A background paper released today reveals just how tight the rope is that this orchestra is walking.
– It seems like things have moved very quickly in the past few weeks – how did we get to where
we are today?
Following significant advocacy by friends of the BSO and our musicians, House Bill 1404 (HB 1404) the John C. Merrill Act – was introduced by leaders in Annapolis during the 2019 session of the Maryland General Assembly. The BSO worked collaboratively with our musicians and leaders in Annapolis to ensure the passage of this legislation, a bill calling for financial support of $1.6 million annually from the State in each of the next two years (assistance given in addition to the very generous support the BSO receives through the Maryland State Arts Council) as well as authorizing a workgroup to help further examine our business model.
We had every reason to believe that the initial $1.6 million lifeline for FY20 would be forthcoming, and had expected to use this to immediately borrow funds in the form of a short-term credit facility to address our financial issues and help support efforts to operate ‘as usual’ while the workgroup was established and intensive discussions about the business model would continue. Unfortunately, final decisions have not yet been made about numerous items in the State’s budget, including the BSO grant. To-date, it has not been paid nor has a commitment to release the funds been made, and there is not a strong indication that the expenditure will be authorized. Against
these unknowns, and with the organization being left without sufficient capital to secure the credit facility needed to cover the expenses of the proposed summer season (which has consistently performed at a deficit), the BSO was left with no choice but to quickly adjust course by cancelling the summer season and reaffirming the contract proposal originally put forth in October.
UPDATE: It’s a lockout.
– If the fiscal situation is so dire, why announce the summer season to begin with?
The BSO administration and Board have communicated about the organization’s structural financial challenges – at the heart of our Resounding Campaign was the need for significantly increased endowment funds and capital to be able to increase the associated draw from the BSO Endowment Trust. And while the BSO had emphasized that the additional $3.2 million (over two years) lifeline anticipated from the State by HB1404 was not sufficient on its own to address our significant financial challenges, we were optimistic and eager to leverage that investment to secure not only the proposed loans but also additional fundraising support. As such, we worked together in partnership
with our musicians. We announced a modest schedule of summer concerts in the spring as we usually do. We understand that these are extremely difficult times for all involved and, while the BSO has been very transparent with our musicians (musician representatives sit on the Finance Committee of the Board, which reviews financial results on a monthly basis), when the future of these funds became unclear and the situation changed we needed to act quickly.
– If the fiscal situation has been so dire for so long, why did the BSO go on the European Tour?
Receiving invitations to the festivals such as those in which the BSO was featured in 2018 speaks to the exceptional quality of the orchestra. The BSO is committed to maintaining this quality as well as to touring, recording and broadcasting. Regarding the 2018 tour specifically, its associated expenses were covered through festival performance fees in addition to public and private funding
designated strictly for this purpose and which the BSO would not have otherwise received. Our financial challenges far predate the tour and, unfortunately, we would have been in this same situation regardless of it happening or not. As a significant cultural asset of Maryland, we are still so proud to have showcased the sounds and talents of the BSO under Marin Alsop to international audiences – and hope those audiences will be inspired to support us in the future.
Baltimore musician clearing out her locker ahead of the empty summer
I’m having a public chat with Anita this Thursday in Hampstead as part of a series of Formidable Jewish Women.
Anita survived Auschwitz to become a cornerstone cellist in London’s orchestra’s and recently, a living witness at Germany’s Bundestag.
Do come along to meet an extraordinary, indomitable person.
Book here, or just come along.
It’s 3 minutes walk from Chalk Farm Station.
The pianist refers to his best friend David Lee as ‘bro’, a compliment warmly recipricated.
Mr Lee and his wife were guests at Lang Lang’s wedding.
Lang Lang gets to drive Mr Lee’s expensive Ferraris.
Mr Lee makes his fortune in California, selling jewellery and luxury cars.
It is somehow reassuring to know that the minds of our great artists are focussed unerringly on the highest things in life.
Sorry, guys. This one’s a Bugatti.
The Sao Carlos has been forced to cancel its last five performances of La Boheme due to a strike by technical and artistic staff.
The unions say with strike will continue until their members receive parity with the higher-paid Companhia Nacional de Bailado.
The next production at risk is the Don Quixote ballet.
The rebellion by musicians of Bordeaux Opéra against their director Marc Minkowski is starting to gain adherents.
Paris musicians, always quick to rally, have sent this message:
The Canadian soprano Measha Brueggergosman has callled for prayers as she faces double bypass surgery in a Calgary hospital, on the eve of her father’s funeral.
Here’s Measha’s message:
Dear Friends,
The outpouring of love and support and condolences and well-wishes and shared memories and prayers have truly sustained me during this unbelievable time. I can’t thank you all enough because my father is truly deserving of every testimonial shared and tear shed.
I hate to pile on but currently, I am a patient in the Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary awaiting double bypass surgery on my heart. My Dad and I are strong of spirit but we also share a bum ticker, unfortunately. Nearly ten years to the day of my aorta exploding, I woke up in Calgary on the day I was meant to fly home to Nova Scotia with severe chest pain – almost at the same time that my father was making his own journey home to glory on the other side of the country. I can’t begin to express how devastating it is to be this far from home, in a hospital bed, and unable to be with my family. The agony of not being with my mother and my sons right now has inspired me to write this post because I am in desperate need of prayer and support.
Rest assured, Christ is my Rock and my Source and I am in very good hands medically. But I am also human and I want to be at my father’s funeral. It has always been our father-daughter pact that I would sing his favourite hymn – In The Garden – at his homecoming and I’m trying to make my peace that it might not happen. But I also want to fight from every possible angle to MAKE it happen.
So I’m asking for your help. Either we rally and do our best to advocate on my behalf for my surgery to happen as soon as it’s safe or we pray that I make my peace with not attending the funeral of the man who raised me to be who I am. Even typing the words brings floods of tears but I truly believe to my core that God has a plan that is better than anything I could think of and that my father wouldn’t want me to risk dying for the sake of attending a man-made ritual intended to make us feel better about the passing of a loved one.
And that’s the rub. My grieving process has always been placated and advanced by information and ritual. When I lost my babies, it brought me comfort to be a part of every aspect of the process. My first loss was in the first trimester and she absorbed into my body and my second, August David, actually had to be birthed because we lost him in the third trimester. Although August was no longer with us, my family and I got to see and hold him and know that he was real instead of an unseen miracle growing in my belly. My process of grieving was spurred forward in a healthy way by driving his body from Toronto to where he would rest in Nova Scotia, ordering his plot marker, choosing his burial plot and witnessing the small hole get dug and by having a brief service with my family to honour his teensy, but impactful, life. I fear that my grieving process will be stunted and incomplete if I’m prohibited from taking part in what I know will be a wonderful celebration of my father’s life and legacy. The loss of a parent is a major life event and I’m concerned that to be denied the privilege of taking part in the rituals of loss will be of no help to my heart.
The funeral of Pastor Sterling Gosman is going to be a celebration of a life that was lived to the absolute fullest and in selfless service to others. Trust me. I can see the morbid irony in my heart breaking figuratively and literally at the possibility of not being there with my family and community to celebrate my Dad. But I will not be moved! My father would be the first to say that satan doesn’t attack anything that isn’t of great value. God isn’t finished His work through me on this earth yet! Not by a long shot.
To that end, please pray that God’s will would reign supreme in this very challenging circumstance. Pray that my heart would be healed through this surgery and it would lean in to whatever outcome unfolds and that I would continue to be basked in the peace and joy that only comes from God Almighty.
Thank you again for the kindness and empathy you have shown to me and my family. God is in control. Prayer works. We are better together.
Measha
Fiona Maddocks reports its debut performance in ‘a breathtaking piece – unquestionably one of the outstanding events in a crowded summer season.’
Any guesses?
All is revealed here.
