ALERT: Philadelphia Orchestra files for Chapter 11

[PCIntern]

http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/20110416_Philadelphia_Orchestra_seeks_bankruptcy_reorganization.html



Philadelphia Orchestra seeks bankruptcy reorganization
By Peter Dobrin

INQUIRER MUSIC CRITIC

The board of the 111-year-old Philadelphia Orchestra Saturday voted in favor of Chapter 11, sources say. Papers will be filed within hours or days in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, asking for reorganization, according to orchestra leaders.

The move makes the Philadelphia Orchestra the first major U.S. ensemble known to file for bankruptcy, according to orchestra industry groups and veteran observers.

The orchestra's concerts and business operations continue unfettered. In fact, orchestra leaders in the next few days expect to roll out a $214 million fund-raising campaign - their largest and riskiest ever - to save the orchestra from they say is the worse-case scenario of liquidation.

Citing the orchestra's current "fantastic imbalance" between income and expenses and the scale of the rescue plan, board chairman Richard B. Worley on Friday said:



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More at the link including how the musicians handed out leaflets before Thursday night's performance.

It's all so complex...as a 30+ year subscriber, I am outraged that the administration of the Orchestra did not manage this entity properly, and the former President was a real putz. (Not Bush, Jr. - another former president of something can also be a putz-deluxe.)

It should be interesting: there's some question as to how insolvent they really are. More at the source...

On edit: that's Tastykake and the Orchestra all in one week in BIG TROUBLE: Tastykake was bailed out...we shall see the results of that in the near future.

[frazzled]

1. "it no longer wanted to participate in the musicians' current defined-benefit pension fund"

It no longer wanted to?

Good lord; I hope they know how stupid they are being. These musicians will end up elsewhere, and many orchestras will be happy to have them. And then it will not be the same orchestra, and will have even more problems.

But the other point is how this country has ripped arts funding to shreds. More support from government sources might have staved off such actions at the PO.

I sure hope nothing like this happens to my beloved Chicago Symphony Orchestra: it is our refuge in these noisy, troubled times.

[PCIntern]

2. Agreed...

and for YEARS, we didn't have a recording contract so in terms of exposure, nada, no young people's concerts worth discussing, no outreach, no nothing. I treat several of the Orchestra members and as disparate as their backgrounds and politics are, all of a sudden, they're coalesced. Very interesting...

[frazzled]

3. And they're sitting on a $140 million endowment?

Who do they think they are: Harvard? (sitting on huge endowments and stingier than the day is long).

The Philadelphia Orchestra is a venerable institution. I grew up listening to their recordings in my parents' house, when Eugene Ormandy was conductor. There's no reason they shouldn't be recording. Oh, don't get me started. The board of that orchestra must be really screwed up. They need to dissolve it and try to salvage the entire enterprise.

[hedgehog]

4. The $140 million endowment doesn't go too far when compared to annual costs.

It's probably less than one year's budget, and the annual earnings are far smaller.


A number of orchestras are going into bankruptcy, including the Syracuse Symphony. All of which goes to show that today's rich are either stingier and/or more Philistine than yesterday's.