new_maestro_looks_ahead_with_verve.html

I noted one borderline crass-sounding passage:



Doesn't seem like a terribly flattering thing to say about a new music director when he's just getting started. The article is otherwise pretty sympathetic, especially in discussing YNS' relationship with his partner, Pierre Tourville. In any event, fingers crossed for the Philadelphia Orchestra this season, as well as down the line.

The last time I was in in Philly and saw a concert, Deneve was conducting. He and the Orchestra seemed to have a real chemistry. Was he in the running for the job?

[bluestateprommer]

Thanks for the update, bsp. That all sounds very encouraging - I hope they and YNS hit it off with the public. Slightly surprised at the suggestion that Rattle was in the picture, though I suppose he isn't guaranteed a job for life with the BPO. And anyway, he's getting on for 60 now - I think YNS's youthful energy will be the shot in the arm they need.

For ff, happy to provide the update :) , even if others at the Inquirer did the real reporting work. Peter Dobrin at the Inquirer had this blog post report of Angela Meade's last minute rescue of the Sunday performance in Philly:

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/artswatch/Oen-soprano-calls-in-sick-another-earns-praise.html

YNS is certainly doing his bit to connect with the Philly public, if this other article by Dobrin is anything to go by:

http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/20120910_Nzet-Sguin_pitches_in_as_orchestra_focuses_on_finances.html

'The publisher doesn't toss the morning paper onto your lawn, nor does the airline pilot walk down the aisle asking for your choice of beverage.

So when the music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra popped up unannounced at the Kimmel Center box office Monday as season single tickets went on sale, the patron on the other side of the window was startled.

And charmed.

"He's a nice, young, exuberant and lovely person to represent the orchestra," Carolyn Platt of Abington said of Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who this season becomes the orchestra's eighth music director. "I think he's a very good choice for us."'

One has to keep in mind that Dobrin still has a major artistic man-crush on Vladimir Jurowski, who was his first choice as the next music director for Philadelphia. So he seems to be holding fire on YNS, for now, except for the odd subtle barb.

The NYT reviewed the Carnegie Hall performance by YNS, the Fabulous Philadelphians, and the soloists, with Poployskaya back for Carnegie, presumably recovering enough to pull off Carnegie:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/25/arts/music/yannick-nezet-seguin-and-philadelphia-orchestra-at-carnegie.html

James R. Oestreich shot his main brickbat at Rolando Villazón:

"The performance of the tenor, Rolando Villazón, was uncomfortable in other ways. Given his history of vocal problems, you had to worry about the stressed, pinched sound of his loud, high singing. But worse, his 'Ingemisco' ('I groan') began with straying pitch and ended in a croon, which he applied even more heavily as the evening went on. At this stage in his career Mr. Nézet-Séguin may have yet to develop the gravity to curb a star singer’s worst excesses, as Riccardo Muti used to do with Luciano Pavarotti."

OTOH, you should all be pleased that JRO gave his highest praise for the soloists to the Brit among them ;) :

"Of the vocal soloists the most consistently effective was the least well known hereabout, Christine Rice, a British mezzo-soprano. Though she lacked the low notes of a true contralto, she sang with lovely tone, fine expressivity and good diction in her middle and upper registers."

Oestreich also showered praise on the orchestra itself, which can certainly use the morale boost, as noted, as well as for YNS.

For ff, Rattle first conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra as far back as 1993, per this NYT review (although I'm sure SSR led the orchestra at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia before Carnegie, Allan Kozinn's use of the word "debut" notwithstanding):

http://www.nytimes.com/1993/12/16/arts/review-music-rattle-leads-the-philadelphia-in-mahler-s-ninth-symphony.html

My understanding is that Philly tried to get him back around 1998-1999 as successor to Wolfgang Sawallisch, but obviously Berlin got to SSR first. For a while after that, the orchestra took some small pride in claiming to be the only North American orchestra that Rattle would guest-conductor, which went for something like a further decade. However, Rattle did make a guest appearance with the LA Phil not that long back, which took that distinction away from Philadelphia. It actually makes logistical sense that Rattle would want to stay in Berlin, since that's closer obviously to his wife's family, and avoids the drain of multiple trans-Atlantic commutes.

For RF, no idea of Deneve was in the running for Philly. SD was set already to take over the Stuttgart Radio Symphony around that time, and maybe he felt that it wasn't right. Given the bankruptcy trauma that the orchestra went/got put through, SD may be thinking that he dodged a bullet.

[Sir Velo]

Some of our UK provincial orchestras are a long way from being out of the woods. Happenstance brought me to review the financial statements of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, an event which did not make for happy reading.

The BSO in its last financial year reported net current liabilities (ie more short term creditors than liquid assets); a massive loss on its concert giving (£2m receipts vs £5m orchestra/performer costs); a diminution in its reserves of over £300k in the year; and a large net cash outflow.

This paragraph from the orchestra's own assessment of its ability to continue as a going concern makes for particularly sobering reading: "After careful consideration of the company's current financial position, and future plans and prospects, the directors have a reasonable expectation that the company has adequate resources to continue operational existence for the foreseeable future." Reading between the lines: any further austerity measures are likely to be catastrophic.

[Hornspieler]

Some of our UK provincial orchestras are a long way from being out of the woods. Happenstance brought me to review the financial statements of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, an event which did not make for happy reading.

The BSO in its last financial year reported net current liabilities (ie more short term creditors than liquid assets); a massive loss on its concert giving (£2m receipts vs £5m orchestra/performer costs); a diminution in its reserves of over £300k in the year; and a large net cash outflow.

This paragraph from the orchestra's own assessment of its ability to continue as a going concern makes for particularly sobering reading: "After careful consideration of the company's current financial position, and future plans and prospects, the directors have a reasonable expectation that the company has adequate resources to continue operational existence for the foreseeable future." Reading between the lines: any further austerity measures are likely to be catastrophic.

Bad news indeed. But nobody seems to have any interest in the thread which I started, discussing the problems and viscisitudes
of music making in Bournemouth, Bristol and the BBC's responsibilities to their own orchestral employees in the light of the loss of a mandatory license fee income in the not too distant future.

My first target would be to get rid of Radio 1, with its massive expenditure on those disk jockeys. Let commercial radio have them and their output. (Most radio 1 users don't even know what they've been listening too - its just background noise)

I'm all for retaining Radio 2. It provides intelligent discussion, amusing audio games and some very good light music.
(I do miss Housewives Choice, the Organist Entertains and Listen to the Band. They all provide a pathway to the Radio 3 more "Classical" output - and not forgetting Radio Drama)

HS

[teamsaint]

Bad news indeed. But nobody seems to have any interest in the thread which I started, discussing the problems and viscisitudes
of music making in Bournemouth, Bristol and the BBC's responsibilities to their own orchestral employees in the light of the loss of a mandatory license fee income in the not too distant future.

My first target would be to get rid of Radio 1, with its massive expenditure on those disk jockeys. Let commercial radio have them and their output. (Most radio 1 users don't even know what they've been listening too - its just background noise)

I'm all for retaining Radio 2. It provides intelligent discussion, amusing audio games and some very good light music.
(I do miss Housewives Choice, the Organist Entertains and Listen to the Band. They all provide a pathway to the Radio 3 more "Classical" output - and not forgetting Radio Drama)

HS

I think folks are waiting for the next installment HS. good stuff so far.

personally I think a rebranding to AFC Boscombe Symphony orchestra would help.

No need to get rid of R1, just improve the programming. Radio 1 provided me with a great education in pop/rock etc in the John Peel days.

Radio 2? The specialist shows are good, the rest is Soma. IMO, of course.

I would be interested to see the evidence that R2 is a pathway to R3, but this is FFs field of expertise, so I'll leave the thought hanging there......

[richardfinegold]

I think folks are waiting for the next installment HS. good stuff so far.

personally I think a rebranding to AFC Boscombe Symphony orchestra would help.

No need to get rid of R1, just improve the programming. Radio 1 provided me with a great education in pop/rock etc in the John Peel days.

Radio 2? The specialist shows are good, the rest is Soma. IMO, of course.

I would be interested to see the evidence that R2 is a pathway to R3, but this is FFs field of expertise, so I'll leave the thought hanging there......

Right, I was waiting until HS finished his promised trilogy of posts...I didn't want to applaud between movements, after all...

[BBMmk2]

What about Radio 4, HS?

[cloughie]

Bad news indeed. But nobody seems to have any interest in the thread which I started, discussing the problems and viscisitudes
of music making in Bournemouth, Bristol and the BBC's responsibilities to their own orchestral employees in the light of the loss of a mandatory license fee income in the not too distant future.

My first target would be to get rid of Radio 1, with its massive expenditure on those disk jockeys. Let commercial radio have them and their output. (Most radio 1 users don't even know what they've been listening too - its just background noise)

I'm all for retaining Radio 2. It provides intelligent discussion, amusing audio games and some very good light music.
(I do miss Housewives Choice, the Organist Entertains and Listen to the Band. They all provide a pathway to the Radio 3 more "Classical" output - and not forgetting Radio Drama)

HS

If Radio 1 goes - how should it go - sell it off, franchise it? Maybe over the years too much has been given away to a greedy music industry and now it's payback time. Somewhere there's money there that can subsidise Radio 3 generally and live orchestras in particular.

[verismissimo]

...

My first target would be to get rid of Radio 1, with its massive expenditure on those disk jockeys. Let commercial radio have them and their output. (Most radio 1 users don't even know what they've been listening too - its just background noise)

HS

My thirteen year old would be horrified. And she listens to R1 with an attention level that I couldn't possibly muster.