Say it isn't so.....PLEASE!

Stokowski and Philly give US premiere of Mahler 8

Originally published April 16, 2011

This news hot off the presses:  The Philadelphia Orchestra board of director's today voted to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.  While much of the news about orchestra failures has been coming from the "lower tier," this is the first of America's "Big Five" (along with New York, Boston, Cleveland and Chicago) to have such problems.   And the tweets are just starting to come in:

nhmitchell:  "Goodness sakes. The Philadelphia Orchestra filed for bankruptcy. The apocalypse must be near. Ormandy must be rolling over in his grave."

joelmmathis goes after the management:  "I assume that hiring Brian Tierney as the PR guy is why the Philadelphia Orchestra board decided to vote bankruptcy during PIFA."  

The reasons for this action are probably as varied as a concert program (wait!  in much of the country they are quite predictable and dull):  

Board chairman Richard Worle:  "We're running low on cash, we're running a deficit, and we have to put ourselves in a position to attract investment funds to help us."

Allison Vulgamore, president and chief executive officer:  "tremendous decline" in audiences over a five year period.

More from the AP:   Musicians, who in recent years have agreed to take pay cuts totaling millions of dollars, have expressed concern about the effect of bankruptcy on their pensions. Worley said that would be worked out in negotiations, but officials want orchestra members to have a "reasonable and respectable pension."  The orchestra's management is seeking a 16-percent pay cut and other concessions from the musicians as part of ongoing contract negotiations. Players say there have been no talks since March 27 and none are scheduled.  (Sounds like shades of Detroit to me!)

Will new conductor Yannick Nezet-Seguin have an orchestra to lead when he takes over full time in 2012-13?

One probably has to wonder why I might be concerned with the Philadelphia Orchestra.  As a youth, I probably "cut my orchestral teeth" on their countless recordings.  (I used to think Eugene Ormandy was a god....now I know at least a little better.)  I did have the wonderful opportunity to hear two of the Big Five (Cleveland and Philly) in the expanse of one month back in 1976.  It was the Philadelphia Orchestra that introduced me to the music of Gustav Mahler (the first symphony) and that sumptuous "Philadelphia sound" is forever ingrained in my memory--even through the renowned horrible acoustics of the old "auditorium" (barn is a better term) at Michigan State University.

So I have had "ties" to that orchestra, that luscious sonority for most of my life, and hey, they recorded the soundtrack to Fantasia!  (the real one).