“The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra made some sweet music on the balance sheet during its 2013-14 season,” reads an unsigned item in Thursday’s (7/17) Winnipeg Free Press (Canada). “The orchestra registered a $30,000 operating surplus last season, its seventh consecutive operating surplus, the WSO announced at its annual general meeting Wednesday. Private-sector revenue was up 33 per cent, or $442,789, thanks largely to the WSO’s new Adopt-a-Musician program, which raised $223,000, says a WSO release. The initiative was launched prior to the WSO’s May performance at the Spring for Music Festival at New York’s Carnegie Hall. Concert revenue increased three per cent from the year earlier, a total increase of $90,755. On the expenditure side of the ledger, there was an eight per cent increase, or $648,133, due to the extra expense of the Carnegie Hall concert and the WSO’s enhanced Sistema Winnipeg musical education program, the release says. The WSO also recognized the retirements of three longtime orchestra members: violinist Raymond Chrunyk, who joined the WSO in 1972; violinist Boyd MacKenzie, whose WSO career began in 1980; and bassist Zdzislaw Prochownik, whose first WSO performance was in 1983.”
Posted July 22, 2014
