Toledo Symphony is in good hands with Carroll

A few weeks ago, when Dick Anderson, soon to be chairman of the Toledo Orchestra Association, stood up at a local gathering and formally announced a changing of the guard at the Toledo Symphony Orchestra, the microphone kept cutting out.

Didn't matter. His message was still loud and clear: Bob Bell's outstanding stewardship is now in the capable hands of Kathy Carroll, and all is well.

By anyone's definition, this qualifies as good news for one of the best regional orchestras in the Midwest.

A bit of apprehension might be understandable as Mr. Bell takes his leave. For half a century, he has been the one constant, the steadying influence, the percussionist turned president and chief executive officer.

Through good years, bad years, and going-half-mad years, Bob Bell has guided the orchestra with grace and a quiet shyness that was never mistaken for a lack of resolve.

These are not the best of times for many cultural institutions across the land, including symphonies. In Nashville, musicians have agreed to extend a freeze on their wages because money is so tight. In Baltimore, players' salaries continue a downward decline from $91,000 in 2008 to what will be just $67,000 by 2013. In Charleston, S.C., the remainder of the 2010 season was cancelled when the money ran out.

Even the great Philadelphia Orchestra, one of the world's finest, narrowly avoided bankruptcy earlier this year.

So what's the situation in Toledo? Not great. But it's a lot better than many others, and for that, Ms. Carroll deserves much of the credit.

She's been with the symphony for 22 years, most of that time as a development officer, meaning she's the fund-raiser-in-chief. Since 2004 she has been executive vice president, quietly preparing herself if the opportunity would one day come to succeed Mr. Bellas CEO and president of the orchestra.

Unlike the Toledo Zoo and the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library, which rely in part on taxpayer support, the Toledo Symphony Orchestra funds itself, with the help of an endowment and the generosity of donors. It has been Ms. Carroll's job to find the dollars.

One early and daunting task for the new CEO: building the orchestra's $16 million endowment to roughly double that amount, to cope with the financial realities that confront all orchestras.

For now, she acknowledges, contributions are down and the endowment, like most other investments, has taken a hit. “I like to say [our income] came down in the elevator, but we'll be going back up the stairs,” she says.

She credits her musicians with helping to keep TSO going. They accepted pay reductions of 6 to 10 percent last year, reductions that were carried over into 2010. She'd like one day to see their pay restored. “These are highly skilled professionals we want to keep in our community.”

Fund-raising is a responsibility she will retain, at least for the next year. “It's a language I understand,” she says. “I love building things with other people.”

The music alone is one indication she has done her job well. The orchestra has never sounded better. The guest artists who have played with TSO are a world class who's-who of classical and popular music.

But look beyond the music. The orchestra takes community service seriously. Education is as important as entertainment. Symphony musicians take their music to schools allover the area. Many of them teach on the side, molding area youngsters into budding players.

One of TSO's strengths is an awareness of its limitations. It cannot be the Philadelphia. It cannot be the Cleveland. The Cleveland Orchestra's annual budget of $50 million dwarfs TSO's $6 million.

However, the Toledo Symphony can be an outstanding regional orchestra, providing hundreds of thousands of area residents with a musical experience that is inexpensive and close by. Toledo's regional symphony is also Findlay's regional symphony, and Archbold's, and Bryan's.

Economic realities being what they are, it is increasingly difficult for orchestras such as Toledo's to employ a full-time maestro who is theirs alone, so they share. Stefan Sanderling, conductor of the Toledo Symphony, also serves as conductor of the Florida Orchestra in Tampa. It is an arrangement that works well for both cities.

And the venues — well, every time I see a concert at the Peristyle, I wonder how this cultural enrichment stuff could get any better. It is elegant, it is inspiring, and many cities would kill to have a place like it.

They might also kill to have leadership like the TSO's. Promoting from within is a testament to Kathy Carroll's skills and readiness, and it is comforting that Bob Bell isn't going anywhere.

A guy who joined the orchestra as its youngest player ever, at age 17 in 1956, is easing into the role of chief artistic officer. He will use a lifetime of contacts to help shape future TSO seasons. Retirement's loss is Toledo's gain.

Exhibit A: The Toledo Symphony Orchestra has been invited to perform at Carnegie Hall in New York City next May — quite a gig, considering that orchestras all across America vied for the prestigious invitation. Ms. Carroll calls it “the capstone of Bob's work.”

How's this for keeping good company? The Philadelphia Orchestra will play Carnegie on May 3. TSO follows four evenings later.

No doubt some in this community wonder why we should strive so mightily to preserve an institution such as a symphony orchestra when we're closing schools. To those folks, I would respectfully suggest that in such an environment, TSO has never been more important.

Thomas Walton is retired editor and vice president of The Blade. His column appears every other Monday.

Contact him at: twalton@theblade.com