In Tuesday’s (5/10) Philadelphia Inquirer, Peter Dobrin writes, “Concerts by Peter Nero and the Philly Pops will continue through the end of the season. Whether the group can continue beyond that remains in doubt. The Pops’ final four-concert run of 2010-11, starting Sunday, will proceed under the terms of a stipulation filed Monday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Eastern Pennsylvania District, as part of the Philadelphia Orchestra Association’s Chapter 11 petition. The orchestra will advance a $225,000 loan to Encore Series Inc. (ESI), operator of the Pops, to fund the concerts. … As for next season, negotiations continue between the two groups, but ESI board chairman D. Walter Cohen said, ‘I am pessimistic. It looks like we’ve been dropped by the POA.’ ESI board members were to meet Tuesday to discuss the future of the organization. Asked whether the Pops could survive on its own, as it had for many years before its partially consummated 2005 merger deal with the orchestra (it retained its own board), Cohen said it might be an option.”
Posted May 11, 2011
