Freakout at the Philharmonic

Musicians and CEO go to war over the future of the Eastside’s largest classical-music group.

Does BPO stand for Bellevue Philharmonic Orchestra or Bilious Pugilist Orchestra? Charging BPO CEO Jennifer McCausland’s regime with bad faith and worse manners, players voted to start a union.

Since McCausland’s arrival last spring, BPO lost its ten-year music director, staffers, board members and two major patrons, and is scrambling for replacements. “We are strongly discouraging any of our students from playing as substitutes,” says Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestras’ Stephen Radcliffe. “We do not want SYSO students taking the jobs of qualified professional musicians.”

McCausland says that until she raised salaries 44 percent, BPO players were the state’s worst paid; players say she’s cut their hours. She also launched a Bellevue Arts Museum concert series that outsells BPO’s traditional Masterworks series, and a retirement-home concert series she pays for personally. (McCausland lives in a manse originally built by movie star Clara Bow’s boyfriend to lure her to Seattle.) Investors also put $30,000 into a prototype Web site, mygigue.com, a YouTube for classical performers. “We will launch in three languages — German, English and Mandarin,” notes McCausland. BPO “is not splitting into two, rather it’s expanding out of its base. We’re trying to move away from the community orchestra paradigm.”

Illustration by Chris Ballasiotes for City Arts.

Players claim she’s moving away from them. The flashpoint was when interim music director/concertmaster John Kim called auditions this fall. Players freaked when they heard outsiders were being invited to compete for their seats. Several players say McCausland retaliated against those who spoke up. “She blows up about everything,” says bassist and orchestra spokesman Bryce Van Parys. “Anyone who opposes anything is under fire.” McCausland insists her diplomacy was not at fault. She just chose the wrong messengers to the orchestra, trying to “empower the group by giving them information to disseminate. Memo to self: if you want something done right, do it yourself.”

Players want a primary hiring list and more reliable employment. McCausland told them BPO is not legally required to recognize a union, since the budget sank below $1 million this fall. She says her salary, previously projected at $85,000 with a $25,000 bonus, has been sinking, too. The players seem to be content with pay cuts (the 44 percent raise didn’t add up to much, since they get fewer rehearsals and performances). “It’s not about money,” says Van Parys. “We’d play for less.”

The BPO battle spotlights the stark future many arts groups now face. McCausland calmly explains that there’s no way she or anybody can support a sixty-to-seventy-piece orchestra with a home hall that seats four hundred. “The business model is not sustainable. This weekend [concert] cost us $60,000 and brought $10,000 in ticket revenue. Which is why I’ve moved our holiday concerts to churches — they have a thousand seats. We have the opportunity with one concert to double our revenue.”

McCausland envisions BPO as a thirty-five-or-so-member, string-intensive chamber orchestra, flexible enough to fit many venues, with a budget less vulnerable to Wall Street. She believes the nonprofit model is dead. “I’ve often wished there was a model not dependent on gifts and grants. Next year all our concerts will be pay-as-you-go.” That requires single-event contracts, not seasonal ones, and a focus on innovations like the Bellevue Arts Museum series and “Little Maestros” for concertgoers under six, which pay for themselves. “We can’t be relying on handouts anymore.”

“Well, that’s the symphonic model,” retorts Van Parys. “You have patrons. I’ve never seen [McCausland’s model] happen, but we’ll have the grand experiment. They’ll have to change the mission statement and probably the name.” Bellevue Chamber Orchestra, anyone? Bellevue Jen-Harmonic? “It’s like having a baseball team where the players change every game. The musicians are the institution.”

McCausland argues that her newest potential corporate donor disagrees. “He was aghast that it wasn’t like that now with all music groups, pay-as-you-go. The Eastside has changed. We have to do things differently than we have for the last forty years.”

To referee a last-chance December 15 crisis meeting, BPO hired famous consultant Drew McManus, who recently achieved peaceful negotiations in the Middle East (on a $60 million orchestra in Qatar). “Basically, they have to agree to trust me and each other,” says McManus. Van Parys declares, “If Jen is ready to extend an olive branch, we’re ready to sit down and talk.” •