Lawrence.com

New Orleans — The Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, which bills itself as the nation's only musician-owned and -operated symphony, is closing its 10th season on a fitting note later this week: with Mahler's Resurrection Symphony.

"We were looking for something really great and outstanding," said conductor Klauspeter Seibel.

The Resurrection Symphony contrasts with the piece performed dramatically 10 years ago when the old New Orleans Symphony folded, Haydn's "Farewell Symphony." In keeping with Haydn's score, the musicians picked up their instruments and walked off the stage one by one until there was no one left.

The old New Orleans Symphony had operated for 55 years, but fell victim to economic problems and mismanagement. Sixty of the musicians, however, refused to give up and formed a co-op, at first doing everything themselves, almost without pay.

"We started out with the concept, how do you take a nonprofit organization and run it in a businesslike sense?" cellist and treasurer Annie Cohen said. "We learned very quickly it wasn't rocket science � just don't spend money you don't have."

Many symphony orchestras across the country face declining revenues and are looking for creative approaches to management and to reaching audiences.

The Colorado Symphony is the nation's only other "co-op" orchestra, according to the American Symphony Orchestra League. But while Colorado's musicians make up one-third of the board, and salaries are tied to the balance sheet, the musicians don't run the show as they do in New Orleans.

At the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, the musicians' pay for the season ending May 19 is still well below standard. At $19,400, it is nearly $17,000 below base pay for Colorado.

"We're the owners and the employees and we work very closely with the staff and we work very closely with the board," Cohen said.

Said Seibel: "It is still an experiment. We are called the laboratory orchestra."

The old board had dug into the orchestra's endowment for day-to-day expenses. The new board decided early that a third party � the Greater New Orleans Foundation � should manage the endowment.

The endowment itself is small � about $1.5 million � and most of it came from one longtime concertgoer's will.

"Clearly, something we have to do very soon is expand our endowment," executive director Sharon Litwin said.

The orchestra, now with 70 musicians playing a full 36-week season of more than 125 performances, also learned to sell itself: inviting more diverse conductors and soloists, and more local artists, and developing audience-friendly programs like a popular "Beethoven and Blue Jeans" series.

"We don't care what you wear as long as you come," Cohen said.

Downtown performances are at the elegant Orpheum Theater, an acoustically excellent old vaudeville hall. But the orchestra also has a regular series in the suburbs, where a noticeable share of the audience has moved.

"We take the orchestra out of downtown," Cohen said.

They take it to school with kiddie concerts, and have a three-concert Saturday morning series of family performances. Those always sell out.

Seibel was named music director in 1995 after he visited as guest conductor. He splits his time between New Orleans and Germany, where he is principal guest conductor of the Frankfurt Opera and guest conductor of the Dresden Opera.

Seibel's salary is also tied to orchestral income. He said he was interested from the start in the idea of a co-op orchestra.

"I'm a team worker. So I didn't have any problems with this system of government by committees."