Changes for symphony are exciting and scary

By WILLA CONRAD
STAR-LEDGER STAFF

SWIFT CHANGES elicit excitement, as this past year at the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra has shown. There have been purchases and cutbacks, deficits and donations, jiltings and magnificent hirings. When all the dust has settled, though, has the orchestra, the state's largest and most visible performing arts group, actually made progress?

The answer is: yes and no. Sometimes, two steps forward also mean one step back, and this is the crab-like dance the orchestra is engaged in, no matter what positive spin its staff and musicians put on things.

Some moves have unequivocally pushed the ensemble forward. Landing Estonian conductor Neema Järvi as its new music director is unquestionably a hit, a very palpable hit. Judging by the mostly B-level or inexperienced candidates the orchestra looked at over a three-year search, the orchestra had its sights set much lower. Järvi's temperament and podium authority are an excellent match for this organization; he will brook no substandard playing or players, has imagination in programming and a wider grasp of repertoire than his predecessor, Zdenek Macal.

By the way, obtaining Järvi's services was the orchestra's perfect answer to Macal's cold, impersonal withdrawal from last month's three-week Dvoràk festival, which had been planned as a glorious farewell to the Czech conductor. Last September, Macal sent a message through his agent that unspecified "family concerns" prevented him from participating. After a decade-long relationship, couldn't the man have picked up a phone? The orchestra scrambled for replacements, with some success, though undoubtedly the change was partially responsible for a disappointing attendance of 60 to 75 percent of capacity for the festival.

Enter Järvi, and now, swiftly, Simon Woods, vice president of the Philadelphia Orchestra, as NJSO's president and CEO. Woods seems to have everything this orchestra needs: youth, an engaging personality, deep knowledge of music, excellent connections in the recording field and a pre-existing relationship with Järvi, who had final approval of his appointment.

Their arrival will undoubtedly also raise the bar for the currently vacant associate conductor's job, which the orchestra has said it will not fill immediately. Traditionally, the post has been held by a young conductor with little national reputation; Macal protégé Donato Cabrera is currently performing most duties on an interim basis. What's to stop Järvi, or the orchestra's powerful musicians' committee, for that matter, from insisting on a higher profile No. 2 conductor?

Add this final bit of good news: longtime board chairman Victor Parsonnet, widely credited with rescuing the orchestra from death in the early

'90s and building its current momentum, has no plans to leave. "I'm in for at least another year, maybe more," Parsonnet says. "I promised Järvi I'd hang around."

The securing of Järvi and Woods is more important than last year's purchase of 30 Stradivarius and similar caliber string instruments for $18 million from New Jersey philanthropists Evelyn and Herbert Axelrod. True, the purchase has given the NJSO a footnote in history. But the instruments are only as good as the musicians who play them, and, in turn, the imagination of the conductor who leads them. It will be up to Woods to parlay that synergy into ticket sales and donations.

Now for the dark side: the NJSO has $5.7 million in accumulated operating debt - $1.7 million chalked up in 2003 alone. That's an astronomical amount, considering an annual budget of just $15.8 million a year. The seriousness of this development can't be waved away by staff explanations of a larger capital base and ongoing endowment drive. The orchestra is in trouble - nearly twice as much trouble as when the state gave it a onetime, $3 million bailout in 1995. The state, mired in its own financial woes, won't help this time. The orchestra must look for new donors beyond state borders by raising the NJSO's profile. Jarvi's and Woods' experience in touring and recording orchestras will certainly come in handy.

It's a good sign that, in the midst of such financial distress, the orchestra has been able to keep up its payments on the Axelrod Strads. Last June, the NJSO successfully converted part of the $18 million in loans it took out for the purchase to low-interest, tax-exempt bonds through the state's Economic Development Authority. About $9 million was refinanced on a 30-year loan with a 4.37 percent fixed rate for five years through Commerce Bank.

In spite of the orchestra's dire situation, which already includes up to 10 percent pay cuts and additional payments on millions in loans taken out for operating expenses, the orchestra's development staff has been able to raise the approximately $100,000 monthly payments on the Strads without asking its underwriting guarantors for money. It has also kept up payments on a $5 million loan from the Prudential Foundation and eight $500,000 notes held by Axelrod. This is no small juggling feat.

Still, this orchestra's future is hanging over a gaping abyss of debt. The NJSO is unintentionally creating a new paradigm for nonprofits, which usually cringe if debt load reaches 5 percent of budget; the NJSO owes more than $20 million to lenders, a third more than its annual budget. The only place to look for information on how businesses successfully leverage themselves to this extent is corporate America. In the age of Enron, this is no comfort.

To pretend the NJSO is not risking all for a brighter artistic future is to be in denial about the financial realities the orchestra faces.

Two steps forward, one step back. That's the new rhythm to the music the orchestra is playing. And whether the finale is Haydn's "The Creation" or Wagner's "Twilight of the Gods," we can rest assured the entire orchestra industry is watching.

PHOTO CAPTION: 1. Neeme Järvi's temperament is a perfect match for the NJSO. CREDIT: 1. JOHN O'BOYLE/THE STAR-LEDGER