Citing the orchestra's current "fantastic imbalance" between income and expenses and the scale of the rescue plan, board chairman Richard B. Worley on Friday said:
"It isn't going to be easy. But I believe we can do it."
Orchestra management has retained Brian Tierney, former publisher and CEO of now-defunct Philadelphia Media Holdings LLC, former owner of The Inquirer, to handle its public relations; and, as bankruptcy consultant, Tierney's successor, Joseph Bondi, who was interim CEO of the former media company.
Musicians strongly opposed the filing of any category of bankruptcy, which could jeopardize funding to their pensions, and they staged a showy (if genteel) objection Saturday. As orchestra board members filed into the ground-floor entrances to 1701 Market Street and up to the offices of law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, a string quartet serenaded them with Schubert and Mozart.
Musicians handed them leaflets encouraging a "no" vote.
The crowd of about 60 orchestra members and retirees were repeatedly asked to leave by guards, but the music continued. Security guards told musicians that police were on their way, but the briefly tense climax dissolved. No police arrived, and the play-in ended as the board meeting began.
Management has weighed bankruptcy for more than a year after deciding it no longer wanted to participate in the musicians' current defined-benefit pension fund. No one was forcing a sudden withdrawal from the plan, which would trigger a payment of about $25 million, but it is an obligation of about $3 million annually which leadership believes it can shed in bankruptcy proceedings, along with other contractual obligations it claims will save it more than $40 million over five years.
