Cash-strapped LI Philharmonic sinks 2010-11 season

The Long Island Philharmonic - starved for cash - will not play a 2010-11 season after its New Year's Eve concert at Tilles Center.

"We're in the midst of reorganizing," said Philharmonic board president Jack Russell, a process he estimates will take six months. "For now, the only concerts we'll be doing are those that are sponsored or that we have reason to believe will be profitable. We've taken the prudent step of cutting back," he said Thursday, saying the annual budget has been pared from $1.5 million to $1 million.

"But we have to pay down our debt," he said, citing recent budgeting shortfalls. Due to the state's budget crisis, $100,000 in state Legislature members grants for the Philharmonic was vetoed this year by Gov. David A. Paterson. Corporate sponsorships have fallen by a quarter since the 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers and the burst housing bubble that precipitated the Great Recession.

Stephen Belth, the Philharmonic's executive director, has resigned and four members of the staff of nine have been laid off.