The Dispatch wrote Others to fill void left by symphony

Sunday, September 7, 2008

BY GARY BUDZAK

Although the Columbus Symphony is out of commission, classical music can still be found in abundance in central Ohio. As the orchestra’s Sturm und Drang continues, chamber ensembles, part-time orchestras and soloists will fill some of the void.

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The Dispatch wrote Sidelined players bide time or move on

Sunday, August 31, 2008

BY JEFFREY SHEBAN

Stephen Secan has plenty of time for gardening these days. Too much time.

The 35-year member of the Columbus Symphony is waiting, watching and hoping for a resolution to a financial crisis and labor dispute that have silenced the largest arts organization in central Ohio.

“I’ve got savings stockpiled and can hold out for two or three years if I have to, but this is a huge problem for me financially,” said the principal oboe player, who between daily practicing and reed making tends the flowers outside his home in the Clintonville neighborhood.

Though under contract through August, Secan and 52 other full-time musicians have been without pay and benefits since June — when management terminated their labor agreement, saying it had no money to pay them.

Last week, to help tide him over, Secan started teaching music at Capital University in Bexley.

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The Dispatch wrote Musicians reject offer, dismissal of Hirokami

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

BY TIM FERAN AND JEFFREY SHEBAN

Columbus Symphony musicians have rejected a contract offer from the symphony board that would have cut salaries and caused the firing of Music Director Junichi Hirokami.

E-mail obtained by The Dispatch indicates that the latest proposal — the result of two days of mediated negotiations last week — called for a four-year pact.

In the first year, the musicians would have been paid an average salary of $40,265; and by the fourth year, $45,292.

The 27 percent decrease is less than the 40 percent reduction previously requested by the board.

To cover the $300,000 difference between the old and new salary offers, the board sought musician support for Hirokami’s dismissal.

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The Dispatch wrote Second grant to symphony OK’d

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

The Ohio Arts Council has provisionally approved the second year of a sustainability grant for the troubled Columbus Symphony.

The $136,947 grant — which comes after one of $154,907 — would be issued if the orchestra confirmed a 2008-09 season and developed a debt-reduction plan.

Furthermore, the orchestra wouldn’t be able to request a partial payment until after completing half of its season and spending half of the grant amount.

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The Dispatch wrote Future clouded by woes at symphony

Friday, June 13, 2008

BY JEFFREY SHEBAN

With or without the Columbus Symphony, the show will go on next season for its youth orchestras.

“It’s too important to let it go,” said Debby Rosenthal, who administers four groups of young players for the symphony, which has suspended operations.

“I’m confident there will be a season next year.”

Symphony leaders, including Rosenthal, met with 125 parents last week to review options, which could include higher tuition fees, independent fundraising and a bigger role for parent volunteers.

People left the meeting hoping for the best but wondering what the future holds for the 300 young musicians who will participate this year.

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The Dispatch wrote Ending on uncertain note

Sunday, June 1, 2008

BY TIM FERAN

“This is starting to feel like a telethon,” Marvin Hamlisch said to laughter and some tears during last night’s season finale — and perhaps ultimate finale — for the Columbus Symphony Orchestra.

Hamlisch spoke for many during the performance at the Ohio Theatre, which was filled with movie and Broadway favorites that often hinted at endings while simultaneously proclaiming hope for new beginnings.

Hamlisch, who spoke in between each piece, dedicated his performance “to a whole new way of doing things in this place so they’ll get it right the next time.”

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The Lantern wrote Campus group supports C-bus symphony

Sarah Minor

Issue date: 5/29/08

Ohio State students attended the Columbus Symphony Orchestra’s last classical concert of the season May 10th. For financial reasons, CSO has canceled its summer concerts which has brought disappointment to Matthew Brahms and Julianne Akins, music majors at OSU.

Not only did OSU students support the city’s orchestra, but one of the founders of Symphony Strong, Matthew Brahms, is related to the famous composer, Johannes Brahms, the latter being his great-great-great uncle.

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Business First wrote Symphony musicians ask for 3rd-party mediator

Thursday, May 29, 2008

by Matt Burns

With the Columbus Symphony Orchestra’s season swan song days away and contentious contract talks far from over, the group’s musicians are asking the board to come back to the table with the slate wiped clean and a non-binding third-party mediator in place.

The proposal, unveiled Thursday as the symphony prepares for its last performances of the season this weekend, is one Board Chairman Robert “Buzz” Trafford said the group is actively considering. But with the symphony’s outdoor summer series canceled and a fall season opening in limbo, he said an offer to take all previous proposals off the table and bring in a third party likely won’t have the desired effect the musicians are seeking – prolonging the season past its planned June 1 suspension date.

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The Dispatch wrote Symphony’s pain hurts others

Monday, May 26, 2008

BY JEFFREY SHEBAN

Musicians and other employees of the Columbus Symphony won’t be the only ones suffering financially if the next orchestral season is canceled.

The operator of the Ohio Theatre could be out $800,000 if the symphony bypasses its 2008-09 season, which normally runs for 26 weeks starting in October.

“A dark Ohio will be a real challenge for us and all of Downtown,” said Bill Conner, president and chief executive of the Columbus Association for the Performing Arts.

CAPA, which operates the Ohio, Palace, Southern and other theaters in Columbus and Connecticut, is already owed $375,000 by the symphony for theater rent and office space for the current season, which ends Saturday.

The symphony says it’s broke and can’t pay.

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Business First wrote Symphony musicians propose 7% salary cut to save season

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

by Matt Burns

Columbus Symphony Orchestra musicians have cued up a cost-cutting proposal they say would allow the struggling group to open its season this fall, including a concession to trim their salaries by about 7 percent.

But they said that can happen only if the symphony, buckling under the weight of seven-figure deficits in recent years, cuts expenses that have caused millions in cost overruns in recent years.

Symphony musicians on Tuesday unveiled a proposed $11.1 million budget that takes into account the $9.5 million the group’s board claims is the level of public support for the symphony, plus an estimated $1.6 million in in-kind donations, the annual average in past years. The proposal allots $5 million in compensation for the 53 staff musicians, representing an overall $500,000 savings and a 6.5 percent to 7 percent salary cut for each player, said Jim Akins, principal tuba player and chair of the orchestra committee.

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We get the impression from friends (not orchestra members) that some donors are reluctant to make further substantial contributions because the management has not done a good job of managing and accounting for prior contributions. While we don’t know if this is true, it certainly may be a perception that hinders some fund raising efforts.

This has been repeated before. And the fact that no corporations have stepped in to take what would seem to be certain showers of praise makes me think something’s not right. So help me understand this. If the CSO fails, then the board is board of nothing? Why not step down and allow fresh blood or a new management structure take over? What keeps them on the sinking ship amidst comments like this?

Also, a couple weeks back, a pair of OSU students organized a trip with a few buses full of students to a performance. Kudos for the effort, but it seems to me that that should have been a tradition all along (at least until it becomes a few streetcars full!). I’m not singling out blame here (blame all around, I say) just whining.

Also, someone mentioned price somewhere, but the rear balcony is about $18 with student price half that. I don’t think ticket price is a major problem.

But then I stumbled across this discussion from Cincy which suggests I’m wrong:

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/classical/2008/03/death-knell-for-columbus-symphony.asp

David H. Thomas has been an orchestral clarinetist for 23 years. Additionally, he is also an experienced soloist, with numerous critically acclaimed performances.

Starting his performing career directly after undergraduate studies, he won a position with the Greensboro Symphony in 1982. The next year he was offered the principal position of the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra in Washington, DC. The grueling demands of opera and ballet repertoire honed his skills as a versatile player. In 1989, he won the principal clarinet position of the Columbus Symphony in Ohio.

http://glitteringstew.com/reed

The Dispatch wrote Arts council plans to skip symphony

Friday, May 16, 2008

BY JEFFREY SHEBAN

A key source of public funding is drying up for the Columbus Symphony because of the likelihood that there’ll be no 2008-09 season.

Earlier this week, the grants committee of the Greater Columbus Arts Council recommended no longer giving money to the symphony, which last year received $261,417.

“We shouldn’t be giving operational support to an organization that’s not going to be here after June 1,” said council President Bryan W. Knicely.

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The Dispatch wrote Waiting for an encore

Saturday, May 17, 2008

BY JEFFREY SHEBAN

Like any good conductor, Junichi Hirokami knows the score: In life, as in music, lows follow the highs. Such was his fate early yesterday.

Hours after leading the Columbus Symphony and renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma in a classical-season finale, Hirokami sat alone on a steel bench at Port Columbus, waiting to return to his native Japan.

He wondered whether he was leaving Columbus for good.

“I want to come back, but I leave it to the people,” he said. “God’s saying, ‘Junichi, don’t give up.’ “

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