At the Portland Symphonic Choir's annual meeting (held this evening) the big news was that the choir members successfully faced down a six-figure deficit by raising the money themselves in a period of two months. Half of the $105,000 was contributed by members and friends of the choir and that amount was matched by fellow choir and board member Tom Hard.
The yawning deficit came about because of concerts that lost a lot of money despite their high artistic merit. Next season promises to be much brighter with the choir presenting works that are well-known and beloved. After singing Vaughn Williams "Serenade to Music" and Beethoven's 9th Symphony with the Oregon Symphony, the Portland Symphonic Choir will sing Wintersong! in December, the Mozart Requiem in March, and the sublime "Vespers" of Sergei Rachmaninov in May.
Addendum: Mark Petersen, general manager of the PSC, asked that the following clarification be added: "That yawning shortfall was a result of half a decade of deficits, followed by two years of balanced budgets, followed by a year of trial and error in programming that resulted in another shortfall. The main point that I'd like to see made is that there has been a history of coming up short and we just pulled things even again. We're pleased as punch that we have done that too!"
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