Judd's treatment by Florida Philharmonic 'despicable'

The resignation of New Zealand Symphony Orchestra music director James Judd from his other music director job with the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra is a symptom of the power games and terminally serious cash troubles afflicting many top orchestras in North America. The Miami Herald last week reported that a deal to avert the Florida Philharmonic's bankruptcy included its musicians waiving four weeks' salary - on condition Judd quit programming control. He had been music director with the FPO since 1987.

James Roos, of the Miami Herald, described Judd as a "hero" who had built up the Philharmonic from a mediocre regional outfit to an internationally acclaimed orchestra. He also said the FPO's treatment of Judd was despicable.

Judd's resignation, says NZSO chief executive Ian Fraser, was all about game-playing by the donors and sponsors who support cultural institutions in the United States, where there is little state subsidy for the arts.

"The FPO went through a really nasty contract round last year," says Fraser. "A claim was put on the table for a 34 per cent increase in the musicians' wages when the orchestra was already fragile. It was already in trouble in terms of maintaining revenue streams and it nearly closed down last September. James said he would work for the next year for nothing as a gift [Judd was on $NZ595,000 a year]. So they lurched on but a big control game has been played among a number of the individual donors and the orchestra was a pawn. All the survival money had strings attached."

Fraser says Judd e-mailed him an hour after his resignation. "He told me about some of the games and that he'd quit. He said, 'Tonight I am the happiest man alive'."

Judd, who joined the NZSO in 1999, spends a minimum of 12 weeks a year here and loves it, jokes Fraser, "because we seem to run here in a relatively rational way. I said, relatively."