Posted 10/12/2009

                                                                                                PO Box 385

                                                                                                Moultonborough, NH 03254

                                                                                                Tel: 603-253-6732

                                                                                                September 28, 2009

Dear NHMF Board member,

            As long time NHMF concert goers and contributors we are writing to you to voice our disapproval of the changes being made and the way they are handled. We have thoroughly enjoyed the concerts and the quality of the music played under the direction of Paul Polivnick and previously Tom Nee. Although attendance has fallen off, factors other than the quality of the music have undoubtedly contributed e.g. the general decrease in the popularity of classical music and the poor  economy. There doesn’t seem to be any lack of enthusiasm in the concert audiences nor have we heard disparaging remarks from friends who also attend. The only criticism has been the playing of too many of the old “war horses”, an easily rectified problem.

            We would like to see the return of all the NHMF performers who wish to return with the orchestra’s  balance made up of professional musicians rather than students.

            The new “artistic direction” embraced by Mr. Graham and Mr. Fogel appears to be an experiment which may work well with a group such as the Knights but not with an orchestra of this size. We have looked at the Knight’s web site and while they seem to be an outstanding group of musicians their artistic style is not a model for our orchestra.

(Incidentally, are the professional musicians now being considered members of the Knights? We suspect that this is the plan since their concert master is now our artistic director. If so what a plum for such a group to have a guaranteed summer venue! This should not be at the expense of the old orchestra members.)

            We have lost confidence in the organization’s leadership. Mr Graham has certainly done some good things for the orchestra in the past but now he seems bent on destroying it for his own self –aggrandizement. We believe that hiring Mr Fogel was a serious mistake. (We’ve heard Mr. Fogel explain his plan for the orchestra. However the bulk of his talk centered on his own accomplishments). He has been very divisive and we fail to see how his approach will improve attendance since the programs will still consist of a classical repertoire. In fact financial support may well decrease because of the divisiveness he has created.

            If financial difficulties are to blame for the changes being made, it is difficult to reconcile this with the well paid administrative hierarchy consisting of  a President and CEO, a Festival Director, and an Artistic Director with a conductor or conductors still to be hired. What is the need for all of them?

            The chorus should be brought back. It is difficult to explain that their elimination saved $100,000, especially when the choral members and families were a source of on- going financial support. Negative feelings engendered by this will undoubtedly mean a loss of this support. This is another example of the thoughtlessness of Mr. Graham and Mr. Fogel.

            We strongly support the reestablishment of Friends volunteer organization with a part time paid coordinator (much less expensive than either a Festival Director or Artistic Director)

            Finally, we object to the additional financial burden of a new performance hall when the administration claims it cannot even sustain a full performance schedule.

            We expect the Board to live up to its obligations and direct rather than be directed by Graham and Fogel. If the Board had been paying attention, this situation would not have occurred.

            For the above reasons we have decided to withhold our support until there are satisfactory answers to our concerns. We plan to attend the Annual Meeting at which time we hope these matters will be addressed.

Sincerely,

Ken and Barbara Ganem

posted 10/09/09 @ 4:45pm

S.O.O.N.

Save Our Festival Now

POB 376

Ashland, NH 03217

people@soonerthanlater.org

10/2/09

Dear Board Member

The New Hampshire Music Festival has reached a critical point. Its future lies in your hands as a Board member.  At the upcoming meeting, the Board can either make certain important changes in the governance of the Festival, or risk the demise of the Festival on its watch.

As you know, until last week, the “Agreement” of Aug 14, 2009 had never been presented to the Orchestra in written form and the Orchestra members had not agreed to it. Last week a written version was presented to the Orchestra which differed from the Aug 14 version.  There was a new clause which read as follows:

"The Festival’s offer for employment will be dependent on funding. In the event insufficient funding is raised to employ the number of Incumbent Musicians referenced above and the twenty (20) non-Incumbent Musicians, the complement of musicians will be reduced proportionately among Incumbent and non-Incumbent musicians. Both the Festival and Incumbent Musicians have agreed to support the efforts to meet these funding requirements."

If the players were at all disgruntled with the terms of the Aug 14 proposal, the addition of this clause had to be a deal killer.  It was. In a poll of the players, 62 responded. 59 voted against accepting the agreement, 3 voted yes.

The clock is ticking.  The orchestra players have voiced their disapproval of the offered agreement. As time goes by, individual players will feel compelled to make their own plans for summer 2010.

They feel cheated and ill used. In these days of instant Internet communication, the probability is high that the story will propagate throughout the music world network. It may not be easy to hire high caliber replacements for the 2010 NHMF season.

Apparently, the Festival felt compelled to amend the agreement because of projected budgetary problems.  In their new “offer”, management contended that, due to the conflict between the Festival and SOON (the citizen organized group, Save Our Orchestra Now), funding has significantly decreased. Donors are reluctant to give to the Annual Fund Drive.

In fact, SOON came into being in mid August of 2009. The membership is now close to 200. Many of our members were historically contributors to the NHMF Annual Fund, but made the decision to withhold future contributions as they became increasingly disillusioned with Festival policies relating to the musicians, future venue and fiscal affairs. Most of these decisions to withhold were made prior to the onset of the 2009 season. Our membership represents a small portion of the Annual Fund contributors, but their actions prior to the 2009 season are almost certainly representative of the larger group’s.

NHMF’s financial problems have not materialized overnight.  In October 2007, a letter was sent to the NHMF Board members in an attempt to alert them to a looming financial crisis.  This analysis was based upon examination of the Federal 990 tax returns through FY 2005.  In early August of 2009, another warning was included in the Open Letter to the NHMF Board (8-13-09), this time based upon tax returns through FY 2007. 

If NHMF faces financial difficulties today, the situation can only deteriorate if the Red Hill Inn Project is allowed to move forward. It has already caused many donors to withhold their annual contributions and if it continues, it will bleed badly needed funds away from the Festival operating budget.  It is the Board’s greatest responsibility to carefully study this issue on an ongoing basis going forward. Do not be satisfied by vague assurances from the management that all is well.

Any fiscal problems that the Festival is now experiencing have been predictable since at least 2005 and were probably exacerbated by the demands put on the budget last summer by their highly paid “advisor” Ralph Craviso and the new Festival Director, Henry Fogel. 

There is another truth casualty that relates to the claim that ticket sales have fallen over the years. Here are the data:

(The year 2006 is missing because the fiscal year changed in 2007 from Oct-Sept to Jan-Dec. The 2006 FY report was from Oct 1, 2006 to Dec 31, 2006 and hence, did not contain appreciable ticket sales.)

Sales figures from 2008 and 2009 are not yet available.  However, we can attest to the following:

In 2008, Thursday evening concerts were always close to sellouts; Friday concerts were generally better than 75% full.

In 2009, Thursday evening concerts were total sellouts. There were no Friday concerts scheduled, thereby missing the opportunity to sell an additional 2900 tickets throughout the season (3/4 x650 seats x6 performances).

Much of the change in Festival’s artistic direction has been driven by the claim of declining audience interest. The existing data simply does not support the claim of declining ticket sales.  You owe it to yourself to check it out carefully.

As a Board Member, what can you do?

Almost all of our SOON members have expressed a willingness to resume their contributions if NHMF is willing to make certain necessary changes.  They don’t want their money wasted on an ill conceived new venue and a new “artistic vision” about which, they were never consulted. The refrain that we hear repeatedly from our supporters is that they want the Festival to be the way it was.

This will not occur under the Festival’s present management. There must be a change.  Only the Board can bring it about. It must happen at the upcoming Board meeting. Time is running out.

NHMF board members,

Mr. Graham and Mr. Fogel, in spite of their pompous titles are just employees.

0A

The chair and co-chair only are allowed to talk with representative of other groups.

Have you abdicated your functions? This relegates the board to being a rubber stamp. If this is the case, the board is then just a “coffee clutch” with objectives other than the welfare of the NHMF community, contrary to your stated fiduciary responsibilities.

From a recent article on the WSJ: “…To survive and flourish we need to stop playing the same repertoire in concert. Would we run a movie theater by screening the same dozen films ad nauseam…”20Does it sound familiar? Over the years it was Mr. Graham who chose the music to be performed. Innovative 21^st century music was introduced by some patrons, former board members and by the musicians themselves during the chamber music concerts, outside the grasp of Mr. Graham.

Many patrons form Holderness, Squam Lake, Meredith and Center Harbor, are annoyed, because all seems based on smoke and mirrors and deception, on the assumption that people will not pay attention. There is too much obfuscation and all seems to be self-serving to maintain and expand=2 0Mr. Graham cushy extravagantly paid job.

Much is said about the winter educational program, giving numbers without clear explanation, making no sense if one analyzes them. The “Three R Program” is offered in three schools form K to second grade. Striking a glockenspiel note of different duration, the students learn the concept of fractions! One would never know this from the president; due to his misanthropic character; neither the public nor the musicians can have a conversation with him.

Year after year one tires of reading claims for excellence in management citing prizes received more than twenty years ago.

There is no communication between leadership and public. Without public there is no NHMF.

All that has happened since 2001 confirms “Peter Principle” that Mr. Graham has reached his level of incompetence.

One must consider that the concertgoers in their previous ca reers attended concerts at the premier halls and now are looking for a different type of experience in music. Interacting with the Maestro, the musicians and have a more intimate experience than just attending a superlative performance and at the end going home.

Board members must be mindful of these considerations rather than wallowing in their proud ignorance in which Mr. Graham wants to keep them.

The solution? Get rid of Red Hill Inn property; release Mr. Graham and Mr. Fogel; replace them with a Music Director/Conductor and a coordinating team.

C. Marinovich

cionia2@aol,com

Gene  Bishop's letter to the board.  09/27/09.

First of all I would like to thank you for accepting the responsibilities associated with being a member of the NHMF Board of Directors.  I know that none of you are taking these responsibilities lightly, which is why I am writing you this email.

As you know this has been a very tumultuous summer for the Festival and it's patrons.  Actions taken by the administration and certain of your fellow Board members are posing a serious threat to the future life of our beloved Festival.  You as Board members need to exercise the responsibilities you have have accepted, and take action to save the Festival to ensure that future northern New Hampshire and lakes region residents will be able to enjoy it for another 57 glorious years.

Continuing in the long term to operate with nearly half of your budget taken up by overhead expenses is virtually impossible. The standard ratio of general and administrative expenses to total operating expenses is generally 20 - 25%.  The ratio for NHMF is close to twice that percentage.  Continuing in the long term to operate with nearly half of your budget taken up by overhead expenses is virtually impossible.  For the long term financial stability of the Festival this unreasonably high ratio needs to be reduced immediately. The individuals responsible for this need to be held accountable and or replaced.

Since early this summer, communications from the Festival officials have stated over and over that the music being played at the classical concerts is dull, boring and unimaginative.  It truly boggles the mind to hear them say that because for the last 10 years or so it has been David Graham who has chosen the music to be played.  The same person who has been choosing the music is now criticising the orchestra for being boring and unimaginative.  How can you allow the person responsible for choosing the dull and boring music turn around and criticise the orchestra for playing it.  It is your responsibility to hold The President and CEO accountable for his actions

As your new Festival Director Henry Fogel has stated in his blog, "From time to time when I visit an orchestra, or when I talk with conductors or executives, I encounter a problem that seems to be growing and expanding like a bad weed. That is the phenomenon of board members, usually one person, trying to take over the programming of a professional symphony orchestra. This doesn't happen, of course, at the big major international-level orchestras, where there are very strong music directors and large administrative staffs. But it does happen in some of our smaller orchestras, and it often results in a mess. ". That is exactly what has happened with Susan Weatherbie.  She is trying to create a little "Aspen"  or "Dresden music festival here in New Hampshire without doing any market research whatsoever.  She may have found the  "collaborative" method of playing music enjoyable and exciting, but where is the evidence that that is what the Festival attendees here in New Hampshire want to hear.  Where is the evidence that the "collaborative" method has been successfully implemented in a large symphony orchestra?  Where is the evidence that the "collaborative" method has been successfully implemented in an orchestra that is only together for six weeks rather than a whole season?  The Festival has been an integral part of our area for the last 57 years.  To attempt to implement Henry Fogel's "grand experiment" is putting the future survival of the Festival at grave risk.  Why would you want to be responsible for supporting this hijacking of our beloved Festival and risking its future survival?

I have met hundreds of people this summer who have all stated that the highlight of their year is the six weeks of July and August when they have the pleasure of enjoying the NH Music Festival.  We lost that six weeks "oasis from reality" this year, please do not take it away from us forever.

Please do the right thing and exercise the responsibly you have accepted.  We are all counting on you.

Thank you for your time.

Gene Bishop

To the Board members of NHMF: October 5, 2009

Concerns about NHMF Directions

We, among many others, are strongly opposed to the actions taken by the Music Festival administration and board.  We feel we need to let you know some of our major concerns. As we’ve read more about your plans we’ve become increasingly convinced that you must  reverse your course of action.  It seems to us that you fail to consider the festival as an artistic enterprise and the musicians as  professionals of high caliber.

The Music Festival’s 57 year history is being totally disregarded by the actions the board and management have undertaken.  Our readings indicate that it takes considerable time for an orchestra to begin to function smoothly.  If NHMF embarks on Henry’s scheme we would expect that it would quite likely take several years to get the resulting orchestra up to par.  A number of present concert-goers will be lost as well as many donations.

The long history of the New Hampshire Music Festival has resulted in an  orchestral experience of which we should all be proud.  We attend concerts at Tanglewood and have always felt that the experience we

 enjoy in Plymouth compares favorably.  We’ve never had cause to complain about the quality nor have we heard any other complaints.  Programming can easily be changed to include other works if desired. Remember that programming restrictions were imposed by David Graham on both Tom Nee and Paul Polivnick.

 An aspect of the Music Festival that many of us enjoy is the feeling of  belonging.  As donors and audience members we felt a certain kinship with the musicians even though we hadn’t met them.  Each year we  would look to see who was back and wonder about those  who were missing.   Board actions caused us to become concerned about the future and about the shabby way the musicians have been treated.

We’ve since met and talked to a number of the musicians and the uniform feeling we got was they were not happy with anything that’s been done and certainly have not agreed with the final steps that Rusty, Susan, David and Henry tell us about in the various mailings we’ve received.

 By the way, much of the collaborative process that Henry touts is available for our musicians in the Chamber series.   At any rate, the musicians would not have come back year after year if they did not enjoy the experience.

 If you want to increase attendance we feel you need to use more effective PR and advertising. We have heard that staff at Main Street Dental did not know a symphony orchestra played across the street! We can attest to the fact that the word is not getting out since people we know in the area were not aware.

  We will dramatically reduce our donations and we may not subscribe to the entire series unless the present course of action is reversed and the Festival is returned to what it used to be.  Note that if you were to  change back and invite all the musicians back and reverse all the other steps so many of us find onerous, we and presumably others, could help out more financially than we have, but as things are now going we will give much less.

 We hope that enough of you will come to understand the errors of your present  path and correct your actions before it is too late.

Al & Dotti Larsson

Waterville Valley

Deborah F. Corr

P.O. Box 869

Meredith, NH   03253

                                                                                                            October 2, 2009

To Whom It May Concern:

                        Your survey came in the mail yesterday.   I have completed it am enclosing it with this letter.

The arrival of the survey is what has prompted me to respond at last to the events of this past summer.

My husband and I have been attending NHMF concerts for about fifteen years, and we have always felt that the orchestra, the soloists and Maestro Polivnick were top notch.  The thought that we would be only 15 minutes' drive down the road from concerts when we moved here was just thrilling! 

And now, things seem to be coming apart.  I was very distressed to witness the way the festival administration mishandled communications with the orchestra, and as time has gone by, I continue to be very, very concerned about the direction the administration seems to be taking the festival.  The New Hampshire Music Festival is a New Hampshire treasure!  The musicians who have been so loyal and dedicated to it for all these years are second to none!

                        I believe that the Fogel/Graham "experiment" was poorly conceived and should be abandoned.  In fact it might be a good thing for all if Mr. Graham were to move on since he so clearly has lost whatever credibility he has had with the musicians, and it is hard to see that he will be able to regain his footing.  I believe, too, that Mr. Fogel would have no trouble finding a new place to exercise his vision and his talents and should leave the NHMF to its own devices.

                        Rather than repeat the questions that have been raised by Arthur Albert in his August 7, 2009 "Open Letter to Board from S.O.O.N.", I am enclosing a copy of it for you.  I would like answers to these questions, too.

                        This has been a very difficult letter to write.  I love the New Hampshire Music Festival and am grateful for every moment of pure joy I have experienced attending so many concerts over the years.  Each one has been a special and unique musical experience for me, and all of the concerts that I have attended have been first rate! 

                                                            Sincerely yours

                                                            Deborah F. Corr

Board of Directors

New Hampshire Music Festival

52 Symphony Lane

Center Harbor, NH   03226

Cc:  S.O.O.N.

Mary Nee

605 Normandy Rd

Encinitas, CA 92024

September 27, 2009

To the Board of Directors of the New Hampshire Music Festival,

Please consider what you think a responsible Board Member of an organization should do when the "CEO & President":

     -  Almost triples his compensation while complaining about the cost of doing business

     -  Complains about a boring "product" while maintaining almost complete control over that "product"

     -  Complains about loss of market-share while reducing marketing activity to near non-existence

     - Complains about budget problems while hiring an additional administrator whose job duties are unknown and job "performance" divisive

Have you been paying attention?

Sincerely,

Mary Nee - a "stockholder" of the NHMF since 1963