Chamber Music Soc. in debt

Press, 29 July 1978, Page 6

Chamber Music Soc. in debt

Dents of 52500 will force' the Christchurch Chamber Music Society into insolvency if they are not pa'd by the end of the vear. The secretary of the society (Mr J. C. Christian); said that the society has used all its reserve cash, borrowed 56000 from the Music Fed-i eration of New Zealand, and; since 1976 had suffered a big: orop in subscriptions and' door-sales at coocer|-’.

Mr Christian said that the; society budgeted a year! ahead and told the Music! Federation, to which it is I affiliated, how many overseas; artists it could afford to in-' vite. • “To a certain degree the* autonomy of the society isi restricted by the Music Fed-! eration which controls the: engaging of artists and the; I commitments of the society,”! i said Mr Christian.

“i The federation would not ■ I lend any more money, but the :l society did not have’ to hurry ;|to pay it back, he said. ;! Last vear the societv lost ■‘s4Boo. j “Our membership is no s i worse than any other society ;; in the country but the public ■ I are not able to afford to si come to our concerts, and the increased costs in advertising '[have depleted our funds,” I said Mr Christian.

t| The society combined with 5 1 the recent Arts Festival to 7 1 pay for the Les Percussions t • de Strasbourg concert at the [Town Hall and only 451 > ! people attended. The society’s ' share of the loss was $l4OO. J This year the society had » tried to increase its income ; by having closed season ’ relying on subscription members only. While there were

it I savings in advertising co.sts, 3 [there were too few subscrips pons, said Mr Christian. e! “The only thing that will 11 save us this year will be a s; charity concert for the I.[society by Maurice Till, and i the Warsaw Philharmonic e Chamber Orchestra’s concert 1 in the Christchurch Town - Hal) in October,” said Mr e Christian.