Eight years after its first brush with bankruptcy, Orchestra London has reverted to a practice it promised to avoid back then.
Concertmaster Joseph Lanza performs a violin solo while rehearsing yesterday with Orchestra London at First St. Andrew's United Church. Orchestra officials vow they'll turn around the fortunes of the nearly insolvent symphony.(DEREK RUTTAN/Sun Media)
The orchestra is again dipping into advance ticket sales to pay bills, a practice it agreed to end when it struck a deal with creditors in 2000 to avoid insolvency.
The three-year deal required the orchestra to segregate money collected for next year's performances from money used for day-to-day expenses.
"(The orchestra's) problems stem in part from a recognition that it may not be appropriate to utilize receipts from the subscriptions and sponsorships pertaining to the subsequent season, to fund the final months of the current season," a bankruptcy trustee wrote.
The practice, defended by the current orchestra board, was criticized this week by a man who led the symphony's rescue in 2000.
"They got into a position where they were robbing Peter to pay Paul," John St. Croix said of the practice he eliminated.
The resumption of that practice meant the orchestra could operate without cutting costs the past three years, despite large deficits.
That delay in cost-cutting has made recovery far more challenging.
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Eight years after its first brush with bankruptcy, Orchestra London has reverted to a practice it promised to avoid back then.
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E-MAIL: Jonathan Sher