In Wednesday’s (4/6) Post-Standard (Syracuse, New York), Melinda Johnson reports, “Syracuse Symphony’s board of trustees will file Chapter 7 bankruptcy, likely next week. Interim Executive Director Paul Brooks made the announcement Tuesday following a 2 ½ hour SSO board meeting. Board chair Rocco Mangano, seated next to Brooks in a conference room of Eric Mower and Associates’ downtown office, did not speak during the brief press conference. Brooks read a statement expressing the board’s ‘great sadness’ at reaching this decision and its attempts ‘to find any and every possible means to survive.’ He said the board realized it couldn’t support a 77-person, $7 million orchestra on a $5 million budget. … When asked if this leaves open the possible formation of a future symphony, Brooks said ‘That’s a question to be answered down the road.’ Only two votes against the move were recorded, with 15 board members present voting to dissolve the SSO. Music Director Daniel Hege did not attend the meeting. … Jeremy Mastrangelo, an SSO musician who sits on the board, attended the meeting. … He said musicians will find the news hard to take because they were ‘explicitly’ told in making their salary and benefit concessions last summer that would ensure the viability of the SSO’s 50th anniversary season.”
Posted April 6, 2011
