Chicago Symphony strikes, others in crisis
The news is grim in Orchestraland. The troubles of the Philadelphia Orchestra over the past two years were but the canary in the coal mine. Will Philadelphia also find its way to stability sooner than some others? Sunday's piece explores the future.
Chicago Symphony strikes, others in crisis
Peter Dobrin, Inquirer Classical Music Critic
The news is grim in Orchestraland. The troubles of the Philadelphia Orchestra over the past two years were but the canary in the coal mine. Will Philadelphia also find its way to stability sooner than some others? Sunday's piece explores the future.
Elsewhere, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra is on strike. Philadelphia musicians weighed this option during the bankruptcy/judicially supervised renegotiation of their labor contract. In the end, they saw that a strike would probably accelerate audience drain, and took a huge hit in wages and pension instead. Chicago players are determined to see that it doesn't happen to them.
Musicians and management of the wonderful Minnesota Orchestra are still talking. The administration's April 12 position proposed that players take an average pay cut to $89,000, from $135,000, the StarTribune reports. A lockout is a possibility, which is exactly what happened at the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.
Musicians continue to play without a contract in Cleveland, but concerts of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra have been called off while talks apparently continue. At the New York Philharmonic, an unusually short pact was signed in January after federal mediation; it expires Sept. 20, 2013.
Times are tough, to be sure. But whether by collusion, spontaneous realization, or a more nuanced combination of the two, much - though not all - of U.S. orchestra management has made the calculation that conservatories are turning out high-level players who would be willing to take many of these jobs. Are violinists and bassoonists really that interchangeable? And, if this begins to happen on any kind of scale, what kind of moral dilemma does it pose for a younger (cheaper) musician when he or she takes the spot of a veteran (more highly paid) one?
Managers say they have no choice but to slash musician salaries and pensions. "Structural deficit" is the term they use to describe the state of the balance sheet, implying that the income side is immovable and so expenses must be cut. Which raises some questions: How hard are orchestra leaders working to sell tickets and raise money? Are they hiring smart consultants? Have they been aggressive enough? Are they really making a passionate civic argument on behalf of the art form?
It seems to me if orchestras can prove they've left no stone unturned funding-wise, and the budget is being otherwise managed wisely, musicians will have to accept a greater burden for reducing labor costs in the name of saving the institution.
Each city has its own set of challenges, and each will have to arrive at its own solution. But I think there's probably no question that taken together, problems at orchestras ranging in size from Jacksonville to New York are more severe than at any other time in history. Like many institutions, this one is in crisis.
Strange to say about orchestras, so often criticized for being out of step with the rest of the country culturally, but at the moment, they are an embodiment of the upheaval that has come to other arenas: changing demographics (see the U.S. electorate); what happens when something needing widespread participation to exist comfortably no longer draws widespread participation (see newspapers, department stores); class warfare and resentment of talented workers earning a healthy living (see organized labor, subsection teachers); and the alarming realization that no institution, no matter how critical, has a guaranteed future (see the U.S. Postal Service, deficit).
This sort of relevance may be cold comfort, but for once, the nation can look to the symphony orchestra as the perfect emblem of our time.
thats ok the private economy which by and large support the arts is doing well according to our entertainer-in-chief. wake up america!— jstash- This is so on the mark it's scary. At least, it's good to know that Philadelphia isn't alone in its pain. Cold comfort, I guess.— Mswelsh
- How many individuals in orchestra management, I wonder, would be willing to take a 30- to 50-percent pay cut, such as is being asked of the musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra?— R Loomis
- Not quite a fair comparison when orchestra management often already clock in at 30 to 50 percent of orchestra member's starting salaries. Furthermore with a more general skill set,, and without unions, at least everyone except the upper echelon of group is already subject to pay levels according to market demand. — Geore Reidy
- As much as I love the Philadelphia Orchestra, the reality for all orchestras (all but the LA Phil ran deficits last year) is that they are not surviving financially based on the revenue model that was developed years ago in a different cost and cultural climate. Unless orchestras can amass huge endowments, fill all their audience seats, and convince the public and private sectors to support them to the extent needed to balance their budgets, they will all face a financial crisis at some point. The bankruptcy was a smart financial move that created a more realistic cost structure going forward. While it may be possible to fund this based on the old model, it will still take a lot of work and may not be sustainable in the future. Perhaps we have arrived at a point in our culture where the sustainable economic value of an orchestral musician in a major orchestra is not $130,000, but something considerably less. Will people still put in the time and effort to achieve a coveted position in a major orchestra if the sustainable value of the position is $75,000 per year? People certainly put a lot of effort into other careers that earn that much. And, many have had their salaries frozen or slashed and still are committed to their careers. The hard financial realities that many have faced over the past five years are also impacting orchestral musicians. The pressure to reduce expenses more may not be over.— zanchuk22
- Thanks. Your last two paragraphs of the article are well written— iskippy
Peter Dobrin is a classical music critic and culture writer for The Inquirer. Since 1989, he has written music reviews, features, news and commentary for the paper, covering such topics as the Philadelphia Museum of Art at the Venice Biennale, expansion of the Curtis Institute of Music, the Philadelphia Orchestra's bankruptcy declaration in 2011, Philadelphia's evolving performing arts center and the general health of arts and culture.
Dobrin was a French horn player. He earned an undergraduate degree in performance from the University of Miami, and received a master's degree in music criticism from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, where he studied with Elliott Galkin. He has no time to practice today.
