Economy is forcing orchestra to scale back

Beyond the Score (replacing Access concerts, which the orchestra is eliminating) - a format hosted by Gerard McBurney in which the British-born composer/arranger/writer brings listeners through a multimedia exploration of the piece before they hear it in its entirety after intermission.

And in this season of leader-hunting, the roster of guest conductors potentially contains the orchestra's eighth music director.

Dutoit takes 11 weeks of programs - three more than he was expected to conduct when his appointment was announced. Vladimir Jurowski returns for two programs - one in October, and another in March that includes standard-repertoire Brahms, Schumann, and a piece that puts the high beam on interpretive matters, Beethoven's Symphony No. 3.

Montrealer Yannick Nézet-Séguin will lead one program: Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 1 with the orchestra debut of pianist Nicholas Angelich; the Franck Symphony in D minor; and the orchestra debut of Orion by Claude Vivier, a Montreal composer championed by Dutoit who was considered a major talent before his murder in Paris at age 34.

Other conductors include former music director Christoph Eschenbach in an all-Schumann program and Mahler's Symphony No. 7. Daniele Gatti, an important Milanese conductor who was here once in 1993, returns. Stéphane Denève leads James Ehnes in the violinist's orchestra debut with the Barber Violin Concerto. Dallas Symphony Orchestra music director Jaap van Zweden makes his debut here in a program that includes Bruckner's Symphony No. 9.

Not on the roster for next season is Simon Rattle, a perennial music-director possibility with whom the orchestra "maintain[s] an open dialogue about future engagements," Rothman said.

Rothman was noncommittal when asked whether the next music director is on the '09-'10 schedule: "It's certainly possible. One would hope that we're seeing conductors who really ignite the orchestra and the community."

Slattery was slightly more expressive on the question.

"Boy, I hope so. But who knows?"

Such an announcement could stimulate ticket sales, but even without it, orchestra leaders hope the power of music - or, to put it in more prosaic terms, its escapist qualities - will insulate the box office against the times.

Said Cambron: "I am a believer that, just like after 9/11, art and music have a role in times like this. It's easier to go down to hear the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Kimmel Center than to get on a plane and go to Paris."

Coming Tomorrow

An update on the search for the next music director.