MAYOR HOLDS MEETING : SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY STILL ON HOLD

SAN DIEGO —  The name of the tune this week in San Diego has been “confusion” in the wake of the San Diego Symphony’s cessation of operations on Monday.

Musicians met Thursday to try to map out their own plans, which include a series of six concerts this month and next as the San Diego Philharmonic.

Meeting behind closed doors with musicians and symphony officials on Wednesday, San Diego Mayor Maureen O’Connor attempted to resuscitate the virtually moribund labor relations that shut down the orchestra.

“They just kicked around some ideas,” O’Connor spokesman Paul Downey said of the meetings. “Each of the sides had some ideas, and the mayor was simply there to facilitate it.”

Downey said the meetings, held separately, gave no indication that progress could be expected in the near future. “Nobody has agreed to anything or made any decisions or anything like that,” Downey said. “They’ve all gone home to think about the ideas that were kicked around.”

Neither Herbert J. Solomon nor musicians’ leader Gregory Berton would comment on the meetings.

Earlier in the week, at San Diego Symphony Assn. headquarters, officials spent much of the time fielding phone calls from curious reporters, but answers were hard to come by.

“We don’t have a specific course of direction,” symphony spokeswoman Melissa Smith said.

Symphony officials conceded that they have little idea how to accomplish their two primary objectives--revealed Monday--of paying off all creditors and providing “high-quality music” to the community.

Meanwhile, the San Diego Philharmonic, formed in November to offer temporary support to musicians until regular symphony concerts resume, has begun fund-raising efforts. The six-concert series begins with a Jan. 24 performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the San Diego Master Chorale.

At City Hall Tuesday, O’Connor said she is “disappointed and dismayed” at the symphony’s action. “The community is very upset. They put a lot of money into the symphony and thought it was mismanaged. They want to hear music. And they don’t hear music. And they’re not even getting refunds,” O’Connor said.