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Saturday, August 2, 2008
DPO taps new head administrator
DAYTON — The Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra will announce Monday, Aug. 4, that it has chosen a successor for former Executive Director Curt Long, who announced his resignation in June to take the top post with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra.
Paul Helfrich (pictured below), the executive director of the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra in Charleston, will begin his tenure with the DPO on Oct. 27.
The timing of Long’s resignation announcement — a week before the League of American Orchestra’s annual conference — allowed the Philharmonic board to move quickly in finding his replacement, said Dave Bukvic, the DPO’s marketing director. Board representatives returned from the conference with the names of three finalists, Bukvic said.
“On paper, (Helfrich) has all the skills; but the thing that struck me the most about him is a sense of how we’ll work together,” said DPO Music Director and Conductor Neal Gittleman. “He’s a person, like Curt, where we’ll have a very good collaborative relationship.”
Gittleman said Helfrich seems to be someone open to new ideas, but not one to “roll over and say, ‘Yes, Maestro,’ ” to everything.
Helfrich, for his part, says he’s excited about joining the Dayton team. “It’s a real honor to be coming to work with Neal Gittleman,” he said.
Helfrich, 45, will be taking on a $5.2 million operation that is generally perceived as an artistic and business success, despite a $250,000 deficit last year that was covered by unrestricted funds in the DPO’s endowment.
He said the DPO board has given him “no immediate charge” for the job, which “in a way reflects that the Philharmonic is basically in good shape.”
While the West Virginia Symphony is smaller, with a $3.3 million budget, Helfrich’s time there in many ways paralleled that of Long’s in Dayton, in that he led the orchestra through its move to a new concert hall and office space in 2003, oversaw an expansion of the orchestra’s concert schedule and guided it through budget growth and revenue increases.
He also oversaw a successful $8 million endowment and recapitalization campaign, and said he likely will be studying during his first months in Dayton whether an endowment campaign is appropriate here as well.
Helfrich’s salary in 2006-07 was $97,092, while Long’s was $140,749, according to orchestra management consultant Drew McManus, who compiles the tax returns of orchestras across the country each year and posts the results on his Web site.
A native of Philadelphia, Helfrich grew up in Upper Black Eddy, Penn. He plays tuba and earned a bachelor of music degree in 1984 from Indiana University in Bloomington, where he then completed a master’s degree in arts administration in 1986.
His tenure in West Virginia began in 1996, following administrative positions with Westminster Choir College in Princeton, N.J.; the IU School of Music; the Kalamazoo (Mich.) Symphony Society; and the Erie (Penn.) Philharmonic.
His position in Dayton will be that of DPO president, a change in title, but not responsibilities, adopted by the Philharmonic board at its June meeting. The trustees at the same time voted to change the titles of the board’s leaders, previously president and vice president, to that of chair and vice chair.
Helfrich, his wife, Geane, and their two sons, Donald, 9, and Gerald, 7, plan to move to the Dayton area before he settles into the new job.
“I have just a tremendous enthusiasm for music and musicians,” he said. “Administration can be a demanding profession, but for me it is worth it to be part of something very, very special.”
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