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Syracuse, NY -- The Syracuse University-backed plan to return a symphony orchestra to the community has folded. The decision to stop planning follows repeated complaints by musicians that they weren’t being involved in the process and that the plan didn’t provide them with assurances they needed to stay in the community.

Half the board of the Syracuse Philharmonic Society left the fledgling effort in December. The remaining members decided Wednesday that they would put their work on hold indefinitely. That decision came after they were told that Ann Clarke, one of the board members who left in December, was planning to put the university’s energy behind a plan by another ex-board member, Robert Daino, to get an orchestra back together.

Daino is the president and CEO of WCNY, the region’s public broadcasting station; Clarke is the dean of the school for Visual and Performing Arts at Syracuse University. The music school is under Clarke’s umbrella.

On Thursday, Clarke, Daino and Andy Russo, the third board member who quit in December, put out a joint statement saying they left the board because they had philosophical differences with the others members. They wrote that they plan to continue working with the musicians. Russo is a pianist who ran against Dave Valesky for state Senate.

“If no consensus can be found, often the best answer is to move forward separately. In our case, we have done that,” the statement reads.

As the SU-led plan fell apart, a coalition of musicians, smaller colleges and local arts groups who also had been working to assemble a full-time orchestra gained ground. Musicians said they have been working with a group called the Summit and might be close to some kind of an agreement.

The Summit is led by Hamilton College music professor Heather Buchman and includes representatives from Hamilton College, LeMoyne College, Onondaga Community College, SUNY Oswego, the Society for New Music, the Stanley Theatre in Utica, Cayuga Community College and the Syracuse Opera. Buchman did not return several phone calls for this story.

When the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra filed for bankruptcy in the spring, the community was left with a hole where there had been a professional symphony orchestra for 50 years. The SSO’s problems were not unusual. The poor economy has pushed symphonies and other arts organizations out of business across the country over the past few years.

In Syracuse, supporters of a new symphony began to fall into two camps: the Syracuse University-backed Phil, as creators hoped it would be called, and the Summit. The musicians also created what they called a “lifeboat” organization, Symphony Syracuse, to put on concerts until a new symphony is formed.

Their goals were the same: a full-time symphony orchestra in Syracuse. But their timetables were vastly different. The Summit wanted a full-time orchestra back at work and being paid as soon as possible. The Phil was pushing a five-year path to forming a full-time symphony orchestra.

The result was a struggle for the same pool of money (including the SSO’s foundation with a $7 million endowment) and the same supporters.

Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney offered her support and a promise of $400,000 to the Phil, the same amount earmarked for the SSO before it went bankrupt. But in October, the county Legislature cut that money. There were two different groups trying to create a symphony and legislators said they were confused. At that point, Mahoney pledged to bring both sides — the musicians and the Phil — to the table.

That happened in late November, musicians and Phil board members said. It was a 45-minute meeting at Mahoney’s office. The musicians and Phil board members agreed to form working groups to have more discussions.

It was following those smaller group discussions that the three board members decided to step down from the Phil, said Cydney Johnson, a businesswoman and one of the remaining Phil board members. Mark Wladis, an attorney, is the other remaining board member.

Jeffry Comanici, president of the Phil and a former executive director of the SSO, stepped down Wednesday following the board meeting, citing personal reasons. He is the assistant dean of advancement at SU; Clarke, one of three board members who left in December, is his boss.

Johnson said everything began to fall apart when the board members started having specific discussions about how much money they would be able to raise and what they would be able to fund.

During an interview the week before he left the board, Comanici said he and the others didn’t want to get the symphony playing again only to fail next year or the year after. “The worst thing we could do is make an agreement with the musicians and not be able to pay them,” Comanici said. “We’d lose the trust of the community. We’d lose the trust of the musicians. We’d lose the trust of the ticket buyers.”

Johnson said Russo, the pianist who left, was supposed to be meeting with musicians about artistic issues. But that turned into a discussion about contracts, too. Russo stopped showing up and eventually resigned, saying it was too much work, Johnson said. He did not return repeated phone calls seeking comment.

Daino also met with the musicians. When he came to the December board meeting of the Phil, he presented their requests: representation on the board and a contract. The other board members said they could have three seats and that they would be happy to discuss a contract, but they couldn’t offer more than they thought they could raise.

Comanici said that number would be around $1 million the first year, not nearly enough to bankroll a whole orchestra. During its final year, the SSO had a budget of $7 million with 61 core musicians, 14 contract musicians and 18 full- and part-time staff.

When it released its initial plan, the board of the Phil said it planned to phase in a full orchestra over five years. During the first few years, it would pay musicians per concert based on union scale, which is about $100 per concert and no pay for time spent practicing. The Phil took heat for not having musicians on the board to start with.

Comanici said that, in hindsight, perhaps that was a mistake. He said the Phil offered in the summer to take over the logistics of the concerts the musicians had already scheduled. But the musicians never got back to him on the offer.

The musicians have not been speaking much to the Phil board, but they have been talking to other community groups, including the Summit. Victoria Krukowski, a clarinet player, has been involved in some of the discussions. She said no agreements have been reached yet, but she expects something to be cemented in the next few weeks.

Krukowski said the Summit is working to bring a full-time symphony back to Syracuse as soon as possible. “And that’s what we’re looking for,” she said. “As soon as possible.”

Marnie Eisenstadt can be reached at meisenstadt@syracuse.com or 470-2246.