Starkeys give $1M to orchestra
By Times Staff Writer
Published December 17, 2005
TAMPA - The Florida Orchestra has received $1-million to endow the music director's chair, one of the largest gifts ever to the orchestra.
The Marsha and Jay B. Starkey Jr. Music Director Chair, given by the Starkey family of Odessa, is currently held by music director Stefan Sanderling.
"I believe that classical music is one of the foundations of our society, even for those who have no interest or experience with it, because it sets the standard against which all other musical endeavors will be compared," said J.B. Starkey Jr., 70, whose family has supported the orchestra for years.
The Starkey gift comes at a time when the orchestra has been working to focus its fundraising efforts on building an endowment.
Gifts to the endowment go into investments that provide interest income for orchestra operations. An endowment is seen as a key to long-term viability for any arts organization.
In 2004, the orchestra announced two other major gifts to its endowment, each for $500,000, from Dick and Helen Minck to endow principal percussionist John Shaw's chair, and from Al and Iris Bernstein to endow principal French horn James Wilson's chair.
The orchestra reported a surplus for the 2005 fiscal year that ended June 30 after posting deficits in two of the previous three years. Less than 1 percent of its revenue came from the endowment; the industry average is 5 percent.
The orchestra's endowment was valued at $8.7-million in its most recent quarterly statement on Sept. 30.
Starkey played saxophone in the Largo High School Band, and became interested in classical music as a student at the University of Florida. A singer for more than 20 years and board member of the Master Chorale of Tampa Bay, he performs with the Bay Area Saxophone Quartet, which he founded in 1984. He operates J.B. Starkey's Flatwoods Adventures, an eco-ranch tour.
The orchestra's major challenge this season is that with the Mahaffey Theater undergoing renovation, it has been performing its St. Petersburg concerts for smaller crowds at Pasadena Community Church.
It hopes to return to the Mahaffey by March, and is seeking funds to build administrative offices there.
The orchestra this weekend is performing Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the Master Chorale; performances are tonight in St. Petersburg, Sunday in Clearwater and Monday in Tampa.