Exploratory committee buys bankrupt symphony’s assets

A local nonprofit committee made the highest bid and bought the bankrupt Honolulu Symphony's assets as a whole at auction for $210,000. The Symphony Exploratory Committee is made of up nine members, including former Hawaii first lady and business woman Vicky Cayetano and Office of Hawaiian Affairs Trustee Oswald Stender.

"We want to demonstrate to the community we've assembled the resources necessary to keep these assets here in Hawaii," said Ken Robbins, committee member.

The committee negotiated everything at the auction be sold as a whole and not individually. Others present at the auction and over the Internet were expecting to bid on individual items, but the committee's approved guideline restricted individual purchases.

The committee is now working on piecing together the future symphony and said it will apply for tax-exempt status for the new proposed symphony with the Internal Revenue Service. "We're setting aside the past; we're looking to a new day, we're looking to a collegial collaborative partnership with the musicians and the community," Robbins said.