Facing an accumulated debt of A$2.25 million, the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra (ASO) has laid off five administrative staff members and is preparing to reduce the orchestra by a similar number of musicians, The Advertiser of Adelaide reports. ASO managing director Nick Ladd told the newspaper that the cuts would save about A$500,000 annually.
The ASO has 75 players, most of whom are permanent employees, according to The Advertiser. But Ladd said that five musicians had been engaged on contracts that expire next year, and that he anticipated that those contracts would not be renewed.
Ladd also said that the cuts would not affect the orchestra's plans for next year, including its 12-concert subscription series, its participation in the State Opera of South Australia's much-anticipated production of Wagner's Ring cycle and its involvement in several performances at the 2004 Adelaide Festival. He did indicate that the ASO would seek to increase its fees for performing as a pit orchestra.
Until 1997, the ASO and other Australian orchestras were operated under the auspices of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), which covered its expenses. That year the federal government and ABC "corporatised" the orchestras, cutting them loose from the network's support; while they still receive government funding, they have since been required to raise funds through private donations and corporate sponsorships as U.S. orchestras do.
"This [financial difficulty] is not unique to Adelaide," Ladd told the paper. "Since corporatisation, basically every orchestra has lost money. Even prior to corporatisation, these orchestras lost money ... what used to happen was the ABC basically funded the shortfall."
— Matthew Westphal
"Orchestra axes players to cut cost"
Patrick McCormick - The
Advertiser [Adelaide] - 26 November 2003
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