The Utah Symphony will pay its new music director a part-year salary larger than those received by all but one of the state's full-time university presidents. Combine his anticipated Utah Symphony paycheck with one he already gets from the Boston Pops, and he will earn more than $300,000 a year.
Along with a healthy salary, Keith Lockhart's four-year contract requires him to maintain a Utah residence, but he won't be bound by any language that spells out how many weeks during the year he must work in Utah. However, Lock-hart said he intends to become actively involved with the symphony and expanding its profile in the community.Lockhart was named Jan. 5 as music director and offered a contract through August 2002. While the contract is not specific and has yet to be finalized, it is expected that Lockhart would buy a Utah residence. He is also expected to work during the symphony's concert season, David B. Winder, symphony board chairman, told the Deseret News.
Lockhart, 38, agreed to accept the same compensation provided outgoing music director Joseph Silverstein, Winder said. Silverstein earned $149,773 in compensation and benefits and had a $2,400 expense account between September 1995 and 1996, according to a form the symphony is required to file annually with the IRS.
While Winder wouldn't reveal exact figures, he said that Lockhart's salary is expected to grow about 6 percent each year. Based on Winder's suggestion, the Deseret News has estimated Lockhart's salary will begin in September near $168,000 and reach about $200,000 in the last year of the contract. Winder said that number would be accurate within $10,000.
Lockhart told the Deseret News Thursday he preferred information about his salary remain private and did not comment about the estimates. He said in a telephone interview he didn't seek the symphony position for its financial perks but rather to fulfill personal and artisitic goals.
"The reason I took on this position is that I very deeply believe I can do it, that I can make a go of it. For the first time in my life it is not a financial imperative to seek employment," Lockhart said.
Winder said the symphony board is banking on Lockhart's abil-ities to attract new, younger audiences to the symphony and build the largess needed to sustain the symphony.
"He's a director for the 21st century," he said of Lockhart, who is expected to visit Utah in early February.
Lockhart is expected to earn a combined salary of at least $335,000 per year between his two contracts with the Utah Symphony and Boston Pops.
Lockhart's most recent reported salary in his Boston Pops position is $185,262, according to an IRS form provided by the Boston Symphony, an organization that includes the Boston Pops. Neither the orchestra nor Lockhart would release any details about his current salary or benefits related to his yearly 22-week contract.
Winder said the Utah Symphony board had initially offered a three-year contract. It was Lockhart who suggested a four-year term that would keep the conductor with the symphony through the Winter Games, according to Winder. The Olympics will include the cultural Olympiad, which is planned to showcase local arts organizations, including the symphony.
Lockhart, who will officially establish his residence in Salt Lake City in 1999, won't earn a full salary his first year because he still has contracts for guest conducting that will take him away, Winder said.
Fred Ball, a member of the symphony board, told the Deseret News that Lockhart's duties in Boston are filled during the summer, and his Utah Symphony job will take most of the winter and fall.
After a recent interview with a Boston newspaper in which Lockhart said he would maintain his principal residence there, some Utahns questioned his commitment to Utah and the symphony. Winder said Utahns shouldn't be concerned about Lockhart's apparent loyalty to both Boston and Utah.
Winder said that it is becoming more common for conductors to as-sociate with two orchestras as well as take on guest conductor contracts. In Lockhart's case, it will mean more personal stability - split between Boston and Salt Lake City rather than his current demanding schedule of touring and guest conducting around the world. Lockhart said he wants to show an investment in the community and that includes buying a home and being involved in "growing" the symphony.
The new conductor also told the Deseret News that he will devote his time and heart to both positions. According to Lockhart, the two jobs "complement each other" because of the "intercompatibility" of the two jobs.
There's also the fact that Lockhart's wife, Lucia Lin - a violinist in the Boston Symphony Orchestra - will still reside in Boston.
However, Lockhart did resign as music director of the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra to open up his time for the Utah Symphony.
Worried about being typecast exclusively as a pops conductor, Lockhart asked for an exclusive contract with Boston that prevented him from conducting pops concerts with other orchestras without the consent of the Boston Pops management. However, arrangements have been made to allow the conductor to lead pops concerts with the Utah Symphony.
In addition to his appearance in the Utah Symphony's Masterworks and Pops series, Lockhart plans to take part in the symphony's educational concerts.
"I need a more traditional music director position where I can be a presence in the educational and outreach programs," Lockhart told the Deseret News after his appointment. "This is something I've wanted - an ongoing relationship with an organization like this."
The Utah Symphony refused to provide more specific compensation information and copies of memos concerning Lockhart's contract after the Deseret News requested details about them under the Utah Government Records Access and Management Act.
Officials maintain the symphony is not obligated to release documents under law because it is not a "government entity." The Deseret News argued because the symphony benefits from taxpayer funding - including $1.6 million expected from 1997 collections of zoo, arts and parks tax in Salt Lake County - it is considered what the law defines as a "contractor" and is subject to some provisions of the law.