A&E
Symphoria orchestrates a comeback
By Sophia Millman ’16
February 27, 2015
This weekend, Symphoria, conducted by Associate Professor of MusicHeather Buchman, will perform a program at Wellin Hall. The self-governing and cooperative symphony orchestra was formed after the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra (SSO) declared Chapter 7 bankruptcy during what should have been its “golden anniversary” season in 2011. Symphoria’s new and innovative organizational model, in which its musicians cooperatively own and operate the orchestra, has been adopted by only a few symphonies in the United States.
Although the collapse of the SSO shocked its local community, the SSO’s financial troubles and ultimate dissolution paralleled a longstanding, nationwide decline in live orchestral performance. After the 2008 financial crisis, the SSO lost funding as well as community support because many of the corporate donors that the orchestra had depended on for sponsorships and underwriting left the Syracuse area. Despite the fact that the SSO had never relied on ticket sales for all of its income, the drastic drop in sales after the crisis rang the final death knell; the group had to file for bankruptcy.
Though shaken and disheartened, the SSO musicians did not stop playing. They performed a “Thank You” concert in April 2011 after the orchestra had ceased formal operations, and then with the help of Hamilton College, they were able to perform several fundraising concerts conducted by Buchman. Soon after, a core group of 40 formed a foundation so that they could give insured public concerts and receive tax-exempt status. “We thought we had to build any momentum that was going to be built right away so we couldn’t take a break. We didn’t want the audience forgetting, or moving on to other things,” said Sonya Williams, a former violinist in the SSO and now a board member of Symphoria. Now calling themselves “Symphony Syracuse,” they played 25 free concerts starting in July 2011, while trying to restructure the orchestra into a sustainable organization.
Worrying that the prospects for a new, full professional orchestra were looking grim as the 2011-2012 season approached, Buchman arranged a “Summit on the Symphony.” Hamilton hosted 15 representatives from colleges, universities and arts organizations across the region, all hoping to create an orchestra of artistic standards equal to that of the SSO, which would serve all of Central New York.
Because a professional symphony orchestra had to be established quickly to prevent the loss of more musicians, the participating institutions in the summit group worked together to finance a partial season for the new orchestra, to be called “Symphoria.” The group was composed of 52 musicians who cooperatively own and operate the orchestra as equal shareholders in the organization. In many respects, the changes to the orchestra were beneficial to the musicians, who now made up the majority of the board themselves. But in exchange, they had assumed the entire financial risk of the business, and had to sacrifice personal security and stability in order to make Symphoria a financially sustainable proposition. They could no longer afford to run a deficit and, worse yet, there was no salary guarantee.
One of Symphoria’s founding principles, which emerged from the Summit Group meetings, is to “be committed to artistic excellence and innovation in operations, recognizing both as essential for long-term success.” Symphoria’s Artistic Operations Committee (AOC) is responsible for selecting pieces for the season’s concerts, and its members include six Symphoria musicians and Professor of Comparative Literature Peter Rabinowitz. Since the dissolution of the SSO, the AOC has tried to create balanced seasons, including conservative concerts as well as innovative ones. “We have six Masterworks for the year and we really want to design each one to be totally compelling. Not just in an artistic sense, but in a sense that ‘Oh, this will fill a hall,’” said Andrew Bergevin, a violinist in Symphoria and the orchestra’s personnel manager. “That’s our challenge: to work within our means to develop a program and a season that’s going to appeal to a wide range of people, but also be satisfying for us to play.”
The musicians in Symphoria have also reached a larger audience through their Healing Harmonies Series. Symphoria musicians perform live concerts weekly at Hematology Oncology Associates in East Syracuse and at St. Joseph’s Dialysis in the Northeast Medical Center in Fayetteville. The musicians try to further their connections to the audience by greeting members before their concerts. “It’s exciting to see that the people who are coming to our concerts are passionate about what they’re hearing. When I played in the SSO, I may not have talked to audience members or gone to a reception, but now it’s our responsibility to make sure the organization is successful,” said Williams.
Symphoria’s strong commitment to serving its community led the musicians to develop a new education committee, which includes both teachers and musicians as members. “We realize that if we’re going to have an audience in Syracuse in twenty or thirty years, we have to start being serious about doing educational concerts, sending small ensembles out into the schools, and forming real connections with the educators in these programs so they know what we’re all about, and they’re excited about partnering with us,” said Bergevin. This past year, the musicians played frequent concerts for children at the Oncenter in Syracuse, small ensemble concerts at Syracuse schools and ones for families through its Saturday morning Kids Concert Series.
Symphoria’s musicians are optimistic about its future. “I’m very positive about what has happened so far in the organization,” said Williams. “I really like our collaborative vibe and that we’re trying to be really connected and creative in the community. We are working so hard that sometimes we don’t stop to look at all that’s been accomplished, but if you think about what we’ve done—to build Symphoria from the ground…I think it’s pretty amazing. If we can do that in this amount of time, what can we do with another five, ten years?”