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Salem symphony association joins forces with Oregon Symphony

The Oregon Symphony, with conductor Carlos Kalmar, center, stands following a performance in Salem at Willamette University’s Smith Auditorium on March 18, 2016. (Courtesy/Oregon Symphony)

A Salem organization formed 63 years ago to bring classical music concerts to Salem is joining forces with a much larger group: the Oregon Symphony.

Ticket sales have been on the decline at the Oregon Symphony Association in Salem, but hundreds of people still attend local concerts. Laura Aguero, the group’s executive director, said it was a dilemma.

“Are we going to be done and let it die off a natural death, or are we going to level up?” she said.

Cue the Oregon Symphony. The Portland-based nonprofit will now bring the Salem entity under its wing, giving three Salem staffers access to more marketing and fundraising and better ticketing software to help promote sales and gather data.

The Salem outfit is relatively small, spending about $400,000 per year to host Oregon Symphony concerts locally. It has operated at a loss since at least 2013, according to its federal tax returns.

The two groups have always worked together to bring the symphony to Salem. But the relationship between the two was unusual, said Scott Showalter, president and CEO of Oregon Symphony.

The Salem group was an independent nonprofit that existed entirely to get the Portland-based symphony to come to town.

“We’re basically like the PTA to their high school,” Aguero said.

Igor Stravinsky during a 1955 symphony performance in Salem. The Oregon Symphony Association in Salem was created that year to bring Stravinsky to town. (Courtesy/Oregon Symphony)

It’s a nonprofit relationship Showalter said he’s never seen anywhere else in the country.

“It was curious,” he said.

Salem’s group will stay as an independent nonprofit under the umbrella of Oregon Symphony. That was a legal need so bequests and other planned gifts designated to the Salem nonprofit aren’t lost.

The Salem board of directors will become an advisory board to the Oregon Symphony.

“They want Salem to preserve its own voice,” Aguero said.

But the day-to-day finances and operations will run through Oregon Symphony, a much larger organization that spent about $18.5 million in 2016, according to its federal tax returns. Those documents show the symphony has broken even in recent years while growing revenue and ticket sales, something Showalter said is rare among U.S. symphonies.

Under his leadership, which began in 2014, the symphony has expanded to offer classes and performances in prisons, nursing homes and other non-traditional settings.

“We’re doing things that sort of test the bounds of what a symphony can be,” Showalter said.

They currently put on about 120 concerts and 250 engagement activities around Oregon each year.

“Music holds incredible power,” Showalter said, addressing the Rotary Club of Salem at a lunch Wednesday. “In the midst of all the noises and challenges of the world, music offers a chance to connect.”

Salem will host six symphony concerts this year, kicking off Oct. 26 with Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4. Aguero said she hopes the partnership will bring more non-traditional symphony activities to Salem, including popular music concerts and expanded music education work in local colleges and schools.

“The possibilities are sort of overwhelming,” she said.

Reporter Rachel Alexander: [email protected] or 503-575-1241.

Rachel Alexander is Salem Reporter’s managing editor. She joined Salem Reporter when it was founded in 2018 and covers city news, education, nonprofits and a little bit of everything else. She’s been a journalist in Oregon and Washington for a decade. Outside of work, she’s a skater and board member with Salem’s Cherry City Roller Derby and can often be found with her nose buried in a book.

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