St. Louis, Detroit, Fort Worth, Baltimore, Toronto and Phoenix — that's a short list of North American orchestras in financial trouble during the post-Sept. 11 economy. In June, the San Jose Symphony closed its doors. The New York Philharmonic is putting off a new series of preconcert lectures to save cash.

        And — perhaps the most controversial cost-cutting move — the venerable Chicago Symphony, facing a deficit of $4 million-$4.5 million, is slashing educational programs.

The group eighth blackbird, formerly of Cincinnati, has won a recording contract with Cedille Records. (Enquirer file photo) | ZOOM |

        Keeping a major orchestra financially on track in a poor economic climate “is a delicate balancing act,” says Daniel Hoffheimer, chair of the board of trustees of the CSO.

        In Cincinnati — so far — the CSO has managed to deflect the wave of financial problems plaguing many orchestras.

        But three weeks before its new season, the CSO board is facing challenges of what the unsettled economy will bring. Its endowment, heavily invested in securities, has dropped from more than $90 million to about $70 million. Although the orchestra, which has a $29.4 million operating budget, expects to end its fiscal year Aug. 31 with a small surplus, Mr. Hoffheimer is worried about the next four years of the orchestra's budget cycle.

        The CSO plans operating deficits some years, with the idea of breaking even at the end of each four-year cycle.

        A lower endowment means less money to operate: the CSO draws out about 6.1 percent annually. A $20 million drop in the value adds up to $1.2 million in lost revenue. Over the years, the orchestra has come to depend more on that money: Today, 32 percent of its operating budget comes from the endowment (compared to 17 percent in 1993).

        “With the current stock market down — that's basically how you measure our deficit,” Mr. Hoffheimer says.

        On his agenda this year will be to find new sources of revenue, step up the orchestra's annual giving campaign, and “change the way we look at the endowment.”

        “We will have to increase the amount we take out of the endowment in order to operate,” Mr. Hoffheimer says.

        Yet, he knows there is a danger of shrinking the principal. (The St. Louis Symphony was threatened with bankruptcy earlier this year, largely because its endowment was too small.)

        The other option is to run a deficit and take out a bank loan — a risky choice that created massive problems a decade ago when the CSO grappled with an $8.4 million accumulated deficit.

        “It really amounts to the same thing; at some point there's a day of reckoning,” Mr. Hoffheimer says.

        Cutting expenses is something he does not want to do — especially in the second season of a widely heralded new music director. Ideally, the orchestra would like to expand its budget.

        This is the final year of a special $1.2 million promotional campaign to launch the new maestro, made possible by an anonymous donor. The success of last year's “Bravo Paavo” campaign raises the question: “Shouldn't we, on an ongoing basis, be devoting more resources to marketing generally, and wouldn't that pay off?” he says.

        Other plans: The board will be tackling several other issues this year.

        For the first time in CSO history, there will be a diversity committee on the board of trustees, chaired by Bishop Herbert Thompson Jr., head of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio. Judge Jack Sherman and Rebecca Aicholtz are co-vice-chairs.

        Mr. Hoffheimer plans to look “intensely” at Music Hall, the orchestra's home for most of its 107-year history, “and what can we do to make the hall a better place for a classical orchestra,” he says.

        At 3,400 seats, it's one of the largest halls in the world to fill. Ideas such as closing off part of the hall will be examined by a committee working with acousticians or theater designers “to find out how much it would cost, and what the acoustical consequences would be,” he says.

        As Cincinnati Opera vacates its current offices in Music Hall for new ones in the North wing, the CSO will examine how it can expand its own office space.

        Finally, the orchestra will be seeking ways to commission new music — something that interests the new music director.

        “I believe passionately that to be a living institution, the orchestra has to perform new music,” Mr. Hoffheimer says. “You can't just be a museum piece, or ultimately, you die.”

        All of this takes money. But Mr. Hoffheimer is “cautiously optimistic.” The bear market “doesn't threaten the CSO as a world class orchestra,” he says.

        “The biggest concern I have is the city,” Mr. Hoffheimer says, referring to last year's riots in Over-the-Rhine, where Music Hall resides, and this year's entertainment boycott. “The orchestra has the opportunity to help heal, but it can't do it alone.”

        Contract negotiations: The CSO's current musician contract expires Sept. 1. Unlike the last contract, which was settled three months before the season began, negotiations have stopped while the musicians are on vacation this month.

        “That's unfortunate, because you lose a bit of momentum,” says Eugene V. Frey, president of Cincinnati Local No. 1. He says the discussions have been friendly.

        For the first time in about 25 years, the musicians are being represented by a new labor lawyer, Barbara Jaccoma of New York. I. Philip Sipser, the CSO's longtime negotiator and high profile lawyer who represented numerous orchestras, died at age 82 last year.

        Labor and management will resume discussions when the musicians return. The Pops Orchestra, composed of the same musicians, starts Sept. 6; the CSO on Sept. 13.

        “I'm not sure we will have an agreement by (Sept. 1),” says Mr. Frey. “It would be nice to get it out of the way and just concentrate on the music.”

        The base salary for CSO musicians last season was $86,190.

        Last Monday, the Boston Symphony Orchestra ratified a new four-year contract that will pay its musicians $2,170 per week by the 2005-06 season. Their contract is unique, says The Boston Globe, because it also calls for “flexible rehearsal time” requested by incoming maestro James Levine. A two-year “experimental period” will explore new approaches to musical preparation.

        But in Minnesota earlier this month, musicians accepted a wage freeze for the first year of a two-year contract. It is the first two-year contract in recent memory and the first wage freeze since 1994, reports The Star Tribune. People: Cincinnati's Mischa Santora, music director of the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, is one of eight young conductors chosen for the National Conductor Preview, in March in Jacksonville, Fla. The preview showcases conductors who are ready to assume important professional posts for orchestra managers and agents.

        • The Amernet String Quartet, quartet-in-residence at Northern Kentucky University, welcomes two new members this fall. Violinist Misha Vitenson, a native of Tashkent, Uzbekistan, has won numerous prizes and soloed with orchestras such as the Israel Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta. Violist Michael Klotz, a native of Rochester, N.Y., is also a violinist and has performed chamber music in all the major halls of New York, Philadelphia and Los Angeles.

        • Miami University has a new maestro for the Miami Symphony and Oxford Chamber Orchestra. Ricardo Averback, a native of Brazil, comes from the University of Pennsylvania.

        • The hot group eighth blackbird, formerly of Cincinnati, has won a recording contract with Cedille Records to make three CDs. The group is now in residence at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University.

        9-11 memorials: Concerts are being planned across the country to observe the anniversary of 9-11. The Dayton Philharmonic's brass and percussion players will perform works by Copland, J.S. Bach and Grieg, at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 11, Westminster Presbyterian Church, First and North Wilkinson streets in Dayton. Patrick Reynolds and Dayton music director Neal Gittleman will conduct. (937) 224-3521.

        On Oct. 13, the ARC Chamber Ensemble, Demetrius Fuller, conductor, is planning an all-American tribute with the Salvation Army at Memorial Hall, Over-the-Rhine. 859-572-0025.

        Contact Janelle Gelfand by phone: 768-8382; fax: 768-8330; e-mail: jgelfand@enquirer.com.

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