BELEAGUERED S.D. SYMPHONY SAYS IT’S ‘BACK IN BUSINESS’

SAN DIEGO —  Despite having lost several of its principal players and its conductor to other orchestras, and with an operating debt still in excess of $1 million, the San Diego Symphony Assn. has announced that it is “back in business.”

San Diego Symphony management had canceled the season in November in the wake of stalemated contract talks with the musicians and about $3.5 million in debt.

Executive Director Wesley O. Brustad, who moved to San Diego nine months ago from the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, described those months, at a Monday press conference, as “the longest 10 years of my life,” but added cheerfully, “This is a happy day. We’re pleased to announce a concert season beginning in the fall.”

Symphony musicians voted Sunday night to ratify an agreement with the symphony association to stage a 32-week season beginning in November. Thirty-two weeks represents a truncated season, as does the 37-week season negotiated for 1988-89.

The musicians’ pay scale will start at $575 a week for the first year of the contract, increasing to a minimum of $625 a week for the 1988-89 season. During the 1985-86 season--the last staged under the rubric of the symphony association--musicians were paid a $472-a-week minimum for a 45-week season.

Joe Pallazola, representing the musicians’ union, said at the Symphony Hall press conference that the contract was far from ideal.

Brustad said the board had raised more than $900,000 to make the shortened season possible.