DeKalb Symphony dismisses musicians amid search for a new home

At a time when the organization is preparing for its upcoming new season, the DeKalb Symphony Orchestra (DSO) is navigating a challenging period of change following the dismissal of some of its members.

Beginning June 6, Music Director and Conductor Dr. Paul Bhasin, hired in 2022, contacted a significant number of the approximately 60 musicians via email to inform them that they would not be invited back or would have to re-audition for the 2025-2026 season. Volunteer community musicians, as well as at least one paid professional, were terminated.

This comes at a time when DSO is searching for a new performing location. The organization previously performed at Perimeter College of Georgia State University’s Clarkston Campus, but changes at the college left them without a home. Established in 1964, the organization celebrates its 61^st anniversary this year with a season-opening concert on September 16 at First Baptist Church in Decatur. 

The news of their terminations caught laid-off musicians by surprise, especially since there had been praise for the entire orchestra earlier in the season and recently in Bhasin’s May 29 State of the Orchestra email, in which he writes that “The DSO’s performances this year have most certainly set a high-water mark for this institution.” Jessica Harris was one of those terminated. The flutist served as a community member with the orchestra for 27 years before being let go last month. She says she was not invited to re-audition for her position, but the letter stated that if the DSO had a vacancy in the future, she would be welcome to re-audition.

Bhasin had praised the members of the orchestra after every performance and never called out individual sections, according to Harris. “It seemed that we were all involved and proud of what we had done and were able to perform harder music with less rehearsals,” she says. “There was no warning, nothing from the board.”

Bhasin’s termination letter to those released stated that, as he planned for the next season and beyond, with new programming and higher artistic aspirations, he was making changes to various sections within the DSO. “The DSO is on an upwards artistic trajectory built largely upon raised standards of musicianship for players in the orchestra. As music director, I am responsible for setting those standards and for assessing the capacity of each DSO musician to attain them,” he wrote in the letter.

After her termination, Harris says she emailed orchestra board member Ann Alpern to find out if the board was aware that Bhasin was going to be replacing players and if that was part of the condition of his remaining as conductor for the next three years. Alpern did not respond, but Harris says that Jim Baugher, the player rep to the board, defended the board’s decision as a unified one.  

Around that same time, another orchestra member who ArtsATL spoke to — who was not comfortable having her name revealed — heard about the layoffs from colleagues and reached out to the board, asking for minutes of the previous meetings and the bylaws. Baugher informed her that her request was turned down. “Whether they knew about this says a lot about the organization,” she says. 

ArtsATL also requested minutes from the board meetings and was denied, with Catherine MacGregor, the company’s executive director, saying the nonprofit’s board minutes were not for public record. Reached by phone initially, MacGregor was going to arrange a Zoom interview with Bhasin, board chair Brent Adams and herself but then decided to email a statement. She declined to comment on other direct questions, stating that the company could not discuss personnel matters. Bhasin did not respond to multiple direct email questions.   

According to a copy of Baugher’s recap on the May 16 DSO board of directors meeting sent to the membership, the board unanimously approved a new three-year contract for Bhasin, who subsequently withdrew his name from the Johns Creek Symphony conductor search. MacGregor’s hours were increased from 20 to 30 weekly, and the Executive Committee noted they’d be voting on a new contract for her.

Earlier in the year, Harris says musicians had been seeking guidance on whether the orchestra was still a community orchestra or a semi-professional one moving forward. Baugher emailed the members this spring, concurring that they needed clarification on that from Bhasin. Bhasin emailed the entire orchestra May 29, initially lauding the group’s efforts, saying “recent reviews praise the DSO’s ‘new sense of vitality and fuller, more cohesive sound’ and that the orchestra ‘has grown exponentially.’”

He also reiterated what he said he’d already stated to the members last fall — that DSO was not a true community orchestra since nearly a third of its members were professional — and as the DSO accelerated toward “the highest possible level of artistic quality,” musicians and rehearsals needed to be at the highest level possible.

A week later, Bhasin sent out termination letters. What is unclear is how many members were let go. One musician, who did not want to be named, reached out to ArtsATL with information stating that 18 members were let go and that four of them were principal players.

MacGregor disputed that number, saying that 18 is “definitely way more” than were released, then emailing to say that one paid player was terminated, two retired, one resigned and several volunteer players were not invited to return. MacGregor also said that “affected players were notified of personnel decisions over three months in advance of the start of the next season and invited to re-audition.” However, ArtsATL’s sources say that some were not given an immediate option to reapply, including Harris. Some who were informed they could re-audition never received further instructions on how and when to do that, according to one source.

Full leadership was behind the decision, and a lot of thought and discussion preceded the terminations, according to MacGregor.  “All of our changes were really thought through with many players, making sure that everybody was on board,” she said in an interview. “The DeKalb Symphony Orchestra’s board of directors and administrative leadership are fully aligned in support of Dr. Paul Bhasin’s artistic vision to ensure a durable future for the DSO,” she added in a statement. 

The orchestra’s partnership with Georgia State University has been a source of stability for a long time, she says.  “As we look for a new home, it’s a big-time transformation, so there are many factors that went into this. No one person can make these changes.”

Among the others let go were community member Sarah Silva, who joined 10 years ago. Like Harris, Silva did not have an indication she was about to be let go, but says she will not miss the tension. “When I started, I had fun, but, when we cut down on the number of rehearsals, it became more stressful,” she says. “Paul makes it very stressful and made me not want to play.” Her husband, Andres — also in the orchestra — was invited back, but he decided not to return, feeling he didn’t want to continue in the DeKalb Symphony Orchestra’s changed environment anymore.

In his State of the Orchestra, Bhasin said the DSO’s “unceremonious ejection from Georgia State” changed the orchestra’s identity and future and that the company had lost “institutional affiliation, subsidies, space and operational/logistical support in rapid succession.”

Ann J. Anderson, a longtime Fundraising Committee member and donor, was married to DSO’s second conductor, Thomas J. Anderson, who was involved with the orchestra for 28 years before his death in 2005. She was surprised to hear about the recent layoffs and emailed the board shortly afterward with concerns.

One element Anderson is saddened about is that Bhasin laid off some older players, noting that “this orchestra rests on their shoulders and talent.”

In her email, she wrote, “I am disheartened that so many dedicated but avocational musicians — many who were loyal to the DSO for decades, who played for love of the music and the group — were summarily retired or dismissed, without transition or grace.” After reading Bhasin’s State of the Orchestra and his statement, she now feels somewhat different. 

There were better ways to make these changes, she feels, but they would have been slower and less efficient.

Although she will continue to support the orchestra to the extent that she has for the last several decades, she will be watchful for the next year.

In her mind, Harris feels Bhasin has redefined what a community orchestra is. “(He) said it was not a community orchestra ever because some of the players were paid, but the problem is, ever since the orchestra was created in the 1960s, it was a community orchestra. That is how it was formed. For him to change the words doesn’t really fly. He is the musical conductor and has control of what he wants to do, and it’s his right to get rid of who isn’t up to par. But just because he has a right doesn’t mean it’s right to do so for those who have spent all this time here. It seems backhanded — and sneaky.”

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Jim Farmer is the recipient of the 2022 National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Award for Best Theater Feature and a nominee for Online Journalist of the Year. A member of five national critics’ organizations, he covers theater and film for ArtsATL. A graduate of the University of Georgia, he has written about the arts for 30-plus years. Jim is the festival director of Out on Film, Atlanta’s LGBTQ film festival, and lives in Avondale Estates with his husband Craig.