PSO ends WVU, cathedral concerts

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra has ended its concert series at the Scottish Rite Cathedral in New Castle and at West Virginia University as it aims to address the lingering financial problems that have plagued it for years.

But the PSO still hopes to hold concerts in Morgantown and Lawrence County, an orchestra administrator said.

The final concert at the Scottish Rite Cathedral, “The Music of John Williams,” will take place May 5.

“In a recent letter citing significant financial challenges, all aspects of symphony performances have been carefully analyzed over the past year,” Kenneth Shiderly, cathedral foundation president, and James McKim, cathedral foundation vice president and promotions director, said in an announcement from the Lawrence County Tourist Promotion Agency.

“After 16 seasons at the New Castle Scottish Rite Cathedral, they have not been able to cover their costs the last couple years and therefore need to revisit their relationship with New Castle.”

Last week, WVU Today announced that the PSO would reassess its relationship with the university’s College of Creative Arts following the April 24 concert in the Canady Symphony Series. The collaboration, which dates to 2006, included three symphony concerts per season, master classes with PSO musicians and internships for WVU students.

In an interview, COO Christian Schornich said the symphony was responsible for all aspects of promoting these series, including sales, marketing and donor relations. While the WVU series broke even, the PSO lost money at the Scottish Rite Cathedral. After considering the manpower required to market and promote them, “both partnerships were definitely large financial losses for the organization,” he said.

“We would actually promote these concerts as if they were in Heinz Hall,” Mr. Schornich said.

As a result, he said, the PSO could return to WVU and Lawrence County assuming it receives fees for performances and is not tasked with marketing those concerts. That fee-based model is how the PSO is compensated for other so-called “runouts” to venues in the region, such as Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

“It's a change of the model going forward to a more traditional feebased [model],” Mr. Schornich said. “So basically it would change to any other normal run-out situation that we have.”

Assuming the venues can pay the symphony's fee, the PSO is holding three dates next season for concerts at WVU and at Westminster College in New Wilmington, Lawrence County, he said.

Mr. Schornich said the changes could also free up the orchestra to perform at other venues in the region, such as Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, where it will perform this weekend.