Amid shouts of “Bravo!” the audience rose in a standing ovation after the final note of Carl Orff’s cantata “Carmina Burana.” It was the spring finale of the concert season for the Waukegan Symphony Orchestra and Concert Chorus.
The ovation was less enthusiastic for the first piece of the program, the Symphony No. 6 for Clarinet and Orchestra by the contemporary Czech composer Tomas Svoboda. A major complaint from some of the audience, most of whom appeared to be 50 or older, was that one couldn’t hum a tune from it.
But orchestra conductor Richard Hynson was unfazed. That is part of the “fine line” he treads between programming for an audience and programming for the performing musicians of the community orchestra, he said.
“The Svoboda really stretches the musicians, but it’s not an audience pleaser,” he said.
On the other hand, ” `Carmina Burana’ is one of the top choral blockbusters. It is melodic and intense,” he said.
His philosophy is that the more popular pieces can provide a “frame of reference” for listening to the more esoteric.
That is one of several artistic and pragmatic strategies–some already in place, some under consideration–of Hynson, orchestra members and the advisory board for keeping the orchestra alive and well. And doing so, especially financially, is a major concern.
The orchestra and chorus are a single organization sponsored by the Waukegan Park District. Each performs two concerts a season, and they are combined for the third and final concert.
Although the orchestra and chorus must share any financial problems, the chorus, under the direction of Don Horisberger, has made a name for itself. It has sung in New York City’s Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall and is to supplement the Chicago Symphony Chorus in a performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 on May 30 and 31 and June 1 at the Medinah Temple in Chicago.
Horisberger noted that the chorus has very little competition in the area between Chicago and Milwaukee and has a broad audience base. The symphony, however, has considerable competition from orchestras such as those in Lake Forest, Highland Park, Evanston and Northbrook. He believes it needs to identify its audience niche and program for it.
“There is always a need for classical music in a community,” he said.
The audience for symphony and choral concerts averages 500, said Debbie Rakestraw, business manager for the two organizations. The figures are not broken down between orchestra and choral concerts because they are a single organization, she said.
The symphony, formed in 1972, has a history of financial problems, particularly in recent years, which is not unusual for community orchestras.
“It is always good to have a community orchestra, but there is sometimes a detriment if there are too many,” said Francis Akos, conductor of the Highland Park Strings and assistant concert master of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. “There’s not enough money and not enough audience.”
Exacerbating its financial woes was a clash of personalities and politics in 1989 that reduced the numbers of its musicians and audience. And the wounds haven’t healed completely.
Previous conductor Lynn Schornick had garnered a significant following among the players and the audience during his tenure from 1981 to 1989. He resigned when he was offered what he considered an unacceptable contract by the park district, he said. There also were reports of conflict between Schornick and Horisberger, said Cheryl Graham-Ptasienski, recently elected president of the advisory board.
Schornick acknowledged that he and Horisberger aren’t close personal friends, “but I respect his work,” he said.
Horisberger agreed that they are not personal friends, “but we’re friends on musical terms,” he said. “He and I were competing in a sense.”
When Schornick left, a number of adult and college student musicians also left in protest.
Schornick, who this year was named Conductor of the Year by the Illinois Council of Orchestras, leads the Evanston Symphony Orchestra. He also is superintendent of cultural arts for the Waukegan Park District. In that capacity, he administers an opera and theater company housed at the district’s Jack Benny Center for the Arts. This month the symphony and chorus, formerly under the supervision of Greg Petry, executive director of the district, also have been placed under Schornick’s administration in the cultural arts department.
Hynson, who lives in Milwaukee and is director of the Bel Canto Chorus there, was hired as conductor in 1990. Although the musicians now speak highly of him, he initially ruffled a few more feathers by replacing some principal players, who were community residents, with out-of-town professionals.
Although most of the players are volunteers, the principals are paid, Hynson said.
“My expectation of the principals is that they be pedagogical assistants (to work with the various sections). I didn’t feel there was a high enough quality (of musicianship) in some.”
Now 95 percent of the woodwind and brass principals are community people, he said, but all of the string principals are professionals who live outside the community.
During the years right after Hynson was hired, there were often as many as 26 professional players in addition to the principal, Hakestraw said. That was a major factor in the orchestra’s financial problems.
“I still make a series of calls to past members each year, and some still will not play,” Hynson said. “But some have come back.”
“We can’t move ahead if we don’t let the past go,” Graham-Ptasienski said.
There are 90 players, including professionals, on the symphony roster, but the number of actual players in specific concerts usually ranges from 45 to 75, he said.
As a result of the orchestra’s financial plight, the symphony and chorus in recent years have reduced their season to five concerts from six. The symphony also has eliminated guest soloists and discontinued its young artists competition for junior high school students.
“Last year there was no money to buy any music, but we bought some this year,” said Eleanor Rostron Jansen, outgoing board president.
In an effort to increase the size of the orchestra with non-professionals, Hynson in recent years has recruited about a dozen students into the string section.
One of those is Deanna Herman, 15, a freshman at Waukegan High School and a violist who also plays in the high school orchestra. She just finished her third year with the symphony.
Herman considers playing in the orchestra “a really great experience. I like classical music; I’ve listened to it since I was little.
“It’s really neat to play with a full orchestra. It motivates me to play better. The professionals teach me technique, and (playing in the orchestra) makes me sight-read better.”
Hynson also has initiated an informal partnership with Waukegan Community Unit School District 60, which includes the high school, four middle schools and 14 elementary schools. Several of the music teachers perform in the orchestra, he said, and he has discussed the idea of holding a music festival. He has featured ensembles of students from the high school string orchestra and an elementary school violin class in symphony concerts.
The high school provides rehearsal space and equipment, such as percussion instruments, music stands and chairs. The orchestra rents the high school auditorium for concerts.
At each of the two all-orchestra concerts, Hynson devotes the first half of the program to a child-family repertory, such as music from “Fantasia,” played earlier this season, he said. After that part of the program, the younger children can go to another room for activities and crafts related to the music.
He believes it is important to “give kids and parents exposure to music. When one reaches adulthood, it’s hard to make fundamental changes in taste,” he said.
Another promotional idea implemented this season was assigning a theme to each of the symphony and choral concerts. For example, the theme for next season’s fall symphony concert will be “. . . Of Fairy Tales and Fantasies.” It will include music from Humperdinck’s operetta “Hansel and Gretel” and Ravel’s “Mother Goose Suite.”
Other suggestions have included reinstating the yearly pops concert of combined chorus and orchestra, selecting music to reflect the ethnic diversity of Waukegan and more vigorously publicizing the concerts.
“I think we are the best kept secret in Lake County,” said principal trombonist Ray Olson of Waukegan. “I hope we continue to exist, but we need a better marketing program.”
The board members, who have previously been required only to attend meetings, will now be asked to make donations of money or time and to help solicit funding from businesses, Graham-Ptasienski said. She thinks that an occasional benefit concert for charitable organizations, despite the cost, would also benefit the orchestra’s visibility.
The park district provides the orchestra and chorus with office space, use of its computer system and financial record-keeping assistance, Petry said. It also absorbed a $40,000 debt, which is being repaid little by little.
The orchestra has an annual budget of about $140,000, Hakestraw said. Some years have been better financially than others, she added. This year the orchestra is not in the red but has had to use funds from a memorial foundation that were previously used for the young artists competition.
Season ticket sales have been off in recent years, she said. “People have become less willing to commit themselves to an entire year.”
In addition to ticket sales, the orchestra and chorus receive financial support from the City of Waukegan; Abbott Laboratories, based in North Chicago; private donors; fundraisers; and Waukegan Township. For its contribution, the township receives 200 individual concert tickets that are given upon request to senior citizens.
One of those recipients is David Meyers, 66, a retired builder of boat motors, who doesn’t play an instrument but loves music. He lives a block from the high school and attends the concerts regularly, he said.
“I just enjoy it so. It’s a good thing–music, you know. There’s no malice in a song, they say. It’s good for the mind.”
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For information on tickets for the 1996-97 season of the Waukegan Symphony Orchestra and Concert Chorus, call 847-360-4742. Season subscriptions are $50 for adults; $40 for seniors, college students and military personnel; $30 for children through high school. Single concert tickets are $12 for adults; $10 for seniors, students and military personnel; and $6 for children 10 or younger.
