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On June 27, 2008, the Honolulu Symphony Society held its Annual Meeting at the Halekulani Hotel. Orchestra Committee Chair Paul Barrett gave this report.
By Paul Barrett, Orchestra Committee Chair
Annual Meeting Musician Report
The Musicians of the Honolulu Symphony are extremely grateful to the very generous anonymous donor who stepped forward this year and saved the Orchestra. On behalf of my colleagues in the Symphony, I extend our heartfelt thanks to you. Bravo! Your donation helped the musicians and staff, as well as the entire organization, to survive a very difficult situation and to be able to go on to plan a season for next year. We also wish to thank the many people who worked so hard to make the Symphony Ball a successful one. We appreciate all the large and small donations made so selflessly for the benefit of the Symphony, and we want to acknowledge the sincere effort of so many from our community.
We are happy to report today that thanks to these many efforts, and to your kokua, the Honolulu Symphony Society was able to pay the final installment of back salary owed to the musicians this past week. However, were it not for people like our angel donor, we wonder, "what could have happened?" The unfortunate truth is that this crisis has hurt a lot of people and is not, by any means, over. The dismal news of what has happened has spread far beyond Hawaii. Many people have asked us why we kept playing for deferred pay. We did this because we believe in the value of this institution to our community, and because we believe the artistic future of this Symphony looks brighter than ever.
We ask that the stewards of the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra, the members of the Honolulu Symphony Society and Foundation Boards, turn their focus toward restoring and raising the Symphony’s status as an internationally recognized Orchestra and the flagship arts organization in the state of Hawaii. To achieve this goal, there is a tremendous amount of work to be done, beginning with achieving financial stability for the Symphony and a competitive, living wage for it’s musicians. If the Society and its representative Board of Directors wish to make this Symphony's potentially magnificent future a reality, each individual must ask how he or she can assist our management’s efforts to realize this vision.
We strongly encourage the Nominating Committee to work at bringing onto our Board those individuals in our community who have the dedication and capacity to fund the symphony's mission. This could change the current perception that the Symphony is a financially troubled organization into one that gets the support and recognition needed for significant progress and change to be achieved. It will only be when more people feel invested in our Orchestra that real security and growth will take place.
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