Vandalism, threats strike sour note in Seattle Symphony Orchestra

Vandalism, mail tampering, a razor blade, anonymous threats — it all sounds like something out of a "Sopranos" episode. But it appears to be musicians, not sopranos, who have been targeting their Seattle Symphony colleagues with anonymous acts that one player calls "orchestral terrorism." Thus far, there have been no injuries and no police involvement, although the symphony's acting executive director, Mary Ann Champion, said Benaroya Hall security is working on the matter.

She said she told symphony members at a meeting Friday about the vandalism and threats and said that "this behavior is not tolerated.

The musicians' own contract stipulates the behavior standard that they agreed to. We are not minimizing this situation; we want to ensure the safety of everyone in the orchestra. These are the unfortunate actions of a very small group, and I don't want the full orchestra painted with this brush. We are respectful, civil people."

Champion said security, including guards and backstage cameras at Benaroya Hall, "is on top of this" and that there is no need for police intervention.

The vandalism and threats have been going on since the renewal of music director Gerard Schwarz's contract last May by the orchestra's board of trustees, whose pro-Schwarz vote will keep the conductor on the Symphony podium through the 2010-2011 season.

That vote ignited a controversy among the anti-Schwarz players who conducted an in-house survey last June said to be critical of Schwarz's leadership (survey results have not been released, even to the players).

The chief target of the vandalism and other reprisals has been the orchestra's principal horn, John Cerminaro, a longtime friend of Schwarz and an outspoken advocate of the conductor who hired him.

Last July, Cerminaro wrote in an online posting that he had been rewarded for his candor by "someone anonymously denting my horn, scratching my car, stealing from my orchestra mailbox, desecrating my photo with pinholes to the eyes and forehead, and phoning my home and threatening my family. I have never before encountered orchestral terrorism until now."

This fall, Cerminaro said, the activities have continued after he spoke out in an orchestra meeting: A half-cup of hot coffee was placed in his high-lying mailbox so that it could fall on him when he reached for mail. Later, when Cerminaro pulled a heavy magazine out of the mailbox, he dislodged a razor blade, which he assumes was placed there so he would cut himself while extracting a smaller piece of mail.

Cerminaro is not the only player targeted; flutist Scott Goff had his car "keyed." Goff confirmed the damage but declined to comment further. Reports of other incidents remain unconfirmed by the players involved.

One orchestra member, cellist Bruce Bailey, who joined the Symphony in 1962, says a certain amount of discontent is always endemic to orchestras, but the present situation at the Seattle Symphony goes far beyond the "usual routine of backstage bickering, love affairs, and lots of performances."

Modern conductors, says Bailey, whose wife, Mariel, also plays in the orchestra's first violin section, can't retaliate like the maestros of a previous generation, who had only to point to a rude or recalcitrant musician and say: "You! OUT!" So the malcontents stay in the orchestra unless they can be proven incompetent by a jury of their own peers, as well as by the conductor.

Bailey says some orchestra members feel "a terrible frustration, the feeling that they are being held back by this man (Schwarz)."

The hope held by some musicians that the players' artistic advisory committee could influence the board not to renew Schwarz's contract was squashed last spring, and the contract renewal "came as an awful shock" to players who thought their opinions would sway the board.

That's when one or more of the discontented players "stepped over the line, into sabotage and physical acts," according to Bailey.

Why Cerminaro? "He has a sky-high opinion of himself, which is completely justified, but which antagonizes some of his colleagues," Bailey says. "He could be driven out of the orchestra, which would be a blow to Schwarz. But it would be a huge blow to the orchestra, too."

Former board president Champion is the orchestra's acting executive director, while the search continues to find a replacement for Paul Meecham, who left this past summer.

The balance of power in American symphony orchestras has long been an uneven troika of music director (conductor), executive director (top administrator) and board of directors (which hires and fires the previous two).

Over the past century, that balance has shifted away from a powerful and autocratic conductor toward a more powerful executive director, who in some cases can maneuver conductors out of their posts.

In Seattle, mainly because of Schwarz's support from the board of trustees, such maneuverings have been ineffective. It was no secret that Meecham's predecessor, Deborah Card, (now executive director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra), did not see eye to eye with Schwarz during her Seattle years.

A persistent rumor at the time of Meecham's arrival suggested that he had been hired to secure Schwarz's departure, a rumor Meecham denied. In any case, the board's extension of Schwarz's contract as music director last May was approved by an overwhelming majority (a reported 56 to 2).