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Mar. 17--The Northwest Chamber Orchestra failed to consistently fill the 540 seats in Benaroya Hall's Nordstrom Recital Hall.
The curtain has come down on the Northwest Chamber Orchestra, which is filing for bankruptcy after 33 years as one of the region's most noteworthy musical institutions.
According to a statement issued Thursday by NWCO, the orchestra is canceling the two remaining concerts of the 2005-06 season and its upcoming tours to festivals in Michigan and Finland.
The statement cited "increased competition for ticket sales and contributions," as well as declining audiences and financial troubles as the reasons for the orchestra's demise. A March 3 "Bachanalia" fundraiser (held shortly after the resignations of NWCO Music Director Ralf Goth"ni and Board President Dave Matison) fell "far short of expectations," according to acting Board President Steve Brady.
The shutdown comes after years of financial and managerial problems. Perpetually underfunded, the Northwest Chamber Orchestra is a string ensemble of about 20 players, supplemented by additional instrumentation for larger works.
Even with NWCO's absence from the Seattle area's classical-music calendar, fans of chamber music have plenty of options, as one of the reasons for NWCO's fragility is that so many groups fill that musical niche. The orchestra's decline does not indicate a trend away from chamber music, either locally or nationally. Dozens of chamber-music festivals, including the Seattle Chamber Music Society, have sprung up around the country in recent years and are enthusiastically attended. The University of Washington maintains an International Chamber Music Series that draws respectable audiences for most concerts and full houses for higher-profile groups such as the Emerson String Quartet.
The Northwest Chamber Orchestra's finances have never been robust, partly because it inhabits a difficult middle ground: not big enough to get the attention given a major symphony orchestra, but not small enough to be run by unpaid amateurs. The musicians are represented by a Seattle-based union, the International Guild of Symphony, Opera and Ballet Musicians.
NWCO was the orchestra that gave Seattle-area music lovers the great repertoire of the baroque, classical and modern eras, from the 17th-century Pachelbel Canon to the world premiere of a Philip Glass harpsichord concerto. Founded in 1973 by entrepreneur Louis Richmond, the orchestra quickly found an audience for music that people couldn't get anywhere else. Early concerts at the former ACT Theatre (now the home of On the Boards) were usually sold out; audiences later followed the orchestra to the now-defunct Seattle Concert Theatre and then to Kane Hall at the University of Washington.
NWCO Tickets The Seattle Baroque Orchestra and Northwest Sinfonietta have agreed to honor Northwest Chamber Orchestra season tickets at their upcoming concerts, based on availability.
Seattle Baroque Orchestra "Virtuosic Vivaldi," music by Vivaldi, Picchi and Uccellini, 8 p.m. April 21, Kirkland Performance Center, 350 Kirkland Ave.; or 3 p.m. April 23, Nordstrom Recital Hall at Benaroya Hall, 200 University St., Seattle (206-322-3118).
Northwest Sinfonietta "Mozart the Mystic," with Mozart's "Requiem" and Hutchinson's "Fantasia on Themes of Mozart," 8 p.m. next Friday, Town Hall, 1119 Eighth Ave., Seattle; and 8 p.m. March 25, Rialto Theatre, 310 S. Ninth St., Tacoma (253-383-5344).
The 1998 move to Benaroya Hall's Nordstrom Recital Hall downtown was met by enthusiastic crowds who usually filled the 540-seat hall. But those numbers gradually declined. Curiosity about the new hall didn't translate to a permanent audience; some attendees were disenchanted by the programming. Because of cost-cutting and bare-bones staffing, the orchestra had almost no money for marketing or promotional efforts, and audiences continued to fall away. Along with ticket sales, NWCO has relied on individual donations, corporate contributions and foundation grants -- all in shorter supply in recent years.
Still, the orchestra had struggled through worse financial crises: At one point in the 1980s, it had racked up a deficit of $290,000, a figure greater than its annual budget at the time. (The present budget is "in the low $600,000s," according to interim Executive Director Deborah Daoust, and the deficit is characterized as "under $180,000" by one of the players.)
Why, then, is the orchestra going under now?
Foremost among a number of factors: a crisis of leadership. Goth"ni, who is widely admired, is a busy globe-trotter who was never able to give Seattle enough of his time.
The short tenure of former Executive Director David Pocock produced another vacuum in leadership when his departure last fall led to a time-consuming search for a new director. Interim Director Daoust stayed at the helm while the search continued, attempting with the board to come up with a workable artistic and financial model for the orchestra. Meanwhile, Board President Matison resigned amid board disagreement. Several other board members resigned with Matison, including his wife, Katie. Brady took over as acting president.
No permanent music director. No board president. No executive director. All this in a climate of tremendous competition for audiences and financial support.
The orchestra's demise means financial hardship for the musicians, who work part time for the NWCO and are not well-paid to begin with. They earn $127 per "service" -- a service is a rehearsal or a concert -- in about 50 services annually, or less than $6,500 per year. About two-thirds of the musicians also play in the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra and are covered by health insurance there; the others will lose their coverage with the NWCO's bankruptcy. Most of the musicians also teach private lessons.
Many of the players, such as founding violist Eileen Swanson, have a long history with the orchestra.
Concertmaster Marjorie Kransberg-Talvi, who also holds the title of resident artistic director, is a nationally known violinist who has appeared as soloist with orchestras from the Boston Symphony to the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.
"I feel for the players who have genuinely given their all to this fine group, and I hope that those for whom this closure is a financial burden are immediately snapped up by other organizations in search of good performers and teachers," said Adam Stern, who conducted the orchestra from 1993 to 2000. Stern added that the orchestra has long been "fraught with dysfunctional elements."
Despite its problems, the NWCO proved an important member of the area's classical scene. Over the years, it recorded such works as the Corelli "Christmas Concerto" and Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons," performing with a lineup of conductors that has extended from founder Louis Richmond through British conductor Alun Francis and two highly regarded string players, Heiichiro Ohyama and Sidney Harth.
A frequent and beloved visitor has been violinist/conductor Joseph Silverstein, who has conducted many remarkable concerts with the orchestra.
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