Stanford collapse hits symphony

• By MARK BALLARD
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Oct 13, 2009 - Page: 1B

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Timothy Muffitt, conductor and music director of the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra, said Monday he is looking at music that costs less to produce in order to help overcome the financial hit the organization took from the Stanford Group scandal.

“The Stanford Group crisis hit us very, very hard,” Muffitt told the Press Club of Baton Rouge. “We are trying to figure out how to come out of that.”

Federal regulators seized control of the Houston-based investment company in February alleging fraudulent management of $9 billion in assets held by investors in Baton Rouge and elsewhere.

CEO Robert Allen Stanford and several of his associates are under federal indictment in Houston for alleged conspiracy and fraud involving the sale of certificates of deposit for Stanford International Bank on the Caribbean island of Antigua. Stanford, 59, maintains he is innocent.

He remains in custody at a detention center near Conroe, Texas.

Alan T. Hopper, the orchestra’s president and executive director, said the symphony expected to receive $30,000 from Stanford as part of its $1.4 million annual budget. But the loss of that money has a far greater impact than the amount suggests, said Hopper in an interview after the Press Club.

Over the past few years, Stanford had paid the expenses for a large annual fundraising event, he said. Stanford paid for the parties associated with the Irene W. & C.B. Pennington Foundation Great Performers in Concert Series.

The Pennington series was responsible for bringing in major artists, such as violinist Itzhak Perlman and celloist Yo-Yo Ma, to perform in Baton Rouge. Grammy award-nominated trumpeter Chris Botti is scheduled to perform in January as part the series.

The performances attract a lot of attention and the $30,000 paid the expenses for a pre-concert party that the symphony used to raise money to pay other bills, Hopper said. The symphony saw profits of up to $100,000 annually from the gala that the Stanford Group underwrote, he said.

“It’s a big number and we’re working hard to replace that,” said Hopper, adding that the orchestra’s full-time administrative staff has been reduced to four positions, mostly by not filling vacant positions. The musicians are part-time employees, he said.

“We are determined not to diminish the quality of the product. So there has been no reduction in forces on stage,” Muffitt told reporters. “But it has required us to think very clearly about how we move forward in the near term.”

Muffitt said he is choosing pieces that need fewer musicians — music, for instance, that requires 75 rather than 90 instrumentalists and singers. The performances then are less expensive to produce, he said.

“That way,” Muffitt said, “We can stay true to the artistic integrity.”