New Concessions From Philadelphia Orchestra Musicians
The Philadelphia Inquirer Blog - Artswatch
New Concessions From Philadelphia Orchestra Musicians
Peter Dobrin, Inquirer Classical Music Critic
Faced with nearly 40-percent-empty houses and the threat of bankruptcy, musicians of the Philadelphia Orchestra have agreed to a freeze on minimum salaries for next season, early negotiations for a new labor contract and a hiring freeze with certain qualifications.
Musicians also agreed to give up an expected increase in contributions to their under-funded pension fund while a musician-board-staff task force works to “identify viable pension plan options for musicians and staff.”
The concessions could save $4.5 million, according to their employer, the Philadelphia Orchestra Association.
“It was a difficult but necessary decision to make,” said members committee chairman John Koen, a cellist. But in the end, “the overall economic state of the orchestra” persuaded players, he said, declining to characterize the closeness of Thursday night’s vote on the new terms.
Combined with an earlier set of give-backs and changes in work rules, the new pact could bring $8 million in savings over 2 ¼ years.
New orchestra chief Allison B. Vulgamore, who started work a month ago, said the savings were “critical” to the orchestra’s survival. But just as important, she said, they are “a signal and truthful articulation of the fact that the orchestra board and management and musicians are coming together awfully quickly to look the future in the eye.”
A new contract is expected to be in place by March 2011, according to the agreement between musicians and the orchestra’s still-new leadership.
The orchestra began the season with the launch of a $15 million emergency drive intended to underwrite operations for this season and next. That effort is well underway, with about $8 million firmly committed, Vulgamore said yesterday, as fund-raising continues.
“Now we’re going back to family and friends to allow the organization to keep its doors open and audiences coming while we go forward with strategic planning,” she said.
Still, even with all the musicians’ concessions and the recovery fund, the orchestra is currently projecting a $3.3 million deficit for the current fiscal year, said orchestra CFO Mario Mestichelli.
Vulgamore also said yesterday that she has hired an orchestra marketing specialist to help revive ticket sales. Christopher Stager, a consultant who has worked with the Cleveland Orchestra and other major and mid-size orchestras, will commute from New York during the next nine months.
Vulgamore said she still expects to hire a permanent marketing vice president, but for now, “I want to get sales up.” The orchestra has been operating without a marketing vice president this season, and attendance has been basically stagnant at about 63 percent.
Asked whether the orchestra will abandon its widely ridiculed new “Unexpect Yourself” advertising campaign, Vulgamore said: “We’re reviewing everything now.”
A raise re-negotiated in May would have increased the minimum musician salary in March 2011 to $131,040 from the current $124,800, but the new concessions eliminate the scheduled increase. Many players – principal and other titled musicians - earn much more, since they have individually negotiated salaries.
The hiring freeze is to remain in effect for the duration of the current contract, though Vulgamore allowed that certain leadership positions, if they came open, might be filled.
The freezing of pension-fund contributions will save the Association an enormous sum, even if it is a stop-gap: $4.7 million over three years, said Mestichelli.
The wiggle room in the total amount the Association expects to save - the $8 million - comes in part because the financial implications of changes in certain work rules are unknown. These rules involve matters such as how and when substitute players are contracted and how many rehearsals are needed for a particular program.
“We’re not entirely sure whether all the work rule changes will be achievable in 2011,” said Mestichelli.
Said Vulgamore: “It’s about living efficiently.”
CUT FUNDING FOR ART AND MUSIC CLASSES! And since you need to be taught to appreciate fine arts, we can all listen to gangsta rap and britney sprears. I'll race you all to the bottom!!!
Comment removed.
From the headline, I thought they were going to start selling Yuengling during Intermission. Never mind.— jcallisonfan- I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings but Philadelphia Orchestra musicians are some of the highest paid non-corporate employees in the entire Philadelphia region. These folks get paid $100,000 of thousands of dollars a year. It's darn difficult for the average union member in Philadelphia to work up much sympathy for people who earn 4 and 5 times the amount the average union member gets paid for working significantly fewer hours that other union employees work.— Semper Fi Joe
- Semper: how does the average union member feel about watching the Eagles, who make a lot more than 4 or 5 times more than them?
- Semper: how does the average union member feel about watching the Eagles, who make a lot more than 4 or 5 times more than them?
- From what I've read, they're benefits & vacation packages are way too generous.— tonyS
- Once again, it's the workers' fault! Semper Fi, why exclude non-corporate employees from your narrowminded equation? They're the ones getting all the goodies that are being taken away from the workers. Matter of fact, they have DEGREES in how to do so. Drones, vampires, parasites, enemies of the people. Not just in non-profits but everywhere. I think we workers oughta all go picket outside of Wharton School.— smacky
- Hey Semper, do you have any idea how much money musician's of that caliber have spent to reach that level? How many years of training, of $250 hour lessons, 40K per year school costs?...Go back to the military and kill some people. You only need $1.25 for some bullets.— enabler1
- Who cares? Union workers do contribute value added services to the economy, the orchestra plays to the elite, get the money from the elite.— LJM
- Who cares? Union workers do contribute value added services to the economy, the orchestra plays to the elite, get the money from the elite.— LJM
- Please understand that the Philadelphia Orchestra is the "big leagues" of the musician world. In my opinion they deserve to be making the most money in this industry. Knucklehead sports fans should surely understand this.— ccres
The orchestra's problem is that it is perceived as playing for the elite, as LJM stated. And the fact that the musicians earn such nice salaries helps insulate them and make them comfortable playing for the elite. (I don't begrudge a skilled worker a good salary, but still...) Classical music -- which some call " concert music," a term that I like better -- doesn't have to be like this. It was originally popular, accessible music written by people who were NOT part of the elite (although the composers often hired out to the aristocracy), and who were responding to political and social trends of the times. When modern orchestras fail to communicate that fact about concert music, they contribute to their own demise. Orchestras that can bring home the vibrant, modern message of the music to the public will survive; those that treat the music like a museum piece won't.- Know what? Back in the 60's, all kids of people went to orchestra concerts. Lots of bluejeans in the audience. It was a more culturally curious time, more inclusive, more adventurous. Even then, it was basically a European artform, never a native, "relevant" one-- that much has not changed. WE have changed. Don't blame the musicians.— smacky
- I think if we're to the point of comparing musicians to bus drivers, we have hit a new low in American culture. The musicians in the Philadelphia Orchestra are at the very top (.1%)of their field. Most of them are graduates of our very own Curtis Institute or Juilliard School which if you look at their acceptance rates, it would show you that they take fewer percentages of students than Harvard, Yale or Princeton. The top people in any other field that requires this much training and education (such as lawyers doctors, or business) would be making millions of dollars a year not just $125,000. It is also misinformation to think that these people only "work" 25 hours a week. They are on stage 25 hours a week but it takes countless hours to prepare new weekly programs. Not to mention that they play four programs in the summer. I think the biggest shame is not that they are making so much money, but that other people in the arts such as dancers aren't making enough. If we aren't careful, our beloved arts will die all together and we will be left with Lady Gaga— phillyartdancemusic
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.
