The San Antonio Philharmonic will pay a total of $232,000 as part of a settlement announced Thursday that resolves several lawsuits from former backers and members, according to legal documents obtained by the Current.
The Philharmonic faces a deadline this Friday to pay $215,000 to David Wood and Colette Holt, early supporters who sued over allegations that the orchestra’s management violated terms of loans it offered. The organization also will pay $10,000 to former board chairman Ian Thompson III and $7,000 to French horn player Peter Rubins, one of the orchestra’s cofounders.
While agreement doesn’t include any admission of liability or wrongdoing, Wood and Holt, who are married, said the settlement includes “every dollar sought by the plaintiffs.”
“We believed the facts and the law were on our side,” the pair said in an emailed statement. “The settlement confirms that belief.”
In addition to settling the disputes — which also include a countersuit the Philharmonic brought against Wood and Holt — Peter Rubins will drop a union complaint against the organization, documents show. In addition, Rubins’ wife, percussionist Sherry Rubins, will end state and federal employment discrimination claims she filed.
In a statement to the Current, Philharmonic Executive Director Roberto Treviño said the orchestra soon will announce concert dates under new Music Director Filipe Tristan.
The $232,000 settlement “isn’t impacting our season in a significant way,” Treviño added.
Even so, the Philharmonic abruptly canceled its previous season after its previous musical director, Jeffrey Kahane, resigned and the owners of downtown’s Scottish Rite Cathedral locked the group out of its primary concert venue. The Scottish Rite’s owners accused the orchestra of failing to make repairs to the building it promised to bankroll.
After the Philharmonic cancelled its third set of concert dates since December, Treviño sent an email to the group’s musicians blaming a shortage of funds. At the time, he told the Current that the organization was “rebuilding” relationships with donors.
A legal dispute between the orchestra and the Scottish Rite masons remains ongoing, and Kahane has since launched his own orchestra, called the San Antonio Harmonium, which is actively fundraising and scheduling concerts.
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