Community needs BPO, and BPO needs you
Citizens of other countries commonly claim that the United States has no culture. This despite the staggering number of colleges, universities, museums, historical societies, theaters and orchestras dynamically enriching the entire breadth of our 50 states. No culture? Says who?
When it comes to music, in our region alone, one can point to the Tri-Cities Opera, the Ithaca Chamber Music Institute, the Glimmerglass Festival, the Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes, the Oneonta Concert Association, the Williamsport Symphony Orchestra and many others too numerous to list here. The Binghamton Philharmonic Orchestra (BPO) stands tall among them.
Currently, there is trouble in Parlor City.
The Board of Directors of the BPO postponed the beginning of its 60th anniversary season by canceling the opening concert of Sept. 26. Subsequently, the BPO board and its musicians came to a contract agreement whereby the musicians will take a two-year pay freeze and a significant, potentially crippling, reduction in mileage compensation.
At the core of this situation is the community’s expectations of the leadership and governance of its nonprofit organizations, as well as its interest in holding them to a high level of responsibility and accountability.
The venerable Philadelphia Orchestra and the Minnesota Orchestra have recently undergone similar turbulence. Happily, through good faith, civility and renewed public commitment to a common vision, both ensembles have survived.
Ultimately, to be or not to be is at present the question for the Binghamton Philharmonic Orchestra.
Consider this:
The community has supported, nurtured and sustained the orchestra since 1955.
The musicians who provide this spiritual sustenance have devoted years and years of training, study, grit and commitment to bringing the hallmarks of musical endeavor to life. How fortunate can we be?
Art is not a luxury; it is a necessity.
To illustrate this, just think of Shakespeare, Michelangelo, Longfellow, Austen, Beethoven … life would be unthinkable without them.
Life in our community would be desolate without the continued vibrant contribution of the BPO to our well being.
This is serious.
Bach, Mozart, Schubert, Copland, Stravinsky, Bernstein and Barber didn’t compose their music for musicians. They composed it for you. It takes musicians to perform it, of course, but the recipient of their genius is you. It is all of us. The disappearance of the BPO would leave us bereft and impoverished.
It is you — all of us — who can bolster our community with the dimension of music we love and crave.
You can take action:
1. Become active in the cultural life of our community, and ...
2. Contribute to the non-profit organizations of your choice, but ...
3. Hold the boards of directors and leadership accountable to a high standard.
We invite you to join the new grassroots audience advocacy group Save Our Symphony Binghamton in doing those three things. For more information, please visit Saveoursymphony.info or contact David Agard at dlagard@fastmail.us
If you have not already done so, get a ticket to the upcoming concert. And bring a friend. You will not be disappointed.
David Agard is the founder and conductor of the BC Pops orchestra. Frank Campos is a professor of music at Ithaca College and principal trumpet of the Binghamton Philharmonic Orhcestra. Uli Speth is concertmaster of the BPO.