A Merged Masterpiece: The Harmony of Sacramento's Philharmonic and Opera

Giuliano Kornberg: [00:00:00] We try to make it kind of comprehensively, just as enjoyable of a time as possible, in recognition and appreciation of it's really hard to have a philharmonic and an opera both. Without a musician base. And I think that's been something that's really helped us be successful. 'cause there are other places you kind of lose sight of that.

But from the board and the staff perspective, like we haven't really making sure that the talent and the musicians or the, the talent who is the musicians feel, you know, supported and that we care. That's a really big deal that we've tried to make sure we do all the time. I'm

Jeff Holden: Jeff Holden. Welcome to the Nonprofit Podcast Network. Our purpose and passion is to highlight a nonprofit organization in [00:01:00] each weekly episode. Giving that organization an opportunity to tell their story in their words, to better inform and educate the respective communities they serve, as well as provide one more tool for them to share their message to constituents and donors.

Our goal is to help build stronger communities through shared voices and to both encourage and support the growth of local nonprofit organizations. through podcasting. Thanks to our founding partners for their foresight in helping us transform the way conversations start. Cap Trust, fiduciary advice for endowments and foundations.

Runyon Saltzman Incorporated, RSE, marketing, advertising, and public relations creating integrated communications committed to improving lives. And Western Health Advantage, a full service healthcare plan for individuals, employer groups, and families. Did you notice something different at the start of this episode?

Wasn't our usual intro. And while today's Overture isn't performed by our guest [00:02:00] organization, it offers a small taste of what we're about to explore. The arts are more than just entertainment. They're a reflection of our city's vitality, a marker of its cultural depth, and some might say a symbol of its sophistication.

But what do the arts truly mean to a community? And how do they shape its identity? Today, I'm joined by Giuliano Kornberg, CEO of the Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera. He has a fascinating personal journey that led him to this role, but more importantly, he's at the forefront of an inspiring collaboration, one that has united the Philharmonic and Opera to elevate the arts for the greater good of our city.

If you're like me, you may find yourself deeply moved by a performance, captivated by the sounds, yet not entirely sure of the nuances of what you're experiencing. In this conversation, we take the stage to better understand the impact, the success and the ongoing support behind Sacramento's Philharmonic and Opera.

A bit allegro at [00:03:00] times, with some crescendo, occasionally staccato, but a mostly legato conversation. Let's begin. Giuliano Kornberg, welcome to the Nonprofit Podcast Network. 

Giuliano Kornberg: Yeah, thanks for having me, Jeff. Really excited to be here. 

Jeff Holden: And same here to learn about something that I really am not all that familiar with.

Mhm. Before we get started, I want to read something that came off the website because I think it's really poignant about the Philharmonic. Yeah, great. Unique and inspiring, the Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera has reclaimed its place as one of the region's leading performing arts organizations. In the past seven years, the ESPNO has made tremendous artistic, community, and fiscal strides through a business model that has solidly moved from one of instability to stability.

Today, the SP& O serves as a vibrant cultural community asset, one that's shaped by Sacramento, whose offerings are uniquely of Sacramento, and whose vision for the future is designed for Sacramento. The SP& O continues its stellar concerts, operas, and [00:04:00] community engagement programs that bring the passion of classical music to schools, hospitals, shelters, and more.

I mean, that is a Ton Right. Of integration. Expansive. Yeah. it, it touches on everything. Mm-hmm . Writing two paragraphs. Right. And I wanna unpack those a little bit today. Sure. Because people don't really know the organization. If they don't know the organization. Right. And it starts with the very first thing, as I was even explaining, I, I'm excited to have you in Yeah.

Because you're the first arts organization. of this significance and caliber that we've had in. Oh, 

Giuliano Kornberg: very cool. 

Jeff Holden: And people are like, what is the Philharmonic? What is the Philharmonic? What is that? I mean And then you mentioned, well, opera and orchestra, can you explain that for us just so we really get a grasp of what Philharmonic is?

Yeah, 

Giuliano Kornberg: who we are as an organization. Um, well again, thank you very much for having me. It's always fun to kind of share, you know, what the Philharmonic and opera is doing and what we're up to and the programs that we have and the sort of [00:05:00] impact that we can have in the Sacramento region. You know, when I hear kind of what the history is and kind of what the vision is, I mean, really, like, a lot of that boils down, I think, to authenticity.

and trying to be, you know, through our various programs and concerts and initiatives, like everything that we do, we try to have it make sense for Sacramento. Because we are the Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera. Our legal name actually is the Sacramento Region Performing Arts Alliance, but we do business as the Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera.

You know, we're not the San Francisco Philharmonic and Opera. We're not the Oakland Philharmonic. They have great organizations, too, for those communities. But we are this community's professional, you know, symphonic or philharmonic and opera organization. So I think having us continue to make sure that what we do makes sense for the people that live in Sacramento, for, you know, the kind of culture that Sacramento has and is trying to continue to grow.

I think it's really important to really, for me and for us, to remember that authenticity piece. So, so it's fun to hear that and read that. I don't read that very often, but it's certainly fun, you know, in this sort of context to hear that. [00:06:00] So generally speaking, like a philharmonic or a symphony or an orchestra, it's all the same.

They're just different words for the same thing, which is an orchestra. You know, performing and of course, opera, you know, opera, think of like the magic flute by Mozart or, you know, Madam Butterfly or La Boheme, like those sorts of, you know, operatic productions. Phantom. Phantom of the Opera. Yeah. That's a little more Broadway, but certainly like that has kind of all the bells and whistles of sets and costumes and singing and an orchestra playing.

So we are one of the few organizations in the country that are merged. So we're both the Philharmonic and the opera company here in Sacramento. So we do both. We do both art forms. We do a number of philharmonic concerts every year, or every season we do a couple of opera performances every year. I know Utah has a similar model.

They're the symphony and opera. Dayton actually has the ballet also. They call that the Dayton Performing Arts Alliance. I believe Chattanooga. It's a kind of a merged Chattanooga Symphony and Opera 2, although I'm not really sure how, like, much the opera's playing. So we really are, the, er, the Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera really is one [00:07:00] of the few organizations that has this model.

So, simply put, we do both orchestral and operatic programming, number of concerts. Working with singers in the opera, of course, working with, you know, super high level soloists and guest conductors for the orchestra concerts, all played by musicians of the Philharmonic and Opera. And I think it is kind of cool, you know, as I think about just what makes us unique in a place like Sacramento.

I think it is kind of a cool fact that Sacramento can say, hey, you know, for like one of the premier performing arts groups, it has an organization that is both, and that is one of just a very, very small handful of places in the country like that. So I think it's kind of a fun little calling card for the region.

Jeff Holden: Well, and I love that novelty. of Sacramento having that. Especially as we see this influx of people from Los Angeles, this influx of people from the Bay Area, who have familiarity, but theirs would be individual. Right, 

Giuliano Kornberg: yeah, 

Jeff Holden: totally. Now they see it a little bit differently. And this happened about 11, 12 years ago, correct?

Where you actually blended the two organizations? 

Giuliano Kornberg: Yeah, it happened in 2013. You know, mergers are no joke. Like, there was a lot of And I [00:08:00] wasn't around at the time, but there was a lot of hard work and strategic thinking and just things that had to happen to really kind of get this organization going. And that from that instability to stability.

Yeah, so I would say, I mean, in terms of the arc of kind of who we are, yes, we merged in 2013. It was probably around, you know, halfway through 2015 where, you know, the organization maybe started. Maybe understand like what it was to be a merged organization. And then from 16 through, you know, March of 2020, like we were doing pretty well, selling more tickets, raising more money, building more of a profile.

The 18, 19 season was really successful. We had about. I think it was 1350 subscribers and the artistry was really good. You know, then the performing arts center shut down for what we thought was a year to get that renovated, which was exciting. So we played around, well, yeah, so we played around a couple of different venues, you 2020.

And then everything stopped obviously. Right. But, you know, I think for us, and I also. We can't really speak for other arts organizations, but it generally seems that in Sacramento, more people were a little more quick to [00:09:00] come back kind of post COVID. I talked to, you know, other organizations just around the country, really, who are still having like a hard time getting back to kind of pre pandemic levels of attendance and support.

Whereas, I mean, we're off and running in terms of the, again, the artists we can bring, the talent that we can bring, the music that we sort of, the sort of music that we play, who's coming, who's supporting. And so, you know, obviously the pandemic happened. But I think, you know, with what we've done since then, to try to raise the profile and just kind of grow as an organization, we've done a lot of really cool things as well, which is certainly exciting.

Well, it's great 

Jeff Holden: to hear that Sacramento has embraced it so quickly. So out of COVID so quickly that you didn't have this big, long lag, like some of these other communities. It's a statement. 

Giuliano Kornberg: Well, and I think, I mean, certainly I think a lot of people were interested to get back to, you know, the, the newly renovated safe credit union performing arts center.

I think that was a plus that we, you know, got to talk about and get people excited about. But yeah, I mean, you know, for whatever reason, which is great for us, people that I talked to anyway, like really love this organization and want to see it succeed and, you know, [00:10:00] want to help see it succeed. And certainly, you know, like, especially in the 21, 22 season, like right after COVID, like, you know, there was certainly still some hesitation to come back.

But generally since that point, you know, now we have about 1250 subscribers, which is right there You know what? It was in 1819. We've grown as an organization. We're like a 3. 5 million dollar budget now a few years ago We were like a 2 million dollar organization and we think that's like sustaining with the expense model on the revenue model But really like everything that we do is because we have a really supportive community and of course we have really amazing musicians who live here and who want to come here to perform and You know, what I consider some of the best music ever, and so it's a lot of fun because there's a lot of people kind of behind us and who are supportive of us doing this work.

Jeff Holden: Two questions. This is a little offshoot from the questions we spoke about. Sure. I'm sitting here looking at a young man. Yeah. Not, not the typical perception of what you would think would be somebody running the Philharmonic or an orchestra or the opera. What got you into this? [00:11:00] What, how did you end up here?

Yeah, how did I get 

Giuliano Kornberg: here? Yeah. So I, I, I came to California for school. I went to Stanford for undergrad and grad school. Loved playing percussion. Got my music degree as an undergrad in percussion performance. You know, played in the orchestra and played in the wind ensemble and did all sorts of stuff.

really one of my favorite things to do in college was to play in the orchestra, you know, playing timpani and percussion for Beethoven Sibelius and Verdi and just like being able to play all this really fun music. So I've always loved classical music even before that, playing piano, playing guitar, playing, you know, percussion, kind of middle school and high school.

I've always loved music. I always loved playing music, always loved classical music, ended up getting my grad degree in music technology, which is a fun kind of year pivot. science of sound, acoustics, psychoacoustics, things like that. But as I was going through my grad degree, I really realized that, okay, I love classical music and if there's some other thing in the classical music world that I could do great.

And it was about. You know, springtime, like March or April of my grad school year, where I realized, I learned by [00:12:00] talking to people, Oh, there's this whole kind of back end apparatus, you know, working at an orchestra or opera company, who works to put the concerts on, not necessarily plays in the concerts.

You know, fundraising, marketing, operations, you know, all the stuff that goes into producing this sort of thing as opposed to playing it. And once I realized that was a thing, I'm like, ooh, this is pretty cool. So I ended up getting a job in San Francisco at the opera for like a summer job. Ended up meeting my, at the time, boss, now she's the CEO of the Vegas Philharmonic, Alice, also from Minnesota.

She's from Hopkins, funny enough. So we talked and got to know each other and, you know, I learned about this fundraising job opening in Sacramento and thought, ah, if, if, if this works out, this could be kind of cool. So I moved here. Um, to work for the Philharmonic and Opera in September of 16 and then did fundraising exclusively for about three and a half or four years, ad marketing for a year, was designated as the next executive director in October of 21 and started in February 22.

And like, it's a big job, it's a hard job, a lot of learning, you know, still happens and certainly [00:13:00] happened at the time, but I think what was nice for me anyway is that I had kind of a general idea of how the organization at the macro level functioned. There was obviously a lot to learn on like the micro, like, you know, who the musicians are and what the board is or like what the players on the board are and kind of how we produce concerts and what are the, you know, challenges and opportunities and just my knowledge and skill set.

And I think that's, and skill set grew. But I do think for me, and I guess I'll say the organization, it was helpful, you know, that I had like just years of just kind of coming up in the organization to kind of know for the most part, you know, how things went, where things were going, kind of just what the vibe of the group was.

And then, you know, since then it's just been like trying to learn as much as possible, go through, you know, some challenging things like, you know, negotiating with the musicians union, which is really important because we want musicians, you know, to feel like they're, you know, well taken care of and supported.

And we also have like a financial obligation to make sure that we, you know, don't spend too much and make the money that we need to, yeah, exactly, you know, you know, [00:14:00] working to. You know, bring Ari as our main conductor as our principal conductor. That was work again. It's not like coming back from COVID was easy, so that was a challenge.

Certainly getting opera to a place that, you know, it was really good, I would say, and everybody can agree with. So there's certainly were lots of challenging things, but I do think again, personally speaking, I can say that it was really helpful to have worked in this place for probably about four and a half or five years before I came.

The executive director, because I wasn't coming in completely, you know, new. I knew donors, I knew kind of what the successes were, I knew what the challenges were, and it's been fun. Again, it's a lot of hard work, but I do think we have, you know, some really nice momentum in terms of artistic quality and the types of people we're bringing and just the revenue that goes along with the expenses.

And I think we're a really legitimate organization, which is great. 

Jeff Holden: Well, what I like, too, is that you have the familiarity from the artistic side. So you can relate to the performers. You have an understanding. You've been there. Yeah, right. You can read the music they're reading, and I mean that in many ways.

You know, you have an empathic understanding of what the situation is [00:15:00] for what they have to go through. So I think that really draws some nice correlations in terms of leadership because they can't come to you. Well, you don't have a clue. Yeah, you do have a clue. 

Giuliano Kornberg: Well, and I mean, listen, like without the musicians, like we don't exist, you know, and you know, like, like everybody else, like sometimes, you know, there are good days and sometimes there are bad days, obviously, but, you know, we've really tried to be as like hospitable and accommodating as possible because, you know, we know, like when our musicians play in Sacramento, they also play in full center.

Folsom, Modesto, Oakland, Stockton, you know, Berkeley, San Francisco, some as far as Monterey and Santa Cruz. So they're in like their car a lot driving around to different gigs. So when they come to Sacramento or if they live here and they perform with us, like we really want to make sure that like they feel.

As good as possible, because, you know, like it is, it can be tough, right, going from gig to gig. So, you know, whether it's homestays or snacks or just like a good, you know, well thought out program or a conductor they really enjoy working with, or, you know, we have in January this amazing violin player coming.

It's not very often that we get to have talent like that. [00:16:00] So that's certainly a draw too. So we try to make it kind of comprehensively, just as enjoyable of a time as possible in recognition and appreciation of it's really hard to have a Philharmonic and an opera both without. Like, a musician base. Yes.

And I think that's been something that's really helped us be successful, because there are other places you kind of lose sight of that. But from the board and the staff perspective, like, we haven't. And it can be tough sometimes, certainly. But really making sure that the talent and the musicians or the talent who is the musicians feel, you know, supported and that we care, that's a really big deal that we've tried to make sure we do all the time.

Jeff Holden: Well, it looks like, obviously. That is, is present as well as the fact that they've got a wonderful new facility to play into. Yeah. And I'm sure that, that bodes well for, you know, any talent that's coming. It's like when you have the new arena for basketball that, you know, players like to come. You know, when you have a, a new facility for the musicians.

Giuliano Kornberg: Wow. Yeah. Well, and again, we're lucky enough that pretty quickly a lot of people wanted to come back. I mean, you know, even the first couple years, like in 16 17. You know, we were pretty consistently [00:17:00] selling out and that's generally continued. So, you know, and it just feels different when there's 16 or 1700 people in the performing arts center as opposed to like 900 or a thousand, you know, and our players, like our musicians, like, I think kind of pick up on that.

And then of course, when there's that many people, they want to really bring their role and perform their best, which of course leads to a better concert. And of course Patriot. So it's just this really positive, you know, kind of, you know, snowball. Yeah, exactly. It's a, a positive feedback loop. There you go.

Yes. 

Jeff Holden: So. One of the things that we talk about with all the organizations and I think people lose sight of when your core focus is, when the core product in this case, it's, it's the music, it's the performance, it's the performers. It's that experience. That's not the only thing that the Philharmonic is about.

It's a community organization. Tell us a little bit about some of the stuff that you do in the community, the, the collaborations that you've got. Yeah. The, the shared experiences that go out beyond the, you know, safe credit 

Giuliano Kornberg: union. You know, so generally speaking, we have seven [00:18:00] performance sets that we call our own, like the Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera presents or produces, you know, this orchestra concert or this opera concert.

And then beyond that, we probably have, you know, at minimum five or six kind of other things that we're a part of, you know, so like every December we play the live music for all the Nutcracker performances with the ballet, which is just a lot of fun because we all know that because we took our kids, right, exactly.

That's a great collaboration. You know, recently we've started to do. In February around Valentine's Day, like another thing with the ballet, so, you know, Cinderella, Romeo and Juliet, those sorts of productions, where the ballet is producing it, and they're working with us to provide the live music, and, you know, it's kind of like opera, where you see the singers, and the set, and everything, and the players, you know, ballet is similar, you see the dancers, and the sets, and everything, and our players in the pit, So, you know, a collaboration like that, you know, between the Philharmonic and Opera and the Ballet just makes a ton of sense and it's a really, really great thing certainly for us because it's worked for the musicians, for the Ballet, hopefully they agree because they get live music, which I think everyone agrees is better, and, you know, when somebody [00:19:00] goes for the first time or the hundredth time, you know, there's still a power and a really important beneficial thing of seeing what's happening on stage and hearing and seeing live music, you know?

Yes. So the Ballet certainly is one of them. You know, the last couple of years also we've partnered with this, this touring organization who basically goes from market to market to produce these movie concerts. So you know, Harry Potter, think of those sort of things where this company will bring a big screen and they'll show a Harry Potter movie, you know.

Sorcerer's Stone, Chamber of Secrets, Prisoner of Azkaban, things like that. And we'll have 80 of our players playing on stage, which is just really cool because it's classical music. I mean, if you listen to the music, John Williams knew what he was doing, but it's just in a little bit of a different idiom, like with a movie, as opposed to a piece that Beethoven played.

And those are a little more pop, popular pop sort of concerts, but they're still classical music. It's still musicians. It's certainly a different audience, which is great that we get to kind of work with. In terms of other big time. We're kind of large orchestra collaborations. I think it's been four years now.

I think it was 15, 19, 2015, 2019, [00:20:00] 21, 23. We played with Andrea Bocelli when he came to golden one. I guess it was Arco back in 15, but golden one, 19, 21, 23, which is really fun too, because he's a, obviously Andrea Bocelli and we have 70 of our musicians. 60 of our chorus members and 12, 000 people in Golden One who come to see the combination of Andrea with his people and us.

That's a really great thing too. Back in 2021, we did a 4th of July concert at Sutter Health Park, kind of in partnership with the River Cats. So that was a really fun thing too that we did at the time. And then beyond that, you know, we try to get out there as much as we can. On the more, you know, trio, quartet, quintet, more kind of chamber perspective.

So, you know, the last multiple years in a row, we have a brass group play at the Run to Feed the Hungry under a bus stop. I think it's by like 57th, I want to say. 

Jeff Holden: How fun. Motivational for the people coming. Yeah, well, it's great. And it's, it's, you 

Giuliano Kornberg: know, like There's 30, 000 people who run by that, you know, band and they take pictures and they make little videos and it just kind of adds some fun frivolity to the festivities.

You know, we'll play at [00:21:00] libraries, whether it's in Sacramento or West Sacramento or Davis. We've played at the Children's Museum in Rancho Cordova before. We've played at the Coriana Plaza in Rancho Cordova before. And, you know, again, these are a little more ad hoc. It's why they're called pop up concerts.

We play in the Rose garden at the Capitol. We play at different coffee shops. So we try to get out there as much as we can kind of around, you know, the concerts that we produce in these larger orchestra collaborations, but it's fun. I mean, even if we only get. you know, 10 or 15 or 20 people, you know, for those 10, 20 people, like it's still pretty fun and exciting.

And then, you know, all the way up to 12, 000 to see Baccelli, you know, but if we make someone's day and get to, you know, expose them to the music that we're doing or just music in general, like that's a good thing. 

Jeff Holden: Totally agreed. And not to mention it's, it's that different audience. It's that younger audience, which I would imagine is a focal point to start growing in a younger audience.

And not unlike yourself. As a great spokesperson, as a great steward, as a, as a, I don't mean it literally, but look at me. I'm, I'm the face of the Philharmonic. And [00:22:00] again, it's not a traditional face that one might expect to see. 

Giuliano Kornberg: Yeah, it's, again, it's a really rewarding job. It's a hard job. But just the amount of impact, or just the level of impact that we can have for as many people as possible in the region, like, it kind of makes it all worth it.

What about other organizations, 

Jeff Holden: not on the performing side of things, but People that you might work with collaboratively to either educate or do you, do you have tours from other nonprofits for their maybe disadvantaged students or, or other things that come through as exposure to, and just awareness of?

Giuliano Kornberg: Yeah, so I would say the main program kind of for that is called Link Up. link up. It's a Carnegie Hall program, or a program Carnegie Hall originally created specifically to address the kind of dwindling or the lack of edu the lack of music education opportunities in specifically 3rd through 5th grade, or elementary schools in general.

We've been doing that program, I want to say since like 2009 10. I think, I [00:23:00] think we were one of the first, if not the first, or like an early adopter of the program on the West Coast. Um, basically the way that program works, We will essentially lead professional development sessions for the teachers, you know, most of them happen like in September, October, some of them could happen in kind of, you know, early of the next calendar year, but basically we will get the materials from Carnegie Hall for free, which is nice.

We'll give them to the teachers and then we'll teach the teachers the curriculum. The teachers then in turn can, in any manner they want. 30 minutes a week, 60 minutes twice a, twice a week, 90 minutes every day. You know, whatever they can do, they will incorporate those teachings and those learnings into the classroom.

So, and it's a song and recorder based program. So students learn how to sing simple melodies. They play, you know, things on their recorder. And every year the program ends March or April, normally March, where as many students as possible, you know, come to the Performing Arts Center to play what they've learned with our musicians.

So we'll have 70 of our players on stage and. You know, over the course of a couple days, three to four [00:24:00] concerts, you know, there will be 15 to 2, 000 students like in the auditorium playing and dancing and singing. And it's just a lot of fun. I mean, 2, 000 recorders playing sound is, there's not really anything like it, but man is it cool.

And there's a huge projector, or a scream. That plays above the orchestra, that cycles through songs and games and things like that. So we're pretty consistently now impacting, you know, six to seven thousand students, more or less. Which is 

Jeff Holden: just wonderful. 

Giuliano Kornberg: From Sac City, San Juan, Elk Grove, Twin Rivers. Like, those are the biggest school partners that we have.

Yes. And we talk to parents and, some parents and teachers and students for sure. And they're like, this field trip, you know, and it is a field trip, is like one of the most fun things that they do every year. Because when else can you get to go down to the Performing Arts Center and play anything, right?

With. a live orchestra, which is this, you know, regions, you know, professional, professional organization. And, you know, again, they're not practicing for two hours every day. I mean, some of them get 30 minutes a week, but even then it's something, you know, that can help them get exposed to music that can help with kind of other, [00:25:00] you know, developmental things that they're working on.

Plus it's fun repertoire. It changes some years. It's jazz some years. It's rock some years. It's more kind of lyrical classical the last couple years It was a jazz based program because that's the one thing we like don't really do like we play opera We play orchestra music. We do ballet. We do pops. We do chamber.

So jazz not really but Again, like the last couple years of LinkUp, the program was the Orchestra Swings, which is a jazz program. So, the students learn like Count Basie and Duke Ellington's song is when the Saints go marching in. So, what's cool about that with us is we really kind of do a lot of different types of music and for the kids or for the students, you know, they get to see kind of different experiences and different genres depending on their age, but regardless, I mean, They get to learn a little bit of music, the teachers get some hands on training, and everybody gets to have this really fun experience, you know, every spring, where there's some sort of live exposure, exposure to a live orchestra.

And there's also, you know, the teachers can say, Hey, like, if we practice, we'll get to go play this with, you know, a professional group. And that's really fun, too. Well, just 

Jeff Holden: the [00:26:00] exposure and the knowledge that there's a possible career for me. There's a possible thing I can do. I really loved this. You surely have turned some kids on to something.

Over the course of this program. 

Giuliano Kornberg: Every once in a while we'll get somebody who did Link Up, you know, 10, 15 years ago at a concert and say, Hey, I was in one of the first years of Link Up. Oh, cool. And now I'm at a concert. So, you know, little stories like that are just really fun to hear. And I do think they, they kind of demonstrate or show that there is some sort of, you know, connection between what is happening with Link Up or just in general with music education and kind of what that could lead to, you know, like our patrons and attendees and things like that.

Jeff Holden: Before we get to how the Philharmonic and opera are funded. Let's take a brief intermission to hear from the people who make this program possible. I was in the media business for over 35 years and had the great privilege of working with Runyon Saltzman RSE, Marketing, Advertising, and Public Relations.

We collaborated on many different campaigns, but their commitment to the non profit sector hasn't changed since their founder Gene [00:27:00] Runyon started the agency. Over many years and many campaigns, Runyon Saltzman has been committed to improving lives by tackling California's most challenging issues.

Guided by research informed strategies and insightful, creative solutions, RSE develops innovative communications campaigns that raise awareness, educate, and reduce stigma in diverse communities throughout our state and beyond. To learn more about RSE, visit rs e. 

Scott Thomas: Hello, this is Scott Thomas with CapTrust in our Sacramento office.

I specialize in working with local nonprofits and associations. Annually, we survey private and public nonprofit organizations across the country to better understand challenges they see in today's environment. In our more recent survey, we heard concerns about proper board governance, mission aligned investment, and how to implement alternative investments.

If you'd like a copy of the survey or to discuss your organization, look me up, [00:28:00] scottthomasatcaptrust. com. 

Jeff Holden: I'm thrilled to have Western Health Advantage partnering with us as they do so much to support so many non profit agencies in our community. As a truly local health plan, you'll find individual and family options, employer options, plans for CalPERS and Medicare Advantage.

From medical services to pharmacy, health and wellness support, as well as behavioral health care, Western Health Advantage has a plan that fits what you need. As an employer, for profit or non profit business, individual or family, you can find more at westernhealth. org. Budgeting. Yeah. The fun stuff, right?

Uh huh. You mentioned the budget, but how are you funded? Where does the money actually come from? I mean, obviously there's ticket sales, but that's probably, what, a third maybe? 

Giuliano Kornberg: Yeah, I mean, we're probably, depending on the year, about 65 or 70 percent fundraising. based, you know, so if we're a 3. 4, 3. 5 million dollar organization, like, you know, 1.

9 to 2, you know, has to come [00:29:00] from philanthropy or annual donations or some government funding, things like that, you know, so we're maybe 25 or 30 percent tickets and the rest, you know, like contracted performances, fee for service, things like that, but definitely the large majority of how we're funded and why we exist, right, is through philanthropy.

And if you just look at a pie chart of our overall revenue, where you see 65 or 70 percent comes from donations, like they're really important. Now, what we do, I mean, I think certainly is a value add to the community. So we can definitely have. Like really fun conversations with, you know, high level donors, major donors, principal donors, you know, about, hey, you know, 10, 000, 25, 000, 50, whatever, 100, whatever thousand.

If you support that, it can go to the good of the order, it can go to sponsor a concert, it can go to sponsor an artist, it can go to underwrite something, it can go towards education program, which do a lot, which is great. So we can have these pretty robust conversations to really work with the donor to figure out what makes the most sense from a funding perspective.

And that makes everything possible, you know, and we certainly need ticket sales. We certainly need. You know, other revenue streams [00:30:00] that we have, but at the end of the day, like this comes down to fundraising, and we're just lucky to be in a position that we can really talk about the value that if we get the right amount of donations, we can provide this value to the community.

Jeff Holden: And in a market that's growing, much to your advantage, because you've got all these new people to expose to and converse with and share the concepts and ideas that 

Giuliano Kornberg: you've got. Well, and the nice thing, I mean, you know, we don't have a gala, for example, but I kind of joke that we have like several, you know, because every time we produce a concert and people who support and buy tickets go and they see what's happening on stage, or they go to a pop up.

or they come to LinkUp or something else. I mean, every time someone watches us perform or practice even, like, they can see what their support is going towards. And that's just a really unique thing to the performing arts, you know? 

Jeff Holden: So it's 

Giuliano Kornberg: great. 

Jeff Holden: People, I think, will sometimes confuse the musicians. with the employees.

So, the musicians, the performers, they're [00:31:00] not employees. So 

Giuliano Kornberg: the musicians actually are employees. Of the organization? Yep, so our musicians are employees. Yep, I mean, you know, they're part time employees, right? But they are employees. You know, guest artists, guest conductors, opera singers, directors, those are not employees.

You know, we'll have them come for a project anywhere from three days to four weeks. Three days for an orchestra, four weeks for a longer opera. But the musicians themselves are, they're employees. Even though they will 

Jeff Holden: travel from place to place to place to, and then when they do that, when they go to perform in, in, you know, one of the other performing arts centers, whether it's Oakland, San Francisco, et cetera, is that?

Independent to that organization? Yes. Okay. Yep. So, so they're almost like part time employees over the course and they can do 

Giuliano Kornberg: whatever. Exactly. So, you know, we'll send everybody W 2s at the end of the year. Yeah. And so they're legitimately employees. Yeah. And, you know, like we have a roster of, I think it's like 68 or 70 now musicians.

Plus your staff and admin. Yeah, so we call the roster our staff musicians. Gotcha. So they're the ones who, depending on the program, [00:32:00] get the offers. You know, violin ones and twos and cellos and flutes and things like that. And then if they can't make a performance, we go down, we have these different things called sublists.

So we, like, if the main oboe, or both oboes, you know, can't come, we'll go down the sublist and just kind of go from the top. Great. Who's the first call sub? Who's the second call sub? But any orchestra musician who plays for us is an employee. 

Jeff Holden: Okay. So in that case. How many of them do you have total? So you've 

Giuliano Kornberg: got 68, you said?

So 68, I guess, core players, you could maybe call them. And again, it depends on the year. We probably send out for the musicians between 180 and 220 W2s every year. Since I've been here, it's probably not a stretch to say. That we've employed somewhere in the maybe 650, like individual musicians, now obviously some of them play everything, some of them have played once in the course of the last five or six years, but if they play, and I think that's a big deal too, because they're like a legitimate part of the organization, because again, if we don't, if they don't, if they're not there, we don't exist.

As a performing arts, as an orchestra and opera performing arts [00:33:00] organization. And so it's around 180 to two 20 pretty consistently now in the aggregate, probably around six 50, which is kind of a fun stat to people to share, you know, 

Jeff Holden: unless they think that, oh my gosh, he's got 650 people to worry about.

But it's really by performance as opposed to a salary of sorts. Right? 

Giuliano Kornberg: And we, you know, again, if we have seven concert sets, plus Nutcracker, plus maybe three other things, I mean, you know, that basically is like 12 to 13 weeks. Right. And generally like weeks, they're here Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or, you know, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday.

So it's a relatively finite amount of time that they're here. Right. And then, of course, the other work that we do is just to, you know, get the concerts ready and get the programs ready so that when they show up, you know, they can practice their best and get ready the best so they can put on their best performance.

Jeff Holden: So how many people are there then outside of musicians that are employed by the organization. Yeah, so we 

Giuliano Kornberg: have, we have nine staff currently, eight full time, one part time, which for our size is a good amount. And, you know, we have [00:34:00] key people in operations and community work and finance and development and box office and, you know, executive stuff like myself and things like that.

So we have kind of all the bases covered. Which is good. And then not staff, by any means, but we have a board of like 22 people, I want to say now. So, you know, with all those musicians and all those, you know, guest artists and, you know, pretty big from the board perspective, volunteer base and legitimate professional staff, like all of this is kind of coming together, I think, to really help us kick things up a notch with what we're doing, 

Jeff Holden: which 

Giuliano Kornberg: is exciting.

Jeff Holden: And speaking of kicking it up a notch, let's assume budget wasn't an issue. You didn't have to think about a budget. What would the organization look like? What would you do differently? 

Giuliano Kornberg: Yeah. Well, so, again, like, we're known as the Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera, but our legal name is the Sacramento Region Performing Arts Alliance.

And I've always loved that name, specifically the region part of it. And you know, as we've continued to, you know, come back, you know, in the last 10, because this is the 10 year anniversary currently. So as we've continued to come back and chart out the next future, like we've had to [00:35:00] do certain things.

just to like move from, we talked about this, but move to stability. 

Jeff Holden: Yes. 

Giuliano Kornberg: But I do think, you know, as we continue on, seeing if there's potential to get more regional and play in different markets or different cities that maybe don't have a classical music vibe or maybe go to different venues, you know, you've got like venues like the Mondavi Center and the Harris Center, things like that, I think that could be kind of interesting.

You know, if budget weren't an issue, to kind of tap in more to that. Generally, our season goes from October through May, June, sometimes, mainly October through May. I think becoming a little more of a year round organization to do some stuff in the summertime, to have some sort of consistent presence, I think that could be great.

We're starting to dabble with double concert sets. So rather than just doing the concert on Saturday, you know, we can do a concert on Saturday and Sunday, or rather than an opera only on Saturday, we can do Friday night and Sunday afternoon. I, and those cost money, obviously with risk, we have to like, we'd have to make sure that the ticket buying base was there, you know, getting sponsorships would be important, but I think trying to [00:36:00] find, you know, the right performances that we could do double sets.

Right where the musicians get more work and we think there's enough interest for people to buy tickets and people to support them. I think that certainly could be good because then, you know, musicians are getting multiple concerts. They get more work. There's more chances for people to come from outside Sacramento to see shows, especially in the matinee.

So I think the regional aspect is certainly something I think the double concert aspect is something and I think the kind of year roundness of what we could be if budget were no object. I think that. Those could be some pretty interesting things. And then, of course, I mean, again, we certainly want to make sure that we, you know, continue to pay the staff as well as we can.

Certainly, again, the talent that we bring, they get fees, you know. You know, the musicians plus the stage crew union and the wardrobe union, they're unionized, so they get wages as well. So, of course, making sure that, you know, having the funds to be able to pay all those people, that's obviously something that we continue to try to do within our means, right?

So I'd say that, if budget were an object, that to me is a lot. And I love that 

Jeff Holden: year round [00:37:00] concept, just the ability to perform all year round, especially in this market where summertime is really big. Right. Yeah, it's just, it's 

Giuliano Kornberg: so hot is the problem in the summertime, and again, like, when it's 115, like, you can't reasonably ask a musician to go out there in the beating sun with like a wood violin, you know?

You know, 

Jeff Holden: put their, put their lips on a, you know, a mouthpiece 

Giuliano Kornberg: that's been seen. Oh, for sure. Right? So I think in the summertime, you know, it requires some creativity, right? You know, whether it's in the morning or at night when the sun's gone down or just an indoor venue with good air conditioning. But you know, if money were no object, I think that certainly could be something that could be explored.

And on the flip side of that, back to the reality of budgets, what is the greatest need you've got today? I would say just more continued support. I mean, again, if I think back to the most expensive thing that we do is opera, and man, it's an amazing art form, because again, when you have the orchestra, And all this stuff on stage, the costumes, the lights, the super titles, the makeup, the wigs, the set, I mean, everything, it's just like, there's [00:38:00] nothing like a singer just like building, you know, like the apex of a, of an aria with orchestra playing full body.

I mean, it's just, there's nothing else like it and it's expensive, right? So, you know, certainly opera is a, is a really great and expensive art form. And, and again, even the orchestra stuff, like the musicians, there's costs, the stage crew, there's costs, the venue rental, there's costs and tickets just don't really cut it.

They never have for 300 years. So that's why really the kind of philanthropic piece is so important. Cause the last thing we want to do is hit a high Mark and then because the support isn't there, go kind of downhill. Yeah. Like, and we really do have a lot of momentum right now. Right. Which is really exciting.

So people continuing to invest from a fundraising perspective for the good of the order, for a sponsorship, for an endowment gift. At this point, like, you know, we have a great board and as we continue to think about growing the board, finding people who can really bring in those resources is certainly welcome.

But I would say we have really, really great. Uh, kind of base of where we are right now, which I mean, even the base is elevated, right? [00:39:00] So continue to do that. You know, we certainly need the resources and, and then we'll keep trying to be as smart strategic as much as we can to deploy those resources in the way that makes the most sense.

Jeff Holden: As we look at the season's upcoming and what you have in store, you mentioned sellout that you're selling out most of the performances, which is incredible. And for those who are interested, I know one of the things that always comes up. What do we wear? 

Giuliano Kornberg: Oh, yeah. 

Jeff Holden: What does one wear? Yeah. I mean, is this a formal event?

I gotta get a tuxedo out and my wife's gotta wear a gown. I mean, what, what is it? What's happening today? Oh, 

Giuliano Kornberg: anything goes. I mean, you know, certainly some people wear tuxes, some people wear ball gowns, some people wear suits and ties. Yeah, totally. And then some people wear, you know, t shirts and sweatpants and jeans and drag, it doesn't matter, right?

Like we, I would never want someone to not come to a concert because, um, I, am I too stuffy? Am I not? It's just like, no, like you can come as you are. No problem. We [00:40:00] totally want people just to, you know, be comfortable in the space and be able to sit there and enjoy the music and have a good time and get a drink and get some food afterwards and do whatever and not feel, oh my gosh, like I'm uncomfortable because I'm not dressed appropriately.

So people can wear anything, like totally, you know, ball gowns, tuxedos, dresses, and on the other hand, you know, Yeah, again, like sweats and flip flops and a shirt, doesn't matter at all, sure, you know. Listen, there are some instances where I would love to do that, right, for a concert, you know, when we're performing, I can't really do that, but, you know, again, people want to be comfortable, and we want people to be comfortable in that space as they listen to music.

So we basically tell folks, like, whatever you want to wear, if you want to make it a date night and dress up all fancy, that's awesome, go for it, and if you want to have a little more of a subdued, You know, jeans and tennis sort of thing, that's fine too. We just want people to come and enjoy themselves.

And enjoy themselves. Yeah. It's the 

Jeff Holden: experience, not the, not so much the, you know, the cosmetic of it all. Totally. On that note, have you seen a, an appreciative change in the age of the audience? Are you starting to see [00:41:00] more youth, and I don't mean youth, teenage and high school and collegiate, but, you know, young adults now 

Giuliano Kornberg: engaging 

Jeff Holden: with 

Giuliano Kornberg: the harmonics?

Yeah, I think so. It's a little more of a gut feeling from what I'm seeing. Not necessarily like we're running all sorts of sophisticated data analysis, things like that. And of course, I mean, the core of who comes is still You know, I'd say sixties and up. But yeah, I mean, I do think I am starting to see, you know, for the main performances that we have, the orchestra and the opera concerts, more folks in their thirties and forties or young families.

You know, more younger people are donating, which is fun too. And I, you know, I asked them just, you know, why do you come? What's of interest? You know, Beethoven is Beethoven, right? And I think especially if they know just a little bit about kind of the music and what they're looking forward to and kind of what the night could be.

I think that's a big deal. And you know, we try to. Maybe not officially, but you know, we try to encourage folks to make a whole night of it. Right. So if you want to get a drink at five o'clock, you can do so get dinner at six, you know, concert at seven 30 isn't too late, but late enough to that you [00:42:00] can do that.

And then go to the show and get a drink during intermission. And then, you know, after the performance, if you want to go get a nightcap and then go home or just spend the night downtown. Yeah. Go to the, get a hotel room, get brunch next day. I mean, there's a lot of different things that can be done kind of around the concert experience, you know, both for people in Sacramento and for anybody coming from outside.

So if you want to come. to Sacramento three or four o'clock on a Saturday and then end up leaving at noon the next day. Like, you can do that centered around one of our performances. And I think kind of that approach, with people that I talk to who are a little younger, you know, it's not just, okay, I'm going to a concert, great.

It's, ooh, what a fun day that we can have by seeing people and going with friends and seeing who's there at the concert hall and, you know, having a fun time with folks and getting good food and seeing great music or listening to great music. I think that's worked pretty well in our favor to, You know, certainly entice folks my age, you know, 30s, 40s to, to come, which is great.

And listen, there's also folks in their 80s and 90s who do all that as well, right? Like they do the whole, they do the whole rigmarole. They go to dinner and they have their [00:43:00] spot and they hear the music and they've had their tickets for 40 years and then they go home, you know, so it's great. We just try to make it fun.

And if nothing else, what we try to tell people when they ask is you can make this a really enjoyable, you know, 24 hour period if you're so inclined, or at least you can do a few other things besides. Just going to the concert right to really kind of build out that holistic experience around the performance 

Jeff Holden: What's the best way to learn, not only about the performances, but if I wanted to engage with the organization, where do I go?

Giuliano Kornberg: Yeah, so our website is ZachPhilOpera. org. We certainly have information about concerts, education programs, what we have coming up. We pretty actively send out emails as well. You can join our email list on our website. So we try to send out information about obviously the concerts, but also, hey, we're playing with Nutcracker.

Hey, we have LinkUp. Hey, we have this thing coming up. And then same with social media, you know, follow us on social media, buy tickets. I mean, that's probably the Honestly, the best way. Get you in the database. Exactly, get in the database. I mean, get in the door to come see a show, a concert. Because generally, like, that's the real first thing.

Like, if someone buys a ticket and they [00:44:00] go see the music and kind of feel what it's like. In my experience, they've been able to tell, like, what that quality is. And then once they come once, if they go again, right? Okay, now they've You know, attended multiple concerts. Now, now we've got something with that person.

And again, we try to make them really fun. You know, the concerts are at seven 30 offers can be a little bit longer, but generally the orchestra concerts are 70, 80 minutes of music plus intermission. You know, we try to be really cognizant of length of programs. So we're not ending too late. So people leave feeling good and wanting more.

They're just really fun experiences, you know, so website, social. Buy a ticket, make a donation, get in the system, read the stuff obviously. But I think really going to the website and buying a ticket, right, is really probably the best thing I can say. And we have student tickets for 10 too in case a student wants to go.

You know, we certainly try to work with people if we, if we can or as we need to, to get in the door. We try to be, you know, as accessible as possible. But website and ticket, those are really probably the ways to do it. And I will 

Jeff Holden: put those on the show notes as well. So if anybody's looking. or [00:45:00] listening and they don't have time, they can see it in the show notes, I'll have a link there for you.

You know, Giuliano, what an enlightening conversation. I've learned a lot. Oh, great. Because of stuff I don't do on a regular basis. Oh, it's fun. But the arts have so much to say about a community, and they make such a bold statement, and the fact that they're supported by the community predominantly means even more about the community.

Right. And for us to have not only the Philharmonic, the orchestra, You know, the opera and have it all under one roof in an incredible new facility in the safe credit union performance art for perfect. Safe Credit Union Performing Arts Center. Yeah, I call it, I 

Giuliano Kornberg: call it the SAFE PAC for short. They, I mean, obviously the city and SAFE like when the full thing is said.

Yes, give them credit, they paid a lot of money for it. Right, exactly, exactly. I call it the PAC for short, but the SAFE PAC certainly I think is the proper acronym there. 

Jeff Holden: But it's, it's so wonderful to sit across somebody with the energy and the vibrancy and the interest. Yeah. Thank you. Sustaining it in our community.

So for taking the time today, I really do appreciate it. 

Giuliano Kornberg: Yeah. [00:46:00] Again, for me, it's always really fun to be able to talk about kind of what we do and why it's important and kind of what's happening with the organization. So if nothing else, I certainly appreciate the forum and the time. 

Jeff Holden: Well, thank you. Thank you for listening to the Nonprofit Podcast Network.

I hope you enjoyed the episode. If what you heard moved you, please reach out to that organization and do what you can to help. If you like and appreciate what we're doing to support local nonprofits, please give us a positive review, subscribe, and share. If you're a nonprofit with an interest in participating in an episode, you can reach me at jeff at hear me now studio.

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