Rosen contended that the Pops made a $300,000 profit last season, after taking into account expenses for the artists and for putting on the concerts.
"It's just ridiculous," Lawrence McMichael, attorney for the orchestra, responded last night when told of Rosen's calculation.
"You have to have a fair allocation of overhead," McMichael said. Taking into account marketing and overhead expenses, McMichael contended, the Pops is a loss to the orchestra.
Rosen contends that those expenses would have been paid for by the orchestra anyway.
The orchestra filed for bankruptcy in part because of the Philly Pops, McMichael said. The other contributing factors, he said, were mostly because of the musicians' "enormous" pension obligations and the orchestra's $14.5 million structural deficit, but also because of the rent and shared-services agreement with the Kimmel Center and "a donor community reluctant to give us money before we solve the first four problems."
The world-renowned 111-year-old orchestra is the first major metropolitan orchestra to file for bankruptcy, according to data available, said John Bence, spokesman for the League of American Orchestras.
Allison Vulgamore, chief executive of the orchestra, yesterday met with business and civic leaders from the city's Avenue of the Arts at the Residences at the Ritz-Carlton. Afterward, she told reporters that the business leaders agreed to help the orchestra "create ideas" and double-check it on its five-year plan.
Craig Spencer, president and chief executive of the Arden Group, developer of the Ritz-Carlton hotel and the Residences at the Ritz-Carlton, said that his company will be buying $10,000 worth of orchestra tickets to be distributed to people attending two upcoming events at the Residences.
Vulgamore said that the $10,000 purchase will not impact the bankruptcy, but that "it sends a huge message of confidence."
Asked about the Pops' 2011-12 season and why it hasn't yet been announced, Vulgamore would say only that it is "all part of the conversation and reorganization."
McMichael, when later asked if the Pops would have a next season, said: "Our preference is for there to be a Philly Pops season."
He said that it "could be a more limited season, a different kind of season," or that more fundraising may be needed.
When asked if the orchestra has plans to sever ties with the Pops, McMichael said: "Not at this point." But he added: "I can't tell you [the answer] if we can't work anything out with the Philly Pops."
