For the second time in three years, the volunteer
vocalists of the Illinois Symphony Chorus have lost their leader to an
unhappy departure. Richard Robert Rossi, who joined the ISO in August 2005,
shortly after the board terminated the employment of previous chorus
conductor Marion van der Loo, surprised ISO executives by tendering his
resignation on May 13 [“Cap City,” May 29].
“It’s a devastating loss, because
he’s so wonderful,” says a six-year-veteran chorus soprano who
asked to have her name withheld. “I have sung [professionally] in New
York, and I have never worked with a director who is more gifted than
Richard. He’s extraordinary.”
Music director Karen Lynne Deal and the ISO’s
board of directors initially declined to accept Rossi’s resignation
and, during the month of June, tried to negotiate a new contract that would
entice the 45-year-old conductor/counter-tenor/composer/keyboardist to
stay. After a few offers and counter-offers, the board decided that
Rossi’s financial demands were more than ISO could allocate from its
$1 million budget.
Board president John Wohlwend announced the end of
Rossi’s tenure in an e-mail sent to some chorus members on June 23,
telling the vocalists that Deal and ISO executive director Cheryl Snyder
had “worked tirelessly in an attempt to retain Richard” but
that negotiations had stalled after Rossi requested “a sizeable
monetary increase . . . which is far above the usual and customary
remuneration for this position.”
Rossi, who is also the director of orchestral and
choral activities at Eastern Illinois University and organist at First
Presbyterian Church in Champaign, began his term with ISO at a salary of
$11,500 per season. In 2006 his salary was increased to $12,500, but it
shrank the following year when ISO began paying him on a
“per-service” basis. During negotiations, ISO offered to raise
his wages by $10 per service, or about $360 per season. Rossi responded by
requesting a salary of $16,500 — a demand that ISO refused without
making a counter-offer. Wohlwend’s e-mail to chorus members concluded
with an invitation to meet with him on June 27 at a church just south of
downtown Springfield, and about a dozen of the 78 chorus members showed up.
The sparse turnout was attributed to an incomplete e-mail list, high
emotions, and short notice, according to some chorus members. The church
where the meeting was scheduled to take place wasn’t open, and the
group had to move to the lobby of a nearby high-rise, where tenants walked
past their group.
“In addition to our all having heavy hearts, to
have to meet in a public place about something so private — it was
very peculiar,” the soprano says.
Wohlwend, Deal, Snyder, and a handful of board
members were present to answer questions, and singers say the
administrators also encouraged them to begin raising funds to support their
chorus. The unpaid singers already provide their own dresses and tuxedos
and sometimes their musical scores. In return, they get one or two vouchers
per concert, entitling friends or family to a $10 discount off the ticket
price. “That wasn’t really a big issue for most
of us — we’re happy to do it,” one soprano says,
“but we got the feeling we’re not really sure they want the
chorus to continue.”
Snyder didn’t return a reporter’s call,
and Wohlwend declined to be interviewed for this story. In response to an
e-mail seeking comment, Wohlwend wrote: “I would have no other
information to provide other than the information you have already
presented in your article in the May 29, 2008, issue of the Illinois Times.”
In a written statement, Deal said, “I was very
disappointed that Richard made the decision to resign. He did a wonderful
job with the chorus and we were all looking forward to the Brahms Requiem and Messiah, which we had planned
together. Many of us worked for over six weeks trying to get him to
reconsider. It is an especially difficult and emotional time for the chorus
members since their relationship with him was very close — this is
what troubles me the most at this point, that they are going through this.
I am now working on reprogramming the Brahms concert, but I am still
looking for a way to keep Messiah on the season.”
Rossi likewise declined to be interviewed, other than
to address the implication in Wohlwend’s communiqué to chorus
members that his resignation was based on greed. “If it was true that I had resigned exclusively
for the issue of money I would not have taken the position three years ago
when the board and Karen clearly indicated that the salary was low,”
Rossi wrote in an e-mail. He quoted his father — a Juilliard-educated
vocalist who has performed on Broadway — who advised him to
“follow the goodness of your heart” and allow his actions to
speak for themselves. “My Dad is right,” Rossi wrote.
Contact Dusty Rhodes at drhodes@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in Jun 26 – Jul 2, 2008.
