CLASSICAL MUSIC / KENNETH HERMAN : Cleveland’s Expert to Lend Voice to Symphony Drive

For several years the San Diego Symphony has been broadcasting its subscription concerts over KFSD-FM, a local classical music station. This weekend, the symphony will take to the station’s airwaves, but with a different agenda. Instead of providing the music, the symphony hopes to hear the melodious sounds of phones ringing in response to Radiothon, its annual radio fund-raiser.

Disappointed with the modest results of last year’s Radiothon, symphony officials invited Robert Conrad, host of broadcasts by the Cleveland Orchestra, to lend his expertise to the local event. As a radio fund-raiser host, Conrad has raised about $2.6 million over 18 years for the Cleveland Symphony. With this impressive track record, he has been invited to apply his lucrative techniques to orchestra fund-raisers in Boston, Houston, Dallas, Chicago and San Francisco.

“We’re doing our 20th radio marathon in Cleveland this weekend,” said Conrad in a telephone interview. “We have the longest-running orchestra radiothon in the world, although we were not the first to do it. That honor belongs to the Syracuse Symphony and to Henry Fogel, its general manager at that time.”

Given the international reputation, significant endowment and hefty corporate support the Cleveland Orchestra enjoys, it may come as a surprise that such an orchestra needs to plead for support over the radio.

“It used to be that the Cleveland Orchestra would retire its year-end deficit by pulling names out of a hat,” explained Conrad. “The orchestra board director whose name was pulled had the ‘honor’ of writing the check to cover the deficit, although the following year he didn’t have to put his name back in the hat. Then, in 1970, with the musicians’ 52-week contract and the addition of the Blossom Music Center (the Cleveland Orchestra’s summer home), they had to go to public sources for funding.”

Last year in Cleveland, Conrad and his crew raised $150,000 for the orchestra, which was $50,000 below the usual total.

“For the first time we offered no premiums--no restaurant certificates, golf games, or excursions--because it had become too much hassle. It’s our point of view that it is worthwhile to support the orchestra on its own merits, although as premiums we did offer some concert tickets and recordings made by the Cleveland Orchestra. It cut our expenses, so the net was actually better that year.”

Here in San Diego, however, Conrad and his other guests will be hawking premiums for trips, restaurant meals, clothing, and assorted musical services. Included on the list of items to be auctioned off are tickets to the men’s finals at Wimbeldon this June (minimum bid $2,500), a private recital by pianist Gustavo Romero (minimum bid $2,000) and a new Mercedes-Benz 190E (minimum bid $27,900). The orchestra hopes to raise $100,000.

To lighten the fund-raising aspect of the two-day broadcast, Conrad brings a number of prepackaged comedy routines in his suitcase.

“I’ve made commercials that spoof classical music, and I have an actual interview with Cosmo MacMoon, the stage name of pianist Edwin MacArthur, longtime accompanist to would-be diva Florence Foster Jenkins.”

Conrad also likes to air a sketch entitled “Dr. Haas-Been’s Adventures in Good Cooking,” a take-off on a popular syndicated classical radio program. The real Karl Haas, host of “Adventures in Good Music,” will make a guest appearance on the Radiothon late Saturday afternoon.

Conrad also promised a live interview with Ludwig van Beethoven, actually Van Nuys actor Ed Weinstock.

“He is an extremely credible Beethoven,” Conrad noted. “He looks like him and knows everything about the composer. He gives autographs and answers callers’ questions, although as Beethoven he cannot answer any questions about current events.”

Festival fanfares. Heiichiro Ohyama visited San Diego last week to announce the programming details for SummerFest ‘89, the La Jolla Chamber Music Society’s annual August chamber music festival. Although there are no surprises in the lineup, the number of programs has been trimmed from last year, and, unlike last year’s festival, there will be no chamber orchestra programs.

On the bright side, Los Angeles Philharmonic music director Andre Previn will make two appearances, Aug. 20 and 22, in the supporting role of ensemble pianist. He will also introduce Los Angeles composer Mel Powell, whose String Quartet will be performed by the Colorado String Quartet, the festival’s sole resident ensemble. Since La Jolla audiences have been skittish about hearing contemporary music--actually, sometimes they have been downright rude--Previn’s blessing may put the locals on their best behavior.

Among the big names to grace the SummerFest ’89 roster: violinists Cho-Liang (“Jimmy”) Lin and Andres Cardenes; cellists Ralph Kirshbaum and Gary Hoffman; pianist Jeffrey Kahane and oboist Allan Vogel. Three principals from the San Diego Symphony, flutist Damian Bursil-Hall, bassoonist Dennis Michel and clarinetist David Peck will be the only locally-based musicians to perform.

The seven SummerFest ’89 concerts span Aug. 18 through 27; all the performances will be given in Sherwood Auditorium.

Strains of Mendelssohn. Music director Zoltan Rozsnyai of the USIU International Orchestra and orchestra concertmaster Alyze Dreiling have demonstrated notable rapport on the concert stage, so they have decided to seek similar success in a nuptial duet. They were married two weeks ago by Randall Phillips, who is not only a vice president of USIU but also an ordained Methodist minister.