Blog #6- Hawaii Aloha

It’s really strange to see a story about your job on the front page every day- and everywhere you go, having people asking you what’s going on- especially when you don’t know exactly what’s going on yourself.

This past week saw the end of the HSO ‘04-05 season, our 105th. It’s now officially over, having run our little three-week mini series following a month off in April, and what a year it has been. Our management is imploding. The end of the season has seen the resignations of our Executive Manager (official title- ‘President’), Operations Manager (‘Vice President’), Personnel Manager, a one year leave of absence for the assistant PM, Education Program Manager, and a few board members. Our music director is leaving. I think I’m forgetting some others, but I’ve lost track by now.

Remarkably, very few musicians are planning to leave (yet)- the openings we’ve been auditioning for are mostly unfilled ones from last year. I talked about the auditions in the last blog.

Following the marathon day of auditions last Tuesday, we had a three-concert run of our final Pops Concert of the year, a fantastic concert with Hawaii’s own Grammy-nominated Keali’i Reichel, accompanied by a big entourage of singers, instrumentalists, hula dancers and a whole lot of very fragrant leis.

Hawaiian music isn’t exactly my cup of tea- I find it to be too consonant and sweet after a while- kind of like an entire meal of dessert. At least, thanks to capo magic, there are varying keys (Db, B, etc.) and I’ll admit, there are a few up-tempo pieces that liven things up, but I really get hungry for some more harmonic variations after ten or twenty tunes with the same basic set of major and minor keys and gradually get very sleepy and mellow. (Come to think of it, that’s the idea! Still, a few more adventurous harmonies couldn’t hurt.)

Having said that, I thought this run of concerts last week were really excellent, and the hula dancers were something else again. Mainland readers might be thinking of the fast Tahitian style of dancing with rapid drum beats and twitching thighs- this is nothing like that. There has been a remarkable renaissance of Hawaiian culture here in the last quarter century, not only the Hawaiian language has made a big-time comeback, but Hawaiian music, which just got it’s own Grammy category and especially hula has really come into it’s own. Hula today is graceful as any ballet, and the demands of ensemble and technique are as strict as any modern dance.

Every year there is a hula festival on the Big Island in Hilo, the Merry Monarch Festival, that has gotten bigger and bigger each year. It’s now a four day event, televised wall-to-wall, with lots of competing ‘halau’ (dance troupes) and individuals. There are two categories of hula, ancient and modern (Kahiko & ‘Auana) and the whole state is vicariously involved.

http://www.kalena.com/merriemonarch

With all of this energy and interest in Hawaiian culture, the level of the dancing onstage at the Pops was very high and even after three nights in a row, I for one was still entertained and interested in the music and dance. The leis were different every night, a different fragrance each evening, all in all a memorable end to the season.

The real story was the audience. I walked through the audience at the intermissions and noticed that many audience members were also wearing lei. Thursday night was our overflow night, usually there’s only two nights for a Pops concert, and it was at least 3/4 full, but Friday and Saturday nights were totally sold out, standing room only, and they just loved every moment of the concert. That was just the ticked for a rather dispirited orchestra.

On Saturday night, the audience gave us a tremendous, sustained ovation, and it was clear that a lot of the applause was a show of support for the orchestra. A
‘chicken skin’ moment happened at the very end when all of the singers, dancers and guest instrumentalists clasped hands and spread across the stage for one final bow, and spontaneously the audience began to sing ‘Hawaii Aloha’- after ‘Aloha ‘Oe’ the most popular and well known Hawaiian song.

Events like that only come along once in a while, at least over here, and everyone savored the moment to it’s fullest.

Then the next morning, back to the front page stories. At the risk of exceeding my bandwidth quota, I’ve attached many of the stories below. Reed it and weep.

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Symphony factions clash on leadership

By Michael Tsai
Honolulu Advertiser Staff Writer
May 29, 2005


Kailua resident Billie Nelson knows something is amiss with her beloved
Honolulu Symphony, she just isn't sure what.

The uncertainty started last month with the surprise resignation of executive director Stephen Bloom, who had helped the symphony find its firmest financial ground in more than a decade.

A week later, prominent businesswoman and former Hawai'i first lady Vicky Cayetano walked away from her newly created post as volunteer chief executive officer amid rumors she had clashed with Bloom and
executive board Chairwoman Carolyn Berry.

That was followed in quick succession by the resignations of two influential board members: former Bank of Hawai'i CEO and major donor Mike O'Neill and Honolulu Advertiser president and publisher Mike Fisch.

"There are people who really appreciate the symphony who are really worried," said Nelson, 78. "(The departures) signify that there's some trouble. There's been a lot of gossip."

Like her mother before her, Nelson is a faithful symphony subscriber. In the 1940s, when the symphony was still an all-volunteer outfit, she even played in the orchestra. Now, however, she and other classical music lovers are concerned that the current situation could lead to a silent Blaisdell Concert Hall.

"We went through a sad period 10 years ago when the musicians went on strike," Nelson said. "I fear something like that might happen again.

"I just wish they would clear it up, even if the news isn't good news."

Bloom maintains he resigned to pursue opportunities outside of orchestra management.

Cayetano suggested last week that the symphony, under Berry and Bloom, lacked "transparency and accountability" and was dangerously "out of touch" with the community.

"I don't want to hurt the symphony but I think it's important for people to know what's going on," Cayetano said. "People in the community who love music should take an interest in the symphony and there are important questions that need to be asked."

Berry and Bloom paint Cayetano as a leader who alienated management and staff and who along with musicians and other board members sought to replace Bloom with hired consultant Peter Pastreich.

One thing most agree on is the need to keep the symphony alive, for the sake of the community and for the musicians who have sacrificed much to keep the music going.

In 2003, the musicians agreed to an across-the-board 20 percent pay cut (along with symphony management and staff), a reduction in benefits and a shortening of the performance season to 30 weeks. At the time, the musicians were making a base salary of $30,345 for a 34-week season. The musicians are bound to a no-raise agreement for next season, but are eligible to renegotiate their contract for 2006-2007.

By accepting the cuts the musicians averted a strike and allowed the symphony to collect on three pledges totalling $2.1 million - including $1 million from O'Neill - that were contingent on an agreement.

The cost-cutting seemed to herald a new effort to apply finance-management practices to an organization that in the past has relied heavily on a small circle of insider benefactors. At the urging of the musicians, the symphony has explored ways to broaden and diversify its funding base and to market itself in ways that better engage the community.

This year's 2-for-1 ticket sale on select performances took in approximately $60,000. The symphony has also instituted a plan-giving program encouraging supporters to make legacy donations to the symphony
in their wills, an effort that has brought in 21 donors so far.

Bloom's contention that the symphony is in stable financial condition is supported by last year's financial returns, which showed a $68,000 surplus - the first surplus since 1990. Bloom said the symphony is within 4 percent of its $6.3 million operating budget this fiscal year, which ends in June.

The symphony's recovery is part of a national trend.

The Honolulu Symphony is categorized (on the basis of its operating budget) as a "Group 2" symphony by the American Symphony Orchestra League. Last year, only six of 20 Group 2 orchestras ended with a
deficit, a significant improvement over two years ago when, Bloom said, "the reverse was probably true."

Yet, as Bloom points out, there are significant differences between the Honolulu Symphony and its Group 2 peers.

The Honolulu Symphony's endowment is $5.5 million, compared to an average of $16.6 million for other Group 2 symphonies. Symphonies typically use the interest drawn from endowments to help cover expenses
in difficult times.

The average Group 2 symphony also collects $641,000 in government funds; the Honolulu Symphony takes in about $300,000, according to Bloom.

Compounding the financial situation, the city is considering raising the rent at the Blaisdell Concert Hall (the symphony's home venue) from $500 per day to $1,800 per day. Bloom said the city also wants to amend its contract so it could bump symphony dates in favor of productions that
earn the city more money.

Such economic challenges have prompted arts organizations around the country to borrow stricter financial management strategies from the business world or even recruit business executives to run their
operations.

Gideon Toeplitz, who is expected to be named interim executive director of the Honolulu Symphony, previously served as managing director and executive vice president of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. When Toeplitz resigned in 2002, the Pittsburgh Symphony was in such dire economic straits that the symphony seriously considered breaking with tradition and hiring a business executive to replace him. A budget deficit of nearly $3 million and a severe drop in its endowment value - related to the stock market slump - eventually led to staff cuts and a pay cut for its musicians. The symphony eventually hired Lawrence Tamburri, a musician with a master's degree in business administration,
for a position re-defined as president, managing director and chief executive officer.

The clash of traditional symphony management and more formal business practices appears to be at the heart of the Honolulu Symphony's controversy.

Late last year symphony musicians, concerned about how the symphony was being managed, lobbied management to hire former San Francisco Symphony executive director Peter Pastreich as a consultant to look into the
symphony's management and operations. Cayetano said concerns were raised about Pastreich's fee, but a board member offered to cover the cost himself. O'Neill confirmed that he agreed to cover the cost of hiring Pastreich as a consultant.

"I did my due diligence and I found him to be direct, thoughtful and very experienced," O'Neill said. "He wasn't one to gild the lily. He's savvy and thorough and he wasn't going to take sides."

Pastreich spent more than a month interviewing board members, staff and musicians and giving verbal feedback to the board's executive committee. Pastreich identified Berry's close friendship with Bloom, and Bloom's lack of involvement as executive director as key concerns.

Bloom said he was unaware of any criticism from Pastreich and pointed to the symphony's financial recovery as evidence that his friendship with Berry has not interfered with symphony operations.

The board followed through on Pastreich's recommendation that a CEO position be created to oversee the executive director (Bloom) while reporting to the board chair (Berry). Several other symphonies around
the country also have CEO positions, including Houston and Phoenix.

With her extensive business experience, Cayetano was seen as a good fit for the new position. Cayetano said she began making plans as soon as she got the nod from the executive committee, in part because the end of the fiscal year was approaching and an operating budget had not yet been drawn.

Cayetano met the executive committee on May 11, the staff on May 19 and with Bloom on May 20.

"I stated (to Bloom) that I was not there to do his job, but to assure that the job would be done and that we would be more accountable and transparent as an organization," Cayetano said. "I felt when he leftthat he was willing to work together."

A week later, Bloom informed Berry he was resigning.

Cayetano recommended Pastreich be named interim executive director and, she insists, the executive committee approved the move. "But then later they reversed themselves and said they had not approved him," Cayetano said.

Berry, in an e-mail statement to the Advertiser, said the committee rejected Pastreich because the organization could not afford his compensation, which was to have been $35,000 per month plus
transportation, housing and expenses. The symphony is under contract to pay Bloom's salary, more than $130,000 annually, through August. Toeplitz made $300,000 a year with the Pittsburgh Symphony.

However, multiple sources confirmed that Cayetano had already arranged for Pastreich's salary to be paid in full by private donors within the community.

Cayetano said she quickly realized she would not have the support necessary to do her job effectively and resigned. "They wanted a CEO to do what they said, not what was necessary," Cayetano said.

In addition to the most recent high-profile departures, the symphony has two other vacancies to fill.

Vice president of operations Jim Mancuso, who has been with the symphony since 1997, is leaving to become manager of Pops and Special Events for the Nashville (Tenn.) Symphony. Mancuso, who expects to leave in July, said the job change is not related to the controversy.

Also, the symphony is midway through its two-year plan to find a replacement for musical director Samuel Wong, who resigned last June to spend more time with his family in New York and to pursue musical
interests on the Mainland and Europe. Wong, who will assume the position of "conductor laureate" next season, has led the symphony since 1996.

While Bloom's resignation defuses the issue of whether his friendship with Berry resulted in an inefficient management structure, the loss of Cayetano, O'Neill and Fisch raises questions about the future direction of the symphony, which some speculate will retreat from the push to
adopt a more business-like approach to management.

For their part, the musicians and their union have tried to stay out of the fray.

"We continue to hold a high regard for the Honolulu Symphony ... and we have continually demonstrated our commitment to the institution," said musicians' representative Ken Hafner in an e-mail statement. "We
sincerely hope that the symphony can work through its current organizational challenges so that we can continue to perform great music for the people of Hawai'i."


Sour notes roar from Honolulu Symphony
Sudden resignations and disputes over leadership grip the organization
Symphony names interim director

By Tim Ryan
Honolulu Star Bulletin
May 26, 2005


The Honolulu Symphony's leadership has been anything but harmonious recently with three prominent committee members and its president resigning and its biggest donor and chairwoman offering to step down.

Former Hawaii first lady Vicky Cayetano, who took the symphony's nonpaying CEO post in April, suddenly resigned this month when she butted heads with Chairwoman Carolyn Berry over Cayetano's choice for an
interim president and other plans.

Berry, who donated $1 million to the symphony this year, had also offered to resign but was talked out of it.

Mike O'Neill, the former Bank of Hawaii CEO who contributed $1 million to the symphony this year, resigned his executive committee post a week after Cayetano's announcement. That was followed by the departure of Michael Fisch, the Honolulu Advertiser's president and publisher.

Cayetano has kept quiet about her resignation but said she decided that "the community deserves an answer."

"Key individuals" within the symphony asked her to take the CEO position, she said. "They believed management and leadership ... needed to be strengthened," she said. "I believed with some other board members that we could bring about changes that would accomplish this."

Cayetano, a successful businesswoman, had plans for changes that included "bringing transparency, more accountability and inclusiveness" to the organization.

"I resigned when it became apparent I wasn't going to get the support needed to do the job," she said. "It's sad because the musicians and community deserve more."

The CEO position has been put on hold pending the hiring of a new symphony president.

O'Neill declined comment about why he left, saying, "My views were made clear to the board chairperson (Berry) and other board members."

Outgoing President Steve Bloom declined to comment on the resignations, including Berry's offer to step down.

"Everyone has his or her own reasons," he said, "and you can't tie it into a neat bow and package it."

Bloom announced in April that he was resigning in June to pursue other interests.

He emphasized that his resignation had nothing to do with Cayetano's CEO post or an outside consultant's audit that was critical of the organization's management and leadership structure.

"There were no recommendations for me personally as far as I know," Bloom said. "The issues were how to improve overall management."

Cayetano disagreed, saying the verbal report was "critical and very negative" of Bloom's management. Some executive committee members -- including Berry, O'Neill and Bloom -- were notified of consultant Peter
Pastreich's findings through e-mail.

Pastreich, former executive director of the San Francisco Symphony, had recommended that the Honolulu Symphony create a CEO position. Sources said the recommendation angered Bloom, but he denied that.

Even before Cayetano had been officially appointed CEO by the board, she developed plans to reorganize some departments and the board of directors, make the symphony more community-friendly, improve marketing
and increase the organization's financial accountability.

Cayetano hit a sour chord with Berry when she announced just after Bloom's resignation in April that she wanted to hire Pastreich as interim president. Berry said she did not want Pastreich replacing her
friend Bloom.

Berry and Bloom's friendship concerned some executive committee and board members who believed the relationship could be affecting how Bloom ran the symphony and how Berry made decisions. Berry tried to talk Bloom out of resigning.

Berry and Cayetano clashed over the former first lady's plans. Cayetano said she came to the conclusion that "we weren't really going to go ahead with my plans." On May 5, Cayetano gave Berry a letter of
resignation.

Pastreich also notified the symphony he was no longer interested in the interim president position "because of other business opportunities," Bloom said. Instead, the board selected Gideon Toeplitz, former managing director and executive vice president of the Pittsburgh Symphony
Orchestra.

Berry declined comment. Pastreich is in Europe and could not be reached for comment. Fisch also is out of state.

An e-mail sent out yesterday by symphony management to employees and others said the Star-Bulletin was doing a story on the organization and instructed them not to talk even in "casual conversation," but to direct questions to management.


Symphony's interim director from Pittsburgh

By Tim Ryan
Honolulu Star Bulletin
May 26, 2005


Gideon Toeplitz, former managing director and executive vice president of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, will become the Honolulu Symphony's interim director next month while a nationwide search is
being done to replace current President Steve Bloom, who resigned in April, sources said.

Toeplitz, 61, is expected to arrive in Honolulu in the next two weeks to prepare for the position, which Bloom will vacate in late June.

The Honolulu Symphony's board of directors is expected to make the announcement soon.

Toeplitz resigned the Pittsburgh post in 2002 after 15 years in the job. At the time he resigned, he was being paid more than $300,000 a year.

The Israeli-born Toeplitz joined the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in 1987. Prior to accepting the post in Pittsburgh, he was executive director of the Houston Symphony Orchestra for six years and orchestra
manager of the Boston Symphony, beginning in 1975.

At the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, he hired Mariss Jansons as music director and Marvin Hamlisch as principal pops conductor. Toeplitz also booked the orchestra on several prestigious international tours that enhanced the reputation of the PSO worldwide.

In other symphony news, pops conductor Matt Catingub has relocated from Oahu to Los Angeles for professional opportunities. He recently appeared in George Clooney's latest film as a band member playing the saxophone.

"Matt is committed to the Honolulu Symphony and not leaving the organization," Bloom said.

Catingub will commute to Honolulu for concerts and other business.


Symphony leaders should be open

THE ISSUE
Resignations by leaders of the Honolulu Symphony have followed a critical audit.

CLANGING sounds, although muted, can be heard from the chambers of the Honolulu Symphony, reflecting rancor within its leadership. Resignations of prominent board members and the symphony's president followed an audit that criticized the organization's management and leadership structure. An extra effort is needed to bring unmuffled harmony back to this cultural asset of the city.

The verbal audit by Peter Pastreich, former executive director of the San Francisco Symphony, recommended that it create a position of chief executive officer, and former Hawaii first lady Vicky Cayetano was appointed to the nonpaying post at the end of April. She resigned a week later, citing lack of "the support needed to do the job."

Cayetano's sudden resignation came after symphony president Stephen Bloom announced he would resign in June, and it was followed by the resignations of board members Mike O'Neil, former Bank of Hawaii CEO, and Michael Fisch, the Honolulu Advertiser's president and publisher. Carolyn Berry, the board's chairwoman, offered to resign but was talked out of it.

Bloom told the Star-Bulletin's Tim Ryan that Past- reich's audit included "no recommendations for me personally as far as I know," but Cayetano said it was "critical and very negative" of Bloom's management. The audit's contents have not been made public. Symphony management instructed employees not to talk to Ryan.

Bloom deserves an ovation for erasing a $1.4 million deficit after coming to Honolulu from the Tacoma Symphony Orchestra in 2001. Last season, the organization recorded its first surplus since 1990.

Cayetano, a successful businesswoman, says she planned to bring "transparency, more accountability and inclusiveness" to the organization. The handling of the discord surrounding Pastreich's audit is a glaring example of the need for such openness and accountability. The 105-year-old institution should not be a secret society.


THE MUSICIANS' ASSOCIATION OF HAWAI`I
MEDIA ADVISORY

STATEMENT ON CURRENT HONOLULU SYMPHONY SOCIETY CIRCUMSTANCES

HONOLULU: MAY 26, 2005 - In response to calls from the media seeking comment about recently reported occurrences within the Honolulu Symphony Society board and management, Ken Hafner, Chair of the
Honolulu Symphony Musicians Orchestra Committee, said, "We continue to hold a high regard for the Honolulu Symphony - now in its second century - and we have continually demonstrated our commitment to the institution. We sincerely hope that the Symphony can work through its current organizational challenges so that we can continue to perform great music for the people of Hawai'i, especially for the thousands of children we reach each year through our education programs."

Michael J. Largarticha, President of the Musicians' Association of Hawai'i, said, "It is important for the public to understand that these musicians are contracted by the Honolulu Symphony Society for their
services as performers. The Society's Board of Directors is responsible for management, fundraising, and marketing of the institution, and these Grammy-nominated artists are responsible for the
quality of the performances. This is a very difficult, unsettling situation for us all individually and collectively, and it would serve no useful purpose for the musicians to comment further about these
matters, over which they have little or no control."

The Musicians' Association of Hawai`i Local 677 AFM was formed in 1923 and enjoys some 500 members. We are composed of mainly professional musicians but anyone with an interest in music may join. We are a
statewide organization, part of the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada with some 100,000 members.

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Pops conductor maintains he’s departed but not gone
L.A. resident Catingub is under consideration for a job in Nashville
By Tim Ryan
tryan@starbulletin.com
Matt Catingub, the Honolulu Symphony's Pops conductor, wants to make a few things "perfectly clear" about his recent move to Los Angeles. "Yes, I've moved ... for personal and professional reasons, but I'm not leaving the Honolulu Symphony," he said. "Yes, I'm being considered for the Nashville Symphony's Pop director position, but I'm not leaving the Honolulu Symphony."

Amidst the backdrop of the current turmoil in the symphony's board room and executive offices, Catingub and Nashville Symphony president/CEO Alan Valentine said the Honolulu conductor applied for the job more than a year ago, after being contacted by the Nashville organization. Catingub informed the orchestra about his move Wednesday.

"My decision to move to L.A. or work in Nashville (as well as in Honolulu) has nothing to do with what's happening with the symphony right now," Catingub said. "I don't get involved in that. I work with getting performers and making music; that's my job."

Catingub sold his Central Oahu home this month and has already moved into a Simi Valley home near the San Fernando Valley, but he's no stranger to long-distance commutes. In his first three seasons with the symphony, he lived in L.A. Outgoing musical director Samuel Wong was also the conductor of the Hong Kong Symphony and lived in New York while he worked here.

Since 2003, Catingub has worked in Los Angeles about 12 weeks a year. Earlier this year, he appeared as a band member in the George Clooney film "Good Night and Good Luck." In July, Catingub will be in L.A. recording the film's soundtrack.
"For me, working in L.A. I think will help the profile of the Honolulu Symphony. (I'll be) in the mainstream of the entertainment business and can have direct contact with artists we would like to perform with our orchestra," he said.

The Nashville position is still open, and Valentine said a decision on who will be its next Pops conductor will be made in June.

"What's great is that Nashville is one of the very few orchestras that are in the black and doing very, very well," Catingub said. "Nashville is the hotbed of music, and it's not just country."

The organization has a $111 million endowment, a $12 million annual budget and is building a new $120 million music center.

The symphony is already losing one of its top executives to Nashville in July when Jim Mancuso, vice president of orchestra operations, becomes that organization's manager of Pops and Special Programs.

Mancuso, who applied for the newly created position in February, before the Honolulu Symphony's problems became known, was selected from 100 candidates, Valentine said. There's no connection between Catingub's application and Mancuso's hiring, he said.

Mancuso, who joined the Honolulu Symphony in 1997, also said his departure has nothing to do with current problems involving the resignation of symphony President Steve Bloom in April, followed by the resignations of three prominent board members this month: Vicky Cayetano, Mike O'Neill and Mike Fisch.
A major concern of the musicians, sources say, is the symphony's financial deficit, which Bloom said is about 4 percent of its annual budget, or $240,000. But that figure increased a few weeks ago to more than $500,000 when anticipated gifts didn't come through and recent concerts didn't sell as well as anticipated, Bloom said.

"This week, we've confirmed some gifts, bringing us back to the anticipated $240,000 shortfall ... though we're trying to do everything possible to close that gap" by the end of the fiscal year, June 30, Bloom said.

Michael Largarticha, president of the Musicians Association of Hawaii, in a news release Thursday, said, "This is a very difficult, unsettling situation for us all individually and collectively.

"It would serve no useful purpose for the musicians to comment further about these matters, over which they have little or no control," he said.
Largarticha did not return telephone calls to his office.