Nashville Symphony Trims Annual Deficit

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

The Nashville Symphony Orchestra upped its contributions and program service revenue but still ended fiscal 2015 with a deficit of nearly $3.4 million.
The financial data for the orchestra which  faced imminent foreclosure on its concert hall just three years ago, was spelled out in a tax return for the fiscal year ending July 31, 2015.
According to the tax return, known as a 990, total revenue climbed to $21.9 million compared to $19.2 million the year before. The $3.4 million year end deficit was down from a $5.2 million deficit in the prior year and $13.2 million the year before that.
Expenses for 2015 were just shy of $25.4 million, compared to $24.4 million in the prior year.
President and CEO Alan Valentine had total salary and benefits totaling $339,436, while music director Giancarlo Guererro's totaled $415,739.
For Valentine that represented a slight drop from the $349,480 reported the prior year. Guererro's total also dropped from the 2014 total of $427,587.
Concert Master Jun Iwasaki also had a decrease with salary and benefits totaling $173,840 compared to $188,000 for 2014.
Chad Boyd, CFO and interim COO was paid salary and benefits totaling $169,226.
Though the names were not made public, the tax return shows contributions from one donor of a little over $3 million and $1 million from a second donor.
Major contractors listed include William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, which was paid $403,850, IMG Artists, LLC, which was paid $262,600 and Guardsmark, a security firm, which was paid $206,144.
Also listed on the return was the $21.9 million balance on the mortgage on the Schermerhorn Symphony Center. The mortgage is from Symplace Realty, an entity established by board member Martha Ingram.
It was Ingram's intervention that literally rescued the concert hall from a scheduled mortgage foreclosure auction in 2013.
The financial problems were triggered in part by the 2010 Nashville flood. The concert hall was badly damaged and, according to the orchestra's financial statements, some $2.4 million in anticipated federal assistance has yet to be received.
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