O' Captain!

How a new maestro helped the Bellevue Philharmonic Orchestra come back from the brink of ruin.

A year ago, the Bellevue Philharmonic’s future looked bleak.

Embroiled in a labor dispute, the orchestra was suffering financially. Donors backed off from giving to the orchestra amid the turmoil. Ticket sales plunged. Concerts were cut. The Philharmonic reached its hundred-thousand-dollar credit limit. And if its precarious economic situation weren’t enough, the orchestra was facing life without permanent artistic leadership when music director Fusao Kajima’s contract ended at the end of the 2008–2009 season. The Bellevue Philharmonic was close to folding.

Photograph by Eric Linger.

A year later, BPO has just closed out another season at the Meydenbauer Theatre and is on the rebound. With a labor agreement having calmed the waters, interim music director Michael Miropolsky has emerged as a force leading the way through the troubled times. Miropolsky isn’t a stranger to the region’s classical music fans. In addition to his new duties with the Bellevue Philharmonic, Miropolsky conducts the Edmonds-based Cascade Symphony and also plays second violin in the Seattle Symphony. “Michael is a wonderful communicator as well as an exceptional musician,” Philharmonic board president Janis Wold says. “He has created a sense of community, fun and purpose among the musicians that perhaps was missing in recent years.”

Miropolsky regularly speaks from the podium during concerts, helping the audience understand the music better. He couples this approachability with serious ideas about the music he is conducting and clear instructions from the podium. In a recent concert, Miropolsky spoke onstage with his Seattle Symphony stand partner, who was appearing as a soloist with the BPO, about the history of her violin, before leading the Philharmonic in a perfectly gauzy and atmospheric performance of Jean Sibelius’s Violin Concerto.

While morale has improved, fiscal matters remain precarious. Ticket sales have remained stable over the last few years but aren’t strong enough to cover concert expenses. More troubling is the naked admission from Wold that the Philharmonic’s audience is declining and its donors are aging.

Wold admits the orchestra hasn’t done enough to meet these challenges. “We recognized this but probably did not do a sufficient job in marketing ourselves,” he says. “From the board’s perspective, there certainly was disarray and uncertainty, and we have done our best to deal with everything.”

Miropolsky’s missionary zeal for classical music, solid conducting skills and good nature have helped. The unanswered question: did the orchestra change course in time to ensure its survival? •