The Honolulu Symphony is in serious financial straits. It has a plan for getting out of those straits, but as the plan is being implemented, it needs a serious influx of cash to cover its expenses.

It's the same scenario that could have been cut and pasted from dozens of Honolulu Symphony stories over the last two decades, perhaps longer. Yet, as another season — memorable for many reasons good and bad — comes to a close, there is a sense among the orchestra's board, administration, staff and musicians that this isn't just the same old tune.

The orchestra concluded its Halekulani MasterWorks series yesterday with a rousing performance of Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture." The season closes on May 23 with a pops performance featuring jazz performer Dave Koz.

It's been a season of rave reviews for the 109-year-old orchestra, a testament to an organization whose members have continued to play despite partial payments and missing paychecks for much of the season, board member Valerie Ossipoff said.

For the second weekend in a row, Ossipoff introduced the Tchaikovsky performance with a nod to the professionalism of the musicians and staff, and a solemn acknowledgment of the organization's ongoing financial problems.

"As I stand here this afternoon, the musicians and staff of the Honolulu Symphony have been working without pay for nearly three months," Ossipoff told the audience. "Who do you know who could, or would, do that?"

The orchestra owes its musicians roughly 12 weeks of back pay, about $1.8 million total. It will need about $500,000 to clear other expenses and ensure that it doesn't enter its 2009-2010 season further in debt.

The orchestra was in a similar predicament last season when an unidentified benefactor donated $1.175 million to cover seven of 11 weeks of unpaid wages.

The orchestra would surely welcome another miracle bailout, but its leadership says such intervention wouldn't address the underlying problems that have led to a seemingly endless cycle of looming financial crises and desperate pleas for support.

"People are tired of hearing, year after year, that we're not going to make it if we don't get your money," Ossipoff said. "After a while, they're going to wait and see what you're going to do to change things. We realize that our approach isn't working, and things have to be done like a business."

ADDRESSING PROBLEMS

In the past, the orchestra has been widely criticized for, among other things, its perceived lack of leadership, reliance on a small core of big-money donors, lack of long-term planning, isolation from the community at large and lack of transparency.

In recent years, the organization has worked to address many of these problems.

Under the leadership of executive director Tom Gulick, who will leave the organization when his contract expires at the end of June, the number of donors increased from 1,642 in 2006 to 3,303 this year, with proceeds equaling nearly $500,000 and gifts in excess of $1.5 million.

The orchestra has extended its reach through a renewed public education initiative that includes visits to Neighbor Islands and a partnership with Nanakuli Elementary School.

The makeover has intensified since last October, when Peter Shaindlin, chief operating officer of the Halekulani Corp., replaced Jeffery Minter as chairman of the orchestra's board of directors.

Shaindlin says the orchestra now has a long-term business plan, a carefully constructed budget and a unifying vision of its purpose and mission to guide its recovery.

"Entertainment, education and enrichment are the experiential pillars of our new vision," Shaindlin said. "We're redefining our brand, and this is the beginning of the metamorphosis."

At his behest, the board has nearly doubled in size over the last six months, and members have been trained and "deputized" to reach out to potential donors.

Shaindlin and his staff worked with Michael Kaiser, former president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and author of "The Art of the Turnaround," to develop Hana Laulima, a three-tiered annual fundraising campaign that seeks to raise $2.3 million a year to cover operating expenses.

The drive has taken in about $175,000 in the last two weeks.

MUSICIANS STRUGGLE

Musicians representative Steve Dinion said orchestra members — many of whom teach and perform on the side for extra money — have struggled with the pay lag, and a handful have left or taken leaves of absence to pursue other work. Still, Dinion said, the orchestra as a whole has been energized by the new educational initiatives and by the increased commitment its leaders have shown to maintaining artistic quality.

"You've got to get paid and you've got to be able to build a life — that's what we're dealing with," he said. "But our musicians are so tenacious and so committed to making music. A lot of these musicians have been here for 20 or 30 years or more. They've been through this before, but they stay because there's a spirit and a commitment to the community here."

Still, the orchestra's challenges are many. Gulick said this year's shortfall was exacerbated by reduced ticket sales last year and the orchestra's displacement from the Blaisdell Concert Hall for the "Lion King" in 2007. While tickets and subscriptions for next season are up, Gulick said, it is too early to project next year's financial outlook.

The orchestra had an accumulated debt of about $2.1 million, but Shaindlin said it has worked directly with its vendors to significantly cut that figure.

UNDER-ENDOWED

The orchestra is particularly vulnerable to economic fluctuations because its endowment is much smaller than those of other similar-sized orchestras.

The endowment reached $9 million, in part because of a $4 million contribution from the state that is dependent on the orchestra matching the contribution within the next two years, but has been reduced by downturns in the stock market. Gulick said the endowment would need to be $30 million to $40 million to generate enough dividends to secure the orchestra's overhead.

Gulick said the orchestra needs to reduce its operating costs by 10 percent to 20 percent, and he has made recommendations for "efficiencies" that would save about $1.4 million. Gulick said the cuts would not include positions in the orchestra, which he said is already operating at "a bare minimum."

The orchestra has 63 full-time members and employs about 20 others for some performances. The musicians, who along with staff and administrators took a 20 percent pay cut in 2003, are in the first year of a three-year deal that will increase their salaries by 12.5 percent.

Full-time musicians currently earn a base salary of $34,500 for 34 weeks.

Attendees at yesterday's performance were adamant in their support of the nation's oldest symphony orchestra west of the Rocky Mountains.

"The idea of not having a symphony in Hawai'i is just not acceptable," said 62-year-old Colleen Kelly of Honolulu. "Totally unacceptable."