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Lebanon Symphony Orchestra cancels season

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The Lebanon Symphony Orchestra announced this week it was suspending the remainder of its 2009-2010 season because of funding issues.

Staff photo The Lebanon Symphony Orchestra announced this week it was suspending the remainder of its 2009-2010 season because of funding issues.

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By Justin McClelland, Staff Writer Updated 10:46 AM Tuesday, March 9, 2010

LEBANON — The Lebanon Symphony Orchestra announced this week it was suspending the remainder of its 2009-2010 season because of funding issues.

Symphony director David Donovan said the postponement was not because of low attendance but of funding issues that needed to be worked out. The symphony’s first two concerts of the year — a family-themed event in October and a Christmas jazz concert in December — had been two of the most attended in recent memory, Donovan said.

Donovan said the cancelled performances were only being postponed and would be made up next season, when the symphony is fully planning on returning.

“It was the prudent thing to do to postpone our concerts until our financial uncertainty is resolved,” said Donovan, who would not go into further details.

The LSO was started in 1991 by Donovan and his wife, Carol Donovan. The group, which is composed of entirely professional musicians, performs between four and six times a year, with its most famous performance being the biannual rendition of Handel’s Messiah.

“In this current time, groups all over have been having trouble getting funding,” Donovan said. “The situation is leveling out but they still have to catch up from where the drop off happened.”

The postponement is the latest in a series of seeming red flags for Warren County’s arts community. In February, the Lebanon Theater Company announced the cancellation of its planned production for later that month. However, LTC head Georgia Dunn said the cancellation of the February show was because of difficulty securing a place to perform.

The LTC has since moved to a new location on South Mechanic Street in downtown Lebanon, a location that Dunn said will allow them to expand their presence in Lebanon and to host more performances in the future. Their first scheduled production for the new theater is the musical Pippin in May.

Dunn said the LTC was doing “fine” but said as a volunteer organization their costs were less than other professional arts groups

“It’s a very difficult climate for everybody,” said Meredith Raffle the executive director of the Mason Deerfield Arts Alliance. Raffle said forming collaborations and partnerships was the key for an arts group survival. The Mason Deerfield Arts Alliance for example recently developed a partnership with the Snyder House in Deerfield Twp., that Raffel said would allow them to have more opportunities to host arts-related functions.

Dan Cunningham is in search of the ultimate pot of gold for the Warren County arts community - an exhibition center on the grounds of Otterbein Retirement Village in Turtlecreek Twp., estimated to cost $15 million in total. Cunningham said plans for the center were still moving forward although he said the creation of the center would take at least three years.

“The symphony, along with all arts, are important to the region,” Cunningham said. “While I am certainly concerned about their situation, I am confident they can figure something out.”

Contact this reporter at (513) 696-4544 or jmcclelland@coxohio.com.

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