Premium ContentMouse over Home then click on Premium Content for information.At a time when simply surviving could be cause for a symphony orchestra to celebrate, Omaha Symphony leaders say the orchestra is fit as a fiddle heading into its 90th anniversary celebration this weekend.
“Quite frankly, in this day and age, when so many orchestras are struggling to survive, we’re thriving,” said Thomas Wilkins, its music director.
The group will observe its anniversary by performing concerts, featuring Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, at 8 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Sunday at the Holland Performing Arts Center downtown. A black-tie gala, including a concert by the orchestra and a tribute to longtime symphony supporter and concert hall namesake Richard Holland, will be Saturday at Joslyn Art Museum.
Why celebrate at 90?
“It’s one of those even numbers,” Wilkins said. “When people have their 90th birthday, it’s a big deal.”
Orchestras have always relied on the kindness of wealthy friends — and may need them now more than ever on the heels of a recession, as government budget cuts loom.
The Louisville Orchestra in Kentucky and the Honolulu Symphony in Hawaii have filed for bankruptcy protection. The 123-year-old Detroit Symphony Orchestra has canceled the remainder of its season amid a five-month musicians strike.
The Omaha Symphony has felt some pain — some cutbacks, but no layoffs — from the recession that hammered arts organizations’ endowments and the investment holdings of many prospective donors.
What’s different in Omaha, symphony leaders said, is that the local economy didn’t fall as far, the symphony has a fantastic new home in the Holland Center and local philanthropists and business leaders consistently prioritize supporting the arts.
“We have a number of very wealthy people in Omaha who are very generous in supporting the symphony, as well as people who buy our tickets,” said Pamela Cleary, interim president and CEO of the symphony. “They understand our mission and feel it’s vital to our community.”
Business people, in particular, see supporting the symphony as a way to keep and recruit talented employees, as well as create a vibrant arts environment for the community and opportunities for young people, she said.
The Omaha Symphony has received a large influx of pledges and contributions to its endowment over the past couple of years — $17 million — that helped solidify the nonprofit organization’s financial footing, Cleary said. She said those “generous new gifts” were in the community spirit that sustains the orchestra.
It has long been thus for the Omaha Symphony, which this week is taking a look back as well as forward.
The symphony was founded in 1921. It hit hard times in the Great Depression of the 1930s and took a hiatus during World War II.
Philanthropists got it going again after the war, building it up with help in the 1940s and 1950s from a colorful conductor named Richard Duncan.
His daughter, Lynne Duncan Schwabe, is traveling to Omaha from her home in West Virginia to join in this week’s festivities.
Besides substantial artistic chops, Duncan was known for keeping the orchestra in the public eye and making classical music accessible to the masses.
He posed shirtless with a professional wrestler for a publicity photograph. He painted his house in waltz time. When a night train whistling past the old Peony Park disturbed his pops concerts, Duncan whipped out an engineer’s cap and led the musicians in “Casey Jones.” That became a concert tradition.
“His brain was constantly working on ways to bring the symphony in front of the people,” Schwabe said in an interview this week.
Meanwhile, back in the present, Music Director Wilkins, with his shirt on, also is looking for ways to bring the symphony to the people.
He noted its many educational programs as signs of a commitment to community involvement and encouraging and challenging future artists.
Wilkins is working on plans for the orchestra to play in unconventional venues, such as nightclubs. Asked about the Slowdown, he said, “That’s on my list.”
Artistically, Wilkins said, the orchestra is growing.
“I have been really encouraged by the growth of the orchestra both artistically and in the individual capacity of the players,” he said. “It’s a very good orchestra. ... There’s always room for growth, just like there’s always room for Jell-O.”
Wilkins said he’d like to add more full-time musicians. Currently the orchestra has 38 full-time players. It has another 30 musicians with part-time contracts.
John Klinghammer, a clarinet player and chairman of the orchestra committee, said a lot of good things are happening now, from the symphony’s musical growth to its acoustically marvelous hall, which opened in 2005.
“Omaha is really lucky,” Klinghammer said. “We have a very dedicated (Omaha Symphony) board that has a lot of civic pride and is really vested in the idea of having a successful symphony in town.”
Contact the writer:
402-444-1057, christopher.burbach@owh.com
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