Philadelphia Orchestra begins European tour on a note of trepidation

LUCERNE, Switzerland - This is one Philadelphia Orchestra tour that nobody - not the rank-and-file musicians, not the guest soloists, and certainly not the festivals presenting them - is taking for granted, particularly in this picture-postcard city inhabited by the musical gods.

The long-planned 13-concert sweep through Europe's most prestigious festivals begins Thursday with the Grafenegg Music Festival outside Vienna, Austria, and ends Sept. 9 in Paris. While the tour was never said to have been in significant danger, everything has been open to question since the orchestra filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April.

"Reading about all of the problems with the orchestra, I thought maybe this tour is not going to happen," said pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, who shares the tour's concerto slots with violinist Janine Jansen. "Almost from the beginning, the orchestra was quite firm in saying, 'Don't worry. We're really going to try to save this tour. It's important for the orchestra.' "

That's an understatement. The usual rationale for a European tour is a chance for an orchestra to prove itself in the places all the great music came from, measured against those who play it in an unbroken tradition that began with the composer. That's true in this tour's repertoire, ranging from Verwandlung No. 3, by modern composer Wolfgang Rihm, to Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique. (Chief conductor Charles Dutoit, who leads the tour, has been a leading figure in Berlioz performance history.)

In the works since 2008, this tour had to happen, if only to keep from burning industry bridges.

"Whenever you're in a challenging financial situation, you have to analyze everything you're doing," said Stephen Millan, vice president and general manager of the Philadelphia Orchestra. "One of the things we've been saying to the public and media people is that the music has to go on."

The numbers, however, suggest that the next tour might not happen for a while. Though Europe's transportation costs are lower than those of, say, the 2010 Asia tour, industry axioms say the higher the prestige, the lower the pay. For an orchestra of Philadelphia's caliber, fees run between $75,000 and $150,000, making the estimated earned income about $1.5 million (compared with $2.2 million for Asia) - roughly half this tour's $3 million cost.