Philly Orchestra Can't Sell Tickets

By PW Staff
Add Comment Add Comment | Comments: 1 | Posted Feb. 11, 2010

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The New York Times reports the Philadelphia Orchestra is having a hard time selling tickets, worsening its financial crisis. "“The situation is very serious, and the musicians are looking at the situation with management to find the best course of action,” John Koen, a cellist and the chairman of the players’ committee, said. Mr. Koen added that the poor ticket sales made “a bad situation a little bit worse.” Meanwhile, he said, $8 million of a planned $15 million emergency fund had been raised from donors to tide over the orchestra. “The bridge funding should be enough, if we get it, to get us through this temporary crisis,” Mr. Koen said. In the fall the orchestra reported a deficit of $3.2 million on a budget of about $47 million for last season. That shortfall, the orchestra said at the time, could rise to at least $7.5 million this season. Orchestra members too were reluctant to comment. One spoke on condition of anonymity, saying Ms. Vulgamore had told the players not to speak to outsiders."

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1. Anonymous said... on Feb 11, 2010 at 10:07AM

“I tried to "create my own series" of four concerts prior to this season. My criteria were "intriguing music," "pieces rarely heard in performance," or "new young conductors with interesting programs." I am not very interested in music written after 1950. I could find only three programs in this season that I wanted to attend. Since we had given up our Chamber Orch series (after maybe 6 years) because they cut down their offerings to only 4 programs this season, we were low-hanging fruit to be plucked. Too bad for both organizations.”

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