Cutting University of Evansville's music department would be 'devastating' for local philharmonic orchestra, says conductor laureate

UE's administration unveiled the proposal last month. If approved, music would be one of three departments eliminated. A total of 17 majors would be cut across the university, and nearly a quarter of the faculty would be forced out.

Savia joins an expanding chorus of voices who've expressed concern about the ripple effects of cutting the music department. He warned that it would "tear at the fabric" of music education and performance in Evansville "to the point that it would rip completely." He sees several possible solutions, however.

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UE and the Philharmonic have a relationship Savia calls symbiotic. A handful of players are either full-time or adjunct faculty at UE, and members of the Eykamp String Quartet both perform in the orchestra and serve as artists in residence at the university.

Maestro Alfred Savia conducts Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra in the first show of the Young People's Concerts at The Victory.
The two institutions also hire and pay four musicians positions jointly in a consortium arrangement, which allows them to draw from a national talent pool. It's something the orchestra wouldn't be able to do without UE's resources behind it, Savia said.

"There's no question that if the music department ceased, I don't see how those positions would continue," he said. "This would be devastating for the orchestra as well as the university."

Savia believes many in the faculty will leave Evansville to find full-time work elsewhere. The orchestra would lack the consistency the musicians in those positions bring, he said, and promising young musicians would miss out on the highly talented instructors important for honing their skills as they apply to top music schools.

"It's the level of players that are teaching that is the key to developing as a young musician," he said. "That would be very much diminished, almost lost completely, if the university music department went away."

Savia said he understands the financial pressures facing many colleges, problems made only worse by the COVID-19 pandemic. He feels not only for faculty but also the administration and Board of Trustees, which have to make hard decisions. But, he believed, UE's current proposal isn't the right choice.

He said the university should consider some creative solutions, referring back to the consortium that predated his own tenure at the orchestra. Perhaps that could be expanded, he posited, or quartet members, who he said are paid about 75/25 by the orchestra and school, could take on more teaching duties.

The faculty have been given about 30 days to respond to the university's proposal, but Savia said they should be given more time to come up with solutions like these.

"Give them at least through the spring," he said. "Give them at least a few months to come up with some suggestions."

In a statement, a university spokeswoman said the conversation around the proposed cuts is ongoing.

"We continue to have productive discussions with faculty about ways to help reduce the operating deficit at the university," she wrote. "UE is hosting a community meeting about the music department with key stakeholder groups later this week."

While Savia doesn't speak for the Philharmonic, which declined to comment for this story, he said he imagines the orchestra would help.

"I would think the Philharmonic would be open to exploring these kind of things with the university and building upon programs like this consortium," he said. "Maybe there's a way to restructure things so that they don't have to throw out the baby with the bathwater."

The university is expecting to finalize the plan early this year. It will likely go to the Board of Trustees for approval next month.