Walters— the former budget director for Gov. Jim Edgar and then-just-retired head of customer service for the city of Seattle’s electric utility — had come home to Springfield in 2005 and thrown herself into volunteer work, serving on the boards of the ISO and Lincoln Memorial Garden. In 2008, she stepped down from her position as vice president of marketing on the ISO board to serve as “transition coordinator” in the orchestra’s administrative office, where Cheryl Snyder had just been demoted. Snyder, a member of the ISO Guild and a close personal friend of Deal’s, had been interim executive director since 2005, but people who worked in the office say Snyder never appeared to be truly in charge.

Spa puts it bluntly: “I feel that Cheryl lacks leadership skills and basically was a puppet for what Karen wanted.” For example, Deal insisted on approving every item that carried the ISO logo. “At one point she told me in a very angry, pushy way that . . . I was not to do anything that she did not see,” Spa says. “I understand that the music director is the face of the organization to the public, but I don’t see that the music director is the organization, and that statement was made several times by Karen and Cheryl.”

Karen Barber (she calls herself “the other one”), was president of the Springfield branch of the ISO Guild during the 2007-08 season and spent hours volunteering in the office. She says Walters stepped down from the ISO board and into the ISO office to provide administrative leadership.

The ISO board has three tiers: At the bottom are up to 60 “advisors” (one group in Springfield, another in Bloomington-Normal) who function chiefly as fundraisers. About 19 elected officers from the advisory boards and the two ISO Guilds (separate support organizations, formerly the “ladies auxiliaries”) form the board of directors. The top tier, called the executive committee, consists of six people — the presidents of both advisory boards plus two other directors from each region — and handles all personnel matters. Barber was a member of the middle rung; Walters was on the top tier. Despite her stellar resume, however, even Walters ran into conflicts with Deal, especially over the design of the 2008-09 season brochure. On May 8, three days after Deal’s blowup with Rossi, Walters resigned as transition coordinator, resigned from the board, and cancelled the remainder of her season tickets.

Jane Denes, who was then president of the ISO board, resigned almost simultaneously. Neither Walters nor Denes responded to requests for comment.

Barber, who co-chaired ISO’s 2008 fundraiser with Walters, sent her friend a lengthy e-mail expressing her frustration with the chaotic situation at ISO. Walters responded, “It was just best to walk away.” Once Walters left, Spa says, the office atmosphere became so stressful that the thought of going to work made her physically ill. With no employment lined up, she quit her job (she soon landed a similar position with the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra). Another office worker, Beth Wakefield, resigned a few weeks later. Rossi, who had been in the midst of contract negotiations, left after the board refused his request for a salary of $16,500.

Musicians don’t buy Rossi’s salary request as an excuse for his departure. Even though instrumentalists normally disdain choral conductors, orchestra members admired Rossi’s conducting skill, calling him “thoroughly prepared” and “vastly superior in musical knowledge” to Deal. “The orchestra could see: This guy’s a good musician,” says one veteran string player, asking that his name be kept confidential for fear of losing his job. “We liked him, we could talk to him, and it was immediately apparent that there was rapport. So it was only a matter of time; his days were numbered.”

After last May’s mass exodus, personnel manager Kamen Petkov was the only long-term full-time employee left in the ISO office. He has played violin with the ISO since 1994, though it’s not his main talent. “I consider myself a musician, but I know that there are much better musicians than me out there,” he says. At the managing gig, which he took in 2000, after earning a business degree and accumulating four summers’ experience working as an operations intern at Grant Park Music

continued on page 12

Print | Back