Symphony upbeat public will follow lead

By Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writer

Honolulu Symphony Orchestra officials say pay cuts accepted by staff and musicians and a $2.1 million donation show the community that a financial plan is in place. Advertiser library photo

The cutbacks and donations were part of a financial plan that came together Thursday night. Musicians with the symphony reluctantly approved a 20 percent pay cut for next year along with a pay freeze in the fourth year of their five-year contract.

That decision was followed yesterday morning by an announcement that symphony staffers would make good on a pledge they had made to take a similar cut in pay.

The $2.1 million donation — which allows the symphony to be debt-free for the first time in a decade — was contingent upon both staff and musicians making sacrifices.

"This demonstrates that we are able to live within our means, that we do have a viable financial plan," said Stephen Bloom, symphony president. "I think that the community will finally take a look at that and say the symphony has its act together and say that is something I am willing to invest in."

The cuts were needed as a way of reducing $1 million in debt and avoiding reductions in staffing. In addition to the pay cuts, the musicians agreed to a reduction in pension benefits and a shorter season, from 34 weeks to 30 weeks. The base pay for a musician is $30,345 for a 34-week session.

Symphony performers were not happy with the cutbacks, but the alternatives would have been a reduction in the orchestra by six members or a strike. The symphony has 63 full-time and 20 part-time musicians.

The donors included Lynne Johnson, chairwoman of the Honolulu Symphony Foundation, who contributed $100,000.

The other donors are Bank of Hawaii President Michael O'Neill and his wife, Trish — they contributed $1 million — and a member of the symphony board who wishes to remain anonymous.

Johnson predicted the community will respond favorably when the symphony seeks donations to increase its endowment, which has $5.5 million. Similar symphony organizations need two to three times that amount to survive.

"You never can tell, but I feel that there will be a sense of excitement that the future of the symphony is here," she said. "I think the community will be relieved and pleased that this has finally happened."

The musicians made a huge statement by agreeing to the cutbacks, she said.

"To have this major sacrifice by everybody is our hope for the future," Johnson said. "I am really in awe of the musicians being willing to take a further cut so as not to lose positions. The artistic integrity of the orchestra was of supreme importance to them."

Those sacrifices followed months of debt-related doubt, beginning in March when symphony officials realized they would not be able raise a suitable endowment, Bloom said. Near-term financial predictions were similarly bleak, he said.

"What we saw was that they would get worse and worse and worse, short of having a much larger endowment," he said. "We knew we would have to take some action."

Preliminary discussions with musicians were held in June but because most of the orchestra works on the Mainland during the summer, those talks could not resume until early last month, Bloom said.

Reach Mike Gordon at mgordon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8012.