CLASSICAL MUSIC / KENNETH HERMAN : Turmoil in China Plucks Strings From USIU Group

Last month’s political upheaval in the People’s Republic of China sent shock waves through at least one of San Diego’s musical institutions. Music director Zoltan Rozsnyai’s 3-year-old International Orchestra at United States International University has depended heavily on Chinese musicians. On the orchestra’s current roster, nearly all of the string players and more than half of the total--26 out of 46--are from China.

According to USIU official Helen-Maria Erewan, the university may no longer be able to count on a steady supply of Chinese players.

“There are at least four musicians back in China who were to play in the International Orchestra this coming season who are still trying to get here,” Erewan said. “They had all the necessary paper work prior to the Tian An Men Square crisis, but now they are having serious difficulties getting out of China.”

One fortunate Chinese musician, Beijing violinist Zhang Min, arrived at USIU on June 14.

“Fortunately, Min’s paper work to come here to play in the orchestra went back a year and a half,” said Erewan. “We were all surprised that someone from Beijing made it out. They let him come for a two-year stay, although he had to give an affirmative answer to the question, ‘Will you be returning to China?’ ”

The International Orchestra’s season ended last night with a concert at the Spreckels Organ pavilion, where it performed with civic organist Robert Plimpton. Before the recent crises in Beijing, all of the orchestra’s Chinese players had made plans to visit families and friends in China following this concert.

“None will be going now,” said Erewan, “because they are afraid they will not be allowed to leave again. They accept this with a kind of stoic cheerfulness, but their personal distress is acute.”

Erewan added that, because of the political situation in China, six Chinese players who have just completed their two-year stint with the International Orchestra have decided to remain here and seek positions in North American orchestras.

Up, up and away. Thursday morning, 65 singers from the San Diego Master Chorale will depart for a two-week musical tour of Germany, Austria and Switzerland. According to music director Frank Almond, the highlight of the tour will be the opportunity to sing Mozart’s “Coronation” Mass at Salzburg Cathedral’s Sunday morning high Mass.

At a press conference last week, Almond explained that the Salzburg cathedral is the church where the “Coronation” Mass was first performed. He might also have noted that Mozart wrote the work while in the service of Salzburg’s Archbishop Colloredo, the autocratic cleric who later dismissed Mozart by kicking him down the Episcopal Palace’s long flight of stairs.

In Vienna, the San Diego choral ensemble will present a sacred concert in St. Peter’s Church, a gem of Baroque architecture nestled in the shadow of Vienna’s St. Stephen’s Cathedral. Almond noted that the Roman Catholic church’s new canon laws have placed strict limitations on his programming. The master chorale is restricted to singing nothing but sacred music, and the must perform from the rear gallery, rather than sing from risers in front of the high altar.

In addition to the Mozart mass and the Faure Requiem, Almond is bringing a triptych of American sacred music for European ears: Charles Ives’ “Serenity,” local composer David Ward-Steinman’s “Creation,” and several hymns from the “Sacred Harp,” a collection of early 19th-Century American sacred music.

That’s the ticket: If it appears that San Diego Symphony administrators are smiling more these days, it’s for a good reason. In a word, the pops is hot. A record 17,500 people heard the orchestra’s “Americana Salute” program, which the symphony played seven times during the first week of July. Contrasted with the opening three weeks of last season’s summer concerts at Hospitality Point, attendance is up 45% and ticket income has jumped 30%.

Besides beefing up its marketing, the orchestra is clearly offering the public more of what it wants to hear.

“We surveyed SummerPops subscribers at the end of last season, and their preferences are directly reflected in this season’s mixture of light classics, Big Band and Broadway programs,” said Wesley O. Brustad, the symphony’s executive director.

Opening the current summer season with its big Tchaikovsky program, the SummerPops has been playing more real orchestral music, much to the evident approval of ticket buyers. This programming has also boosted the players’ morale, which has tended to sag under weeks of playing bland backup arrangements for pop singers.

New digs: San Diego Symphony music director-designate Yoav Talmi will temporarily trade his baton for ceremonial scissors at 12:45 p.m. today, when he and orchestra officials cut the ribbon for new ticket offices in Symphony Towers. After two years of dodging construction equipment and scaffolding to get to the orchestra’s temporary box office on the 7th Avenue side of Symphony Hall, the new box office in the marble-clad foyer of Symphony Towers is nothing short of palatial. Starting this fall, the main entrance to Symphony Hall will also be through this foyer at 700 B St. The new box office will be open from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday.