A new arrangement
by Elizabeth Harris-MoritzThe arrival of a new maestro is more than the next chapter for the Cape Cod Symphony Orchestra. It reflects the changing face of Cape Cod, and suggests other possibilities that can dramatically alter the cultural and economic landscape of the region.
As Jung-Ho Pak prepares to replace the venerable Royston Nash as CSO music director, his potential audience is significantly different than the one nurtured for two generations by his predecessor.
Similar to Pak himself, it is younger and more mobile audience. Pak will be commuting between the Cape and California, where he remains artistic director of the San Diego Chamber Orchestra.
This potential audience includes fewer visitors seeking sun and sand, but more tourists wanting cultural, historical and artistic opportunities.
It reflects not only more full-time residents than ever before, but also an influx of second-home owners, many who drive here as often as twice a month from primary residences no more than three hours away.
And it includes patrons that are part of an unprecedented wave of professional service businesses seeking the Cape’s attractive demographics – from banks and financial consultants to law firms and accountants. Many of these companies view relationships with cultural institutions not only as a contribution to the community, but also as smart business and marketing opportunities.
These demographic shifts provide new avenues and challenges – not only for Pak and the symphony, but also for the entire cultural economy of Cape Cod.
It’s why the Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater just inaugurated its year-round facility on Route 6 while keeping its smaller downtown stage open during the summer.
It’s why Sandwich’s diverse museums, with strategic help from Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank, recently formed a coalition to market themselves and their town as a cultural magnet.
And it’s why there’s a growing sense of inevitability forming around plans for a performing arts center in Hyannis – after years of false starts elsewhere on the Cape.
Why the Pak/symphony marriage?
In succeeding Nash, who led the symphony for nearly three decades, Pak brings a stellar resume and growing national reputation. Equally important, he represents a vote of confidence for Cape Cod and its potential as a musical resource far beyond the peninsula’s borders.
“I am honored to have this opportunity to succeed a conductor who is so beloved by Cape Cod,” said Pak.
At the same time, he provided a glimpse of the future. “While following in his footsteps, I also hope to create a new vision for our orchestra, one that will have great meaning for the next generation.”
“I have been looking all over the country for an orchestra that is interested in taking part in a revolution of making classical music more dramatic, more emotional, more human,” he added. “Our musicians have shared with me that they are eager to begin this journey.”
That journey is two-fold and interconnected: spiritual and economic.
“When we speak of the importance of classical music, we often talk about the benefits for children, the joy and intellectual growth of playing an instrument and listening to inspiring compositions by the great masters,” said Pak. “However, as adults, we often starve our own souls in the delusion that we somehow extract ample inspiration and beauty in our daily doses of the media.”
“I know that when I hear a magical performance or watch an inspired film, my entire perception of who I am is changed. In that moment, we are shaken from our daily indifference and are reminded of what it’s like to be a part of something truly beautiful and brilliant.”
He hopes this vision and his passion will inspire larger and more diverse audiences. But Pak also understands that tickets sold will depend on more than spirit.
“What makes the next chapter of the [symphony] even more exciting is the vision for a cultural performing arts center that would become a crown jewel of American concert halls. Incomparable masterpieces, a wonderful orchestra, and a dedicated audience deserve nothing less than the very best,” he emphasized.
“We hope to be an important voice for such a project that would bring international recognition as well as economic stimulus for the region. It is clear that an arts destination, like the Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, can generate tremendous pride and excitement.”
A performing arts center for Cape Cod
Diminutive powerhouse Doreen Bilezikian is board chairman of the Cape Cod Conservatory. She looks at the changing population, the increasingly diverse and year-round economy and Pak’s arrival as an “an alignment of the stars.”
The former owner of Christmas Tree Shops now devotes a good deal of her time to attending events to enlist colleagues and friends to share her vision and determination to transform Cape Cod into a cultural destination.
More formally, she chairs the town of Barnstable’s steering committee that is exploring a future site for a performing arts center.
Often alongside her is Paul Niedzweicki, the town’s assistant manager, who has worked vigorously with many constituencies in town to design a strategy for a world-class arts destination. He states with undoubted conviction “if we build it, they will come.”
He points to cities such as Dayton, Nashville, Omaha and Los Angeles that have built new performing art centers as economic drivers that have revitalized downtowns. “With a measured approach, [we can build] a cultural magnet and a year-round economic hub for culture and the arts,” he said. “It’s what the Cape has always been known for. We are uniquely suited to make this happen and as Hyannis goes, so goes the Cape.”
The two now are joined by the symphony’s new CEO, Jerome Karter, a retired insurance executive. “It is everyone’s responsibility – but especially that of community leaders – to encourage, stimulate and create the environment in which art can flourish,” he said.
“A performance art center will transform the image of the Cape from being just a vacation destination, a place for whale watching, a place for second homes, a fishing ground, to a place for a cultural experience,” he added. “The image, in one sense, would be like Greece, where a heritage of art coexisted with sun and sand.”
Karter – who brings with him a keen business and marketing sense – ties the symphony to art, dance and theater to orchestrate what he calls “One Cape Cod, one community, one experience, one cultural destination.”
He’s among a growing cadre of arts and business leaders who seek synergies and reject an historical inclination to forge ahead in silos. That individualistic approach diminishes the opportunity to market the entire Cape as a cultural “destination,” and it is economically inefficient, he believes.
You need only stroll downtown Hyannis to realize that renowned architect Ben Thompson’s 1962 dream of the Walkway To The Sea, linking the village of Hyannis to the historic waterfront, is blooming under the watch of John Klimm, Barnstable’s town manager, and Niedzwiecki.
Over the past 30 years, Thompson’s vision has been brought to fruition, plot by tiny plot, as Hyannis comes into focus as a budding cultural center. A once-charming village had lost its luster over the years, but recent private and public investments totaling about $75 million – with another $40 million in the permitting stage – is fueling a revival. There are more year-round restaurants among new shops, condos and townhouses.
The jeweled crown of the Walkway to the Sea will be a performing arts center overlooking Hyannis Harbor on a sloping South Street knoll – the current Armory site. “This will not be ‘just a good-enough for the Cape’ venue,” said Niedzwiecki. “It will be a world-class venue with state-of-the-art acoustics, attractive and acceptable to the best performers from symphony to opera to stage, dance and beyond.”
The performing arts center has an ambitious four-year time line and is slated to be the home of the Cape Cod Symphony Orchestra. Along with year-round and wide-ranging musical and theatrical performances, the center will have continuous activity through educational programs directed by the Symphony and the Cape Cod Conservatory. It will also honor the Kennedy connection with a commemoration to the historic 1960 JFK acceptance speech made from the Armory.
A citizen’s review committee has carefully investigated every aspect of building such a performance venue – and early design elements include a 1,100-seat hall, a smaller, intimate theater, rehearsal spaces, and various offices and public areas.
But all this will cost at least $40 million under the umbrella of a tax-exempt 501(c)3 public/private partnership, which will require expected state legislation and town council approval.
The dream occurs in the wake of a failed attempt to build Boch Center for the performing arts in Mashpee and then in Barnstable near the Cape Cod Community College campus off Route 6.
Barnstable has made every effort to be sure all interests are being heard, Niedzwiecki explained. “Our vision is about what is good for a whole, balanced community. Arts and culture are an integral part of that, as are stable businesses that provide good jobs, a thriving middle class and affordable housing.”
Even if an arts center eventually is built, it won’t guarantee that an audience will automatically follow. That will depend in large measure on Pak and the orchestra.
“This present generation will not be patient for passive live entertainment,” Pak emphasized. “A live show needs to be, well, live! A passive experience will not compensate for the inconvenience of leaving your 32-inch plasma screen with surround sound.”
Acknowledging a dwindling audience for classical music, Pak said the Cape Symphony must be “more competitive.” He wasn’t talking just about other forms of entertainment, but also about the many choices Cape Codders have with their time.
A symphony orchestra is “a stylish, elegant and fun lifestyle choice,” he said, “and we need to market ourselves that way. More importantly, we need to deliver a better experience at an affordable price with flexibility for the customer. It is the storm that is approaching and we must be ahead of it, or perish in its wake. I embrace the call to action.”
Published in Cape Business Sept/Oct 2007
Elizabeth Harris-Moritz Elizabeth Harris-Moritz is president of The Executive Suite in Hyannis. As a business consultant specializing in human resources, she writes about the human resources issues that influence the way we do business, from the recent overhaul of the FLSA overtime and exempt/non-exempt regulations to the power of benchmarking personality tools for employee selection. 
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