“The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra continues to enjoy an uptick in attendance while balancing its budget for the sixth consecutive year,” writes Janelle Gelfand in Saturday’s (1/31) Cincinnati Enquirer. “Last year’s season, starting with the inaugural concerts of music director Louis Langrée and guest narrator Maya Angelou, have been a steady crescendo of growing audiences, groundbreaking initiatives and increased donations. And behind the scenes, the orchestra is close to erasing a nagging structural deficit…. ‘We’re on a roll,’ … said the orchestra’s president, Trey Devey…. The orchestra released financial results … last week for its fiscal year that ended in August of 2014. Besides a balanced budget, the orchestra has whittled down a structural deficit from $6.5 million when Devey arrived in 2009 to $500,000…. Annual gifts increased 7 percent to $2.6 million, and corporate donations rose nearly 30 percent last year over the previous season… Still, Devey said, ‘we must never be complacent.’ … The musician contracts will expire in September, but Devey said, ‘we are always in conversations.’ … Going forward, the orchestra plans to restore its full complement of musicians to 90. Previous cost-cutting measures have caused the roster to drop to 76 fulltime players, with another 10 on one-year contracts.”
Posted February 3, 2015
