Spokane Symphony struggles in face of concert cancellations

For the past week and a half, Spokane Symphony general director Jeff vom Saal’s chief concern has been generating the necessary cash flow to keep the organization afloat despite recent unavoidable concert cancellations resulting from the coronavirus pandemic.

“Right now we’re looking at about $300,000 a month in cash shortfall that we frankly don’t have the resources to cover,” vom Saal said. “We have to cut everything we possibly can, (and) it’ll take a while for us to recover.”

The symphony has reduced non-musician staffing by 80%, but further cuts may still be required, and with furloughs and position eliminations already taking place, musicians will soon have to apply for unemployment. The symphony will continue to cover health insurance costs for as many staff members and musicians as they can, according to contractual percentages. The difference, they hope to supply from donors.

“I cannot overstate the dire situation this has left us with,” music director James Lowe said, quarantined in London. “We’ll still be here next year, but it’s going to be very hard for everyone.”

The symphony will move forward with their 2020-21 season announcement next weekend, which they hope “can gather some excitement for next season,” vom Saal said.

In the meantime, vom Saal, Lowe and the orchestra are working to provide new content. Most likely, they will be sharing videos of symphony musicians giving short recitals from their homes.

“We want to remind people that we’re here,” vom Saal said. Despite an already certain financial loss, the symphony aims to stay connected to the community while delivering “enlightening entertainment that can bring levity to a situation that’s really dire.”

In addition to the live mini-concerts, the symphony hopes to start streaming past performances on Facebook and YouTube.

“We have a rich archive of recordings going back many years, and we would love to be able to bring those again to the public,” Lowe said. “We’re discussing how that might be possible.”

Lowe went on to say that in a time of much-needed social distancing, music can still bring us closer together, not physically but emotionally.

For now, Lowe has created a playlist of his favorite recordings of all the pieces included in the current season’s program, available now on Spotify.