The board of the Philadelphia Orchestra has voted to take the company into Chapter 11 bankruptcy, presumably to protect itself against spiralling losses. The current season is $5 million down on a $46 million budget.
Philadelphia is the first of the Big Five and the largest US orchestra ever to go into meltdown. Concerts will continue for the rest of the season while a fundraising campaign is mounted. The baord hopes the bankruptcy warning can be removed by the end of the season, but the move places a huge question mark over the orchestra’s future.
More than that, it foments uncertainty across musical America.
Here’s the latest WQXR report.
The Philadelphia Orchestra recently appointed the young Canadian Yannick Nezet-Seguin as its next music director. He must be reading these reports with anxiety.
