Orchestra Victoria artistic director Adam Chalabi, centre, with musicians Stephen Robinson and Lucinda Cran at rehearsal in Melbourne. Picture: David Geraghty Source: The Australian
THE deep E-flat that sounds the beginning of Der Ring des Nibelungen will be played in Melbourne in November not by Orchestra Victoria but by a special ensemble called the Melbourne Ring Orchestra.
In all but name, the two orchestras are the same. Orchestra Victoria is Opera Australia's pit orchestra in Melbourne and plays for all its performances there.
For the larger forces required for Wagner's magnum opus, OV will hire extra players from other orchestras as well as freelance musicians. Other small orchestras would have to do the same.
However, for reasons apparently to do with marketing the Ring as a Melbourne event, Orchestra Victoria is to play under another name. The misnomer may be a small matter in the scheme of things but it is emblematic of the larger problems that beset Melbourne's second orchestra.
Orchestra Victoria has had three names in 30 years. Because it plays in the pit and under the marquees of Opera Australia, Victorian Opera and the Australian Ballet, it does most of its performances out of view, although it has worked hard to make a name for itself with concerts, regional tours and education programs.
By November, though, OV may have more to contend with than an identity crisis. A review being chaired by former Victorian MP Lorraine Elliott has been ordered to come up with a new business model for the orchestra, to be in place by next year.
It's not the first time OV has been subject to a review of its operations, but this one has a rocket under it. Its performance partners -- the two opera companies and the ballet -- are running out of patience with the orchestra that one senior figure has described as a "complete and total basketcase".
The orchestra has been beset with official indecision, management instability and financial strife. After five years of deficits, OV late last year again sailed close to insolvency, and stayed afloat only by shedding office staff and cancelling loss-making concerts. The terms of reference for the review make clear that OV cannot sustain another loss.
Its chairman, Tony Osmond, assures that the 69-member orchestra will meet its obligations in the opera and ballet theatre this year. But there is a lot at stake if OV again falls into trouble, not least Opera Australia's $15 million-plus Ring cycle.
Orchestra Victoria was originally one of two Elizabethan Theatre Trust orchestras (the other was in Sydney) funded by the Australia Council and playing for opera and ballet performances in Melbourne and on tour.
In a 1985 review by Ken Tribe that pushed for local, decentralised management of Australian orchestras, the Elizabethan Melbourne Orchestra was handed over to Arts Centre Melbourne and became the State Orchestra of Victoria.
The arts-funding inquiry chaired by Helen Nugent in 1999 recommended the orchestra merge with the Melbourne Symphony: a plan vigorously opposed at the time. It instead became a separate company with its own headquarters, and rebadged as Orchestra Victoria.
Despite the changes, the orchestra could not escape the predicament facing many orchestras worldwide: static or falling revenue, rising costs and few productivity gains to be had (the number of musicians needed to play Beethoven's fifth symphony is the same today as in 1808).
The situation is trickier for OV, being a pit orchestra: its work for the opera and ballet companies keeps it busy for 30 to 40 weeks a year. It also plays for the Production Company's musicals and for commercial concerts, but otherwise its ability to earn box office in its own name is restricted. (The cost to the orchestra to perform for the Ring cycle this year, in terms of potential foregone income, has been estimated at almost $200,000.)
OV receives $6.8m in funding each year, about 70 per cent from the federal government and the remainder from the state, including a special state grant to be the pit orchestra for Victorian Opera. Total revenue, including fees, donations and sponsorship, came to $8.6m in 2011. Running costs that year, according to the annual report, were $8.8m.
A 2011 review of pit orchestras, especially Orchestra Victoria, by consultant Justin Macdonnell was clear in its assessment: the existing arrangements were wasteful and inflexible, and OV should be "tailored" to the needs of the ballet and opera companies that used it. The report describes several models, the preferred one bringing OV under the management of the Australian Ballet. Another model would establish a separate management structure for OV and Sydney's Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra (part of Opera Australia) with savings arising from shared office services.
Macdonnell's report also analysed the cost of running the orchestra as a part-time ensemble, at 31 weeks ($6m) or 40 weeks ($6.9m). The savings would bring the orchestra's running costs closer to the level of existing government funding.
Other scenarios may be a merger with the Melbourne Symphony -- an idea opposed by those with memories of the fraught merger of the former Queensland Symphony Orchestra and Queensland Philharmonic a decade ago -- or a contract-based orchestra, where players are hired only as needed. OV's funding agreements now allow for such flexibility, no longer specifying the minimum number of musicians required.
OV's musicians would oppose any downgrading to a part-time or scratch band. They are proud of their orchestra -- the quality of their playing has not been found wanting, despite the turmoil going on around them -- and have made sacrifices to keep the orchestra afloat.
Stephen Robinson, the principal oboe, says they have collectively contributed $750,000 in postponed wage increases and allowances, but notes: "This situation can't last forever."
The four-member review panel chaired by Elliott -- the other panellists are former orchestra managers Trevor Green, Bill Gillespie and QSO interim chief executive Libby Anstis -- have until next month to report back to the Australia Council and Arts Victoria.
Whichever business model they recommend, however, the future of Orchestra Victoria comes down to two basic choices.
It makes no sense to maintain a full-time orchestra whose services are required only part of the year. It will only continue to lose money. The musicians should be moved on to part-time contracts, so that they are paid only for those periods when required for the opera and ballet.
Alternatively, the orchestra's funding partners and stakeholders need to decide that they want a second full-time orchestra in Victoria: an ensemble that can accompany opera and ballet at the theatre, and also be a concert orchestra for the city and the regions. The only requirement is that they fund the orchestra to be just that.
No comments:
Post a Comment