Mester to Leave Pasadena Symphony
By Bill Peters
Published: Thursday, May 20th, 2010
In an abrupt announcement, the Pasadena Symphony Association’s 25-year love-fest with its Music Director Jorge Mester has come to an end. Mester is virtually walking out on the Association. The final concert of the season, to be held this Saturday, will be his last. According to the Association, it could not reach agreement with Mester on revised contract terms, as they put it, “necessary for the continued success” of the recovery plan which has been underway since financial crises hit the 82 year-old orchestra in 2008. The announcement says that an agreement on revised contract terms could not be reached. Mester had previously agreed to lower his conducting contract fees for the current season in response to the recovery and sustainability effort. The Association the announcement makes it clear, though, that they continued to press for further reductions on matters throughout their budget and that included Mester’s fees. That has prompted Mester to leave.
Mester has served as Music Director for the orchestra for 25 years. That quarter of a century building block was knocked asunder today with notification sent out to its membership and the press that Mester refused to buckle under to financial terms the Association demanded as part of their continuing recovery effort, a program that became necessary three years ago after the recession curtailed contributions from members and businesses. At that time it was revealed that in addition to diminishing contributions the endowment fund had lost money on its investments and had been plundered for day-to-day operations as well. That crisis struck the orchestra in October 2008. Subsequently, Paul Jan Zdunek, who had served as an outside management consultant, was brought aboard as CEO. He announced his Recovery Plan in January of 2009. Since then, Zdunek has consistently claimed success in turning the Association’s financial circumstances around. But, today’s announcement indicates that The Recovery Plan for a Sustainable Future, as he termed it, is nowhere near complete.
“The Recovery Plan’s fiscally responsible and sustainable success necessitates everyone’s participation and demands that the Association address each and every line item in the organization’s $3.2 million-dollar budget,” Melinda Shea, President of the Pasadena Symphony Association’s Board of Directors, is quoted in the press release.
The Pasadena Symphony group took on the financially weakened Pasadena Pops orchestra just before the recession hit. The Pops had been performing in a summer series at Descanso Gardens in La Cañada Flintridge, and Pasadena took them in at a time when its fortunes were also fading. The melding of the management and artistic styles, which were so notably different, would seem to create difficulties both financially and artistically for both orchestras. All seemed well as the two conductors, Mester and Rachael Worby, kept their approaches–and their programs–separate. Now, though, both orchestras will be seriously re-defining themselves as the Pops orchestra moves from Descanso, with an audience of 1,500 per performance, to Lot H near the Rose Bowl, that will accommodate several thousand. At the same time, the Pasadena Symphony will downsize from the 3,000 seat Civic Auditorium to the 1,200 seat Ambassador Auditorium next season, although the Classic Series will have two performances for each concert. Another new issue created by Mester’s departure will be a conductor search. Among the financial challenges that face the Association will be expenditures on an outdoor bandshell for the Pops and other accoutrements needed to put on the newly placed summer series. Questions remain as to whether the new Rose Bowl venue may have left the classical music side slighted.
Bottom line here: The line-by-line budgetary review by the Pasadena Symphony Association did not receive a positive response from Jorge Mester and he is leaving.
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