The troubled Philadelphia Orchestra is moving closer to seeking bankruptcy protection.

The board planned to meet Saturday morning to vote on whether to file for Chapter 11, said John Koen, a cellist in the orchestra and the leader of the players’ union. While orchestras have filed for bankruptcy before, either to reorganize or to dissolve, the Philadelphia Orchestra would be the most prominent to do so in recent memory. “The musicians are extremely opposed to this because it’s unnecessary and it would be damaging to the institution,” Mr. Koen said. “It’s absolutely the wrong decision.” He said management was blaming, in part, $48 million in pension costs, which the players say is exaggerated. Mr. Koen contended that the pension money owed was around $8 million.

Mr. Koen said the board chairman, Richard Worley, had told the musicians that he favored seeking bankruptcy protection. “He said he didn’t see any other alternative and the board was moving in that direction,” Mr. Koen recounted.

In a tactic previously used by musicians in a labor dispute, the Philadelphia players left the stage before their concert on Thursday night and passed out leaflets to the audience calling on people to oppose a bankruptcy filing. The leaflets said such a filing would make it hard to attract “the best new players” and hurt the orchestra’s ability to raise money.

The orchestra management issued a statement saying: “The economic challenges we face are monumental. The orchestra has more than $46 million in costs, but our revenues are only a little more than $31 million.That significant gap and reality is what we must address.” Management called its musicians “extraordinary artists,” and said, “we are confident that we can work together to close that gap.”



The orchestra said its endowment stood at $140 million in restricted funds. A spokeswoman on Thursday declined to answer questions but said the orchestra’s president and chief executive, Allison Vulgamore, would be available Friday afternoon to comment.

The musicians and orchestra executives have been negotiating to reach a new contract with the help of a mediator after the old pact expired last season. Terms — including salaries — have been frozen since 2008. The players gave up raises in an effort to help, and managers also have taken pay cuts.

The orchestra has long been in severe financial difficulties. Mr. Koen blamed the orchestra’s problems in part on high rent at its home at the Kimmel Center and the diversion of revenues from shows at the Academy of Music, its old stage. Money taken in from presentations there goes to Kimmel under the orchestra’s arrangement with the hall, Mr. Koen said.

Part of the orchestra’s woes stem from a leadership vacuum several years ago when it lacked a permanent board chairman, chief executive and music director. Mr. Koen also blamed what he called two decades of bad management, especially a “failure to market the orchestra appropriately and hire quality people for development.”

The troubled economy has taken its tolls on orchestras. The Detroit Symphony just finished a bruising six-month strike which ended with large pay cuts. The Louisville Symphony filed for bankruptcy reorganization last year, and the symphonies of Honolulu and Syracuse went out of business in recent months.