Like any great soundtrack, the musical score of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra is going through a rewrite. It tells a story of excitement, drama and rebirth. The CSO is rebounding from an almost lethal combination of budget trouble, union contract squabbles and anemic fundraising that silenced the orchestra last summer.

To keep the music playing, the orchestra’s 52 musicians made painful sacrifices: 25 percent pay cuts, fewer benefits and shorter seasons. Many musicians now supplement their smaller CSO paychecks by teaching at music studios, playing chamber music or conducting other groups. Problems of meeting operating expenses have not gone away, but there’s renewed enthusiasm for going into the community to tell CSO’s story and drum up support.

“There’s been a structural financial deficit for five years,” says Tony Beadle, CSO executive director. “We were outspending our annual budget by $2 million and we’re deeply appreciative of the generosity of CSO donors whose financial gifts have kept us afloat.”

The CSO will be in what Beadle calls “heavy-duty performance mode” for all of 2009, playing almost every weekend. That is music to the ears of CSO patrons who saw the orchestra’s 2008 summer pops concert series cancelled and the entire 2008-09 season placed in jeopardy.

The resurrection began last December with the 25th Anniversary performance of the Holiday Pops at the Ohio Theatre. Since then, a string of performances have occurred at three venues: the Ohio Theatre, Palace Theatre and Veterans Memorial. Beadle has come up with a unique four-part series of performances to enhance CSO’s pops and classical offerings called “CSOvations!”

The first CSOvations concert Feb. 27 featured four hours of non-stop Mozart music with food and drinks served in the lobby of the Ohio Theatre. The March 1 CSOvations! will feature pipe organ wizard Dennis James. James and the orchestra will provide the accompaniment for the 1922 silent film Robin Hood. On April 23, patrons will see acrobats – including trapeze artists – perform with CSO musicians in Cirque de la Symphonie.

On May 8, pianist and radio/TV personality Christopher Riley will offer music and his insights on Anatomy of an Orchestra. Among the classical series highlights will be performances by renowned pianist Emanuel Ax on March 20 and 21, and pianist William Wolfram on April 18 and 19, both events at the Ohio Theatre. The popular Picnic with the Pops returns on the baton of the popular and crowd-pleasing conductor Albert-George Schram on the lawn of Chemical Abstracts on Olentangy River Road at Ackerman Road.

Challenges remain for the future of the orchestra, most of them with dollar signs in front of them.

“People are making careful decisions about where to spend their entertainment dollars these days,” Beadle says. But savvy marketing, image-building and the courage to take risks will go a long way in making the CSO’s rebound permanent.

Watch Jerry Revish on the 5, 6 and 11 p.m. editions of 10TV News HD.