Sweeping organizational changes, a new director to be announced later, a pay cut agreement and $1.8 million in foundation money have all combined to allow the Honolulu Symphony to form a sweet note.

It's out of the red.

But the $1.8 million from the Honolulu Symphony Foundation comes with strings attached. The symphony had to provide a realistic weekly balanced budget, hire an "incredible" executive director and implement a business plan that was approved by the foundation, Peter Shaindlin, chairman of the Honolulu Symphony Society board, said at a press conference held at the Halekulani Hotel yesterday.

The society will announce the name of its new executive director next week, but Shaindlin described that person as energetic, passionate about the arts and respectful of the local community.

Back wages and benefits have been paid to musicians and staff who went for months without full compensation, Shaindlin said. Back taxes have also been taken care of, he said.

Musicians, staff and conductors have agreed to a 15 percent pay cut for the 2009-2010 season, Shaindlin said.

With the latest infusion, a total of $2.131 million has been released from the foundation to cover the symphony society.

The foundation, the society, the musicians, the staff and consultants worked together to come up with a plan the foundation could approve, he said.

"At the end of the day, it's not supposed to be about the money," Shaindlin said. "It's supposed to be about the art and that's where we're heading back to at this time."

The Honolulu Symphony has struggled financially for the past decade operating under a plan that stressed artistic quality while not giving full attention to its financial health, said Mark Wong, chairman for the Honolulu Symphony Foundation.

The foundation manages a $10 million endowment and makes an annual distribution to the orchestra. It was able to give more this year because of a recent $4 million grant set up by the state Legislature, Wong said.

Fundraisers and other donations also played a large role.

However, the foundation decided that fiscal changes had to be made to ensure the financial health of the organization, he said.

"The additional funding along with these ... strings attached forces the organization to make some major changes that we think will take care of the past debt but also get them going forward with a balanced budget," Wong said. "Once they balance the budget, I think it can expand its services reaching further into the community."

The musicians are relieved to be getting their back pay, said Stephen Dinion, chairman of the Symphony Orchestra Committee.

For starting musicians, that will amount to $11,000 before taxes for 11 weeks owed, Dinion said. At the end of the season in May musicians were owed 15 weeks of pay, nearly half of a season.

"The reason we stick it out as long as we did, the reason everybody didn't stop working is because we believe in this orchestra," he said.