According to the Enquirer, the Cincinnati Symphony's endowment is about $68.5 million, down from more than $90 million several years ago. (The decrease is presumably due to the fall in the stock market since the tech stock-fueled Wall Street boom of the late 1990s.) In fiscal year 2005, the endowment posted a 12.4 percent return and the CSO posted a $1,598 operating surplus.

Regarding the Music Hall, the paper says that symphony officials have long said the 3,417-seat auditorium is too big. Monder is in preliminary discussions with representatives of the Cincinnati Arts Association, which manages the building for the city of Cincinnati, as well as other tenants including the Cincinnati Opera and the Cincinnati Ballet.