Maestro Lucas Richman
The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra’s last Pops concert of the season featuring Peter Cetera this past Saturday was a sell-out. Sales are strong, too, for the season finale of this year’s Moxley Carmichael KSO Masterworks series this coming Thursday and Friday.
The Symphony’s fiscal year ends May 31 and, judging by the financial reports at last week’s board meeting, the KSO will end up in the black for the third year in a row. As a board member, I can tell you this is a great relief. It hasn’t been that long since the organization was operating $533,000 in the red, with a maxed out line of credit and a back-against-the-wall decision to increase the draw from the group’s endowment in order to cover operating expenses. Board meetings at that time were stressful, unhappy occasions. Don’t get me wrong, we’re still cutting it close. The economy is affecting some donations. And losing a big chunk of county funding next year will not be helpful. But at least these days we have a fighting chance of balancing the budget.
I’m often asked by board members of some of the other cultural organizations in town what the KSO’s “secret” is. “Do you all have some hot shot marketing or development person who is responsible for this turnaround?” they inquire. The answer is that the KSO does have good people in those positions. Chuck Kocal handles marketing. Stephanie Burdette is in charge of public relations. Judith Foltz handles development. And Moxley Carmichael is honored to provide graphic design and advertising support to the KSO on a pro bono basis. But I think the real “secret,” if there is one, in addition to the remarkable talent of the musicians, is disciplined management and inspired programming.
Rachel Ford has been executive director of the Knoxville Symphony since 2007. During that time, she and the board have made some tough decisions in order to stop the financial hemorrhaging. Painful reductions in staff and other cuts have resulted in an annual budget of $3.3 million – down from a high of $3.9 million. The number of performances has been reduced. The Chamber orchestra, which used to perform each concert twice, now only plays a Sunday matinee of each program. The expensive-to-produce Pops concerts, which used to be offered on Friday and Saturday nights, are now just one show each on Saturday evening. And the number of Pops shows has been cut from a high of eight to just four per year. This streamlining has drastically reduced artistic expenses.
But I think the real key to the KSO’s current popularity has been Maestro Lucas Richman‘s smart programming decisions. A child of Hollywood, Richman knows how to select classical music that is accessible to the general population (for the most part). Last year he gave us “Bolero,” and “Symphonic Dances” from “West Side Story” along with an array of Bach and Beethoven and Mozart that one could easily recognize from one’s Music Appreciation 101 class. This year will bring “Pictures at an Exhibition” and “Knoxville, Summer of 1915” and other familiar masterpieces. Here is a link to the entire season’s schedule. The KSO has never sounded better, so claim your seats soon. It seems that I used to sit through KSO concerts and hear music someone thought I was “supposed” to hear. Now I feel as if it is music someone thinks I “want” to hear. Thank you for that, Maestro.
Photo credit: Eric Smith
As a fellow KSO Board member, I’m equally proud of the excellent job the KSO staff (under Rachel Ford’s expert leadership) has done to manage the organization’s resources. And, you’re quite correct — programming has made all the difference. Bravo, Maestro!
I’m also pleased to serve as a trustee of the Knoxville Museum of Art. The KMA, like other arts and cultural organizations in these times, is concerned about it’s budget and resources. After the KTSC’s move to fund what the county didn’t, we all breathed a sigh of relief. The museum continues to operate in the black — not an easy feat given the fact that we are no longer charging admission — but with no contingency.
Here’s the good news: the galleries are packed and you can feel the energy. As with the KSO, this is in large part due to David Butler’s leadership and Stephen Wicks’s brilliant curatorial work — the recent exhibitions have been fantastic. “Made in Hollywood” just opened and is a must see!
Knoxville is very fortunate to have the artistic and cultural offerings that it does. I’ve always believed that arts and culture reflect the soul of a community and I’m happy to be a part of this one.
I say bravo and congratulations to Maestro Richman, and to the KSO staff and the musicians themselves, for a wonderful season! I enjoyed every concert. We are truly lucky to have such a fabulous cultural resource here in Knoxville.
And it’s especially encouraging that the KSO’s financial situation has so improved.
I’d like to use this opportunity to point out that another of our major cultural organizations — the Knoxville Opera — has also experienced a wonderful turnaround. As a board member and former president, I know very well the dire situation we were in back 5 years ago. In fact, we almost didn’t make it — period.
It was our great good fortune to hire Maestro Brian Salesky to the post of general director and conductor. Brian exhibits a rare combination of qualities — not only is he the consummate musician, but he also has very astute financial management skills.
Brian and the board instituted much tighter fiscal policies; that, allied with Brian’s inviolable principle to “never spend a dime I don’t have,” as well as smart, savvy management and able programming, has meant all the difference to KO.
Amazing as it is, the result has been that Maestro Salesky can say that the Opera has finished the season with no debt and “in the black” — for the fourth consecutive season!! That’s really remarkable, and almost unheard of.
Having chaired Knoxville Opera’s Rossini Festival in two prior years, I can also say that this event has done a lot to bring people back to downtown. The official count for this year’s Festival (in April) was in the area of 70,000 — that’s fabulous. The good weather helped, of course!
These are bright spots in our cultural scene. There are plenty of challenges ahead, to be sure. So please support the arts — every dollar spent comes back several times over in strengthening our economy.
Thank you and all the best to Maestros Richman and Salesky, and to all of our other cultural organizations.
We in Knoxville are very fortunate to have all these great assets – and more. Now is the time to plan our fall schedules – if you can believe it! We need to buy those season tickets now and get the best seats!
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