New symphony president settling into the job

The bookshelves are still bare in Jim Palermo’s office in a corner of Boettcher Hall. The walls, too, beg for some art — maybe a nice portrait of Beethoven or Brahms. For the Colorado Symphony’s newly arrived president and CEO, however, the first three weeks of his tenure have been too busy to allow any interior decorating.

“I have a box of things by the front door of my apartment,” he said Wednesday. “I just have to bring them in. It’s just a matter of finding the time.”

Life has been hectic, what with the endless get-acquainted meetings and finding his way around town.

Oh, and his first mini-crisis. Like so many arts organizations, the CSO faces a cash-flow problem.

With contributions to the orchestra down, along with ticket sales, something had to give. The musicians voluntarily voted to take an unpaid furlough of one week.

“It was a remarkable gesture,” Palermo said. “The way they responded to the situation was not something that you see everywhere.”

The CSO, of course, is not the only performing organization affected by the economic downturn. That doesn’t make the pain any easier. Palermo, along with everyone else it seems, must deal with pressing money problems — something that didn’t hit him this hard at his previous job.

For years, he served as head of Chicago’s successful summertime music festival in Grant Park, offering a wildly enticing array of orchestral, pop and pops programs attracting thousands of folks — most of whom attended admission-free. At the Colorado Symphony, he succeeds Doug Adams (who’s moved on to the Dallas Symphony), inheriting more than a simple struggle to get by. There’s the ongoing project to re-do Boettcher Hall, the search for a successor to music director Jeffrey Kahane and the finalizing of plans for next season.

The glass is half full, the way Palermo sees it.

“It’s a wonderful convergence of opportunities that can lead to renewed community interest,” he said. “There is such great potential here. I believe that Denver is a community that wants to support an orchestra. This ensemble plays at such a high level, it’s just a matter of attracting people into the hall.”

To that end, he’s been overseeing an audience development initiative, looking at retooling the CSO’s fundraising program and discussing ticket sales programs.

“We’re going to look at everything,” he said. “We need to figure out how to earn more.”

Palermo brings a wealth of experience from his days in Chicago.

“I’m very comfortable around orchestras,” he said. “More than that, I learned how to make people at classical concerts happy.”

That’s more than making them feel comfortable — it’s about generating a sense of being part of a familial, world-class endeavor, Palermo noted. Most of all, “You have to plan to be successful. If you offer a product that people will want, believe me, they will come.”