Israel orch says it will survive

When the music director James Judd gave up his salary last week, there were fears for the financial security of the Israel Symphony Orchestra, based in Rishon Lezion.

Today, its board issued this statement:

The Israel Symphony Orchestra Rishon LeZion (ISO) continues with its planned schedule and programming and is proud of its enthusiastic audience, its wonderful musicians and guest conductors and soloists.

Being a municipal association, the orchestra is budgeted by the Rishon LeZion municipality and is able to continue to pay salaries and artists’ fees and fulfill its contractual obligations. The municipality backs the orchestra and its management.

The ISO, which is also the Israeli Opera orchestra, has substantially increased its income from tickets, subscriptions and concert sales and has performed several rounds of cuts in production costs. However, this was not sufficient and like many orchestras in Israel and around the world it faces cuts of income from other sources and is required to cut salaries in order to balance its budget and prevent a deficit in next year’s budget.

The General Director of the orchestra and its Music Director announced voluntary cuts in their fees thus offering financial and moral support to the orchestra and its employees.

The orchestra and its management are confident that the planned cuts along with the ISO’s huge success will support its continuous flourishing and let it balance its financial situation.