More Philadelphia Orchestra players leaving
The Philadelphia Inquirer Blog - Artswatch
More Philadelphia Orchestra players leaving
Peter Dobrin, Inquirer Classical Music Critic
Soon after Philadelphia Orchestra principal clarinetist Ricardo Morales decided to take a post with the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia is facing the possible departure of another star.
Efe Baltacigil has won the principal cello auditions at the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. Baltacigil, 32, currently associate principal cellist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, captured the spot Monday after auditions at Benaroya Hall.
He hasn't decided whether to take the post.
"It is all very recent, so I need to evaluate things very carefully, of course," wrote Baltacigil in an email. "I have meetings coming up with both managements, and then we will see the outcome. As we all know, these seats are very rare, so when there is an opening you have to try it. It keeps your playing in good shape."
A Philadelphia Orchestra spokeswoman had no comment.
The Turkish-born Baltacigil started in the Philadelphia Orchestra as assistant principal in 2002, just after graduating from the Curtis Institute of Music, and became associate in 2003. His local profile received a boost in 2005 when a snowstorm prevented Philadelphia Orchestra musicians from reaching Verizon Hall and, with pianist Emanuel Ax, he performed Beethoven’s Cello Sonata No. 1 with only a few minutes of rehearsal. He won a 2005 Young Concert Artists International Audition, and has performed with Itzhak Perlman, Midori, Yo-Yo Ma and Pinchas Zukerman.
If he leaves, he will be one of several Philadelphia Orchestra musicians moving on.
Principal clarinetist Ricardo Morales last month announced he had accepted the same position with the New York Philharmonic. José Maria Blumenschein, the orchestra's associate concertmaster, has been on leave this season to be co-concertmaster in the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, and has officially resigned from Philadelphia. Stephen Wyrczynski, a violist in the orchestra since 1992, has been on leave to teach at Indiana University, and has now accepted a permanent tenured professorship there.
The loss of talent at the Philadelphia Orchestra has been a major source of concern to players and listeners in this period of financial reorganization. Blumenschein and Wyrczynski made their decisions to leave well before the orchestra board's April 16 vote to file for bankruptcy. Morales has declined to say what went into his decision.
In addition, five players have given notice of their intention to retire after this season, an orchestra spokeswoman said. The total eight or nine musicians leaving at once is much higher than the norm. Typically, in the past few years, the orchestra has had two or three retirements plus one resignation per year, the spokeswoman said.
Players committee chairman John Koen says that in addition to Baltacigil, he knows of five Philadelphia Orchestra musicians auditioning for orchestra jobs or weighing teaching positions elsewhere.
Even just the known departures will represent a lot of institutional memory walking out the door at the same time - and plain wonderful individual talent. Baltacigil, if he goes, is a major loss.
"The music was delightful. Mr. Baltacigil’s tone was warm, rich and a little throaty in a pleasant way, like a good Scotch. Bach lilted and danced; Mr. Baltacigil danced along," wrote the New York Times in 2006 of a performance of Bach in Weill Recital Hall.
He plays a cello made in Cremona in 1680 by Francesco Rugieri and given to him by a Turkish sponsor, according to his official Philadelphia Orchestra bio.
The Seattle Symphony roster holds one other notable Philadelphia Orchestra alum: executive director Simon Woods, who starts the job this month. He stepped down as Philadelphia's vice president of artistic planning and operations in 2004. Flutist Demarre McGill, a Curtis Institute of Music alum and San Diego Symphony member, recently won Seattle's principal flute spot.
You left out the names of the retiring players. That is important, too.
The departures mean a lot of auditions for replacements, and this is critical to the future of the Orchestra. Will the players have experience or be Curtis graduates? Will they have a "Philadelphia Sound" or simply be the most adept? Who will make the decisions and the final decision? A temporary music director?— Zindorf- How JT123 can call the failed Kimmel Center progress is beyond me. Rendell and Rouse failed in their mission, and colossally. Of course it impacts the Orchestra, and everyone else. It's time to admit the failure, tear it down, move the Opera to the Boyd Theater, and put the Orchestra back in the Academy where it belongs.— Zindorf
- And then we have the Einsteins who keep blaming the Kimmel Center / Verizon Hall for the Orchestra's problems. All Ed Rendell and Bill Rouse wanted to do was build a real home for The Philadelphia Orchestra...a world-class symphony hall for a world-class orchestra that had been playing in an opera house for the first 100 years of its existence. Once again, the Philadelphia Naysayers calling progress regression. Loser mentality.— JT123
- MikeBrooks, you have no clue. Why don't you leave the conversation to those of us whose IQs fall on the right side of the bell curve. Your comments would fit right in with the 700 level crowd at Vet Stadium. BTW the athletes have unions, because if they didn't, they would have to drive cabs in the off season, just the good old days. Just remember, folks, the Philadelphia Orchestra was a seasonal job until 1966. The summer at the Dell was under a different aegis, and many of the musicians took menial jobs, like painting, driving cabs, ice cream trucks, teaching summer, landscaping, etc, because those jobs paid more than playing at the old Robin Hood Dell. You can look it up.
Those were the days. Gee our old La Salle ran great. Please sir, may I have another?— altekakker - As an "under 50" subscriber who has been attending orchestra concerts regularly since high school, this whole mess has made me extremely upset and depressed. I don't want to be forced to listen to the fabulous Phila Orchestra I know and love at home with headphones on - I want to hear them in person as I have 12x/yr for 3 decades now! Morales, Baltacigil, who next...here's a thought: how about Vulgamore? If she even dares to make a speech from the VH stage, I'll be the one booing the loudest (yes, I am a Phillies fan too!). And MikeBrooks806, you're an idiot: the PO is not where musicians come to improve their skills. Read their biographies and see what ensembles they've left in order to come here. The PO is at the pinnacle. I just pray that a mass exodus can be avoided and it can stay there.— philorchphilsphan
- You have to wonder what the Orchestra Leadership thought was going to happen when they went the bankruptcy route. Dobrin, pucker up, you and your French Horn are on deck.— Paul Deon
- If, as the article says, open seats in the world's orchestras are so very rare, then there should be plenty of talented players competing for those precious seats; players who are willing to work for less money and improve their skills as the basis for keeping their seats rather than securing their seats through union contracts.
Let the players leave, get the unions out, and what should result is harder working musicians (now faced with competition), lower salaries (because of lots of candidates for the seats); which equals lower orchestra expenses and a better orchestra.
That, theoretically should lead to lower ticket prices, increased interest in the orchestra (because it is so great) and packed houses in Verizon Hall. And to go one step even betterm put the orchestra back in the Academy and re-purpose Verizon Hall for something associated with the Convention Center or another performance group that can afford to be there.— MikeBrooks806 - And all the while, what have the musicians been doing? EXACTLY what they have been asked to do: Perform the repertoire management puts in front of them, with the conductors they hire, with the soloists they engage... all at a level which tops or equals that of any symphony orchestra ANYWHERE in the world. In fact, the players have VOLUNTARILY made salary concessions, givebacks, and work rule changes that have contributed literally tens of MILLIONS of dollars since Allison Vulgamore came on board. They have not threatened to strike, they have not asked for more money, they have not asked for more vacation time or perks, nor any of the other things that anti-union folks like to cite as "un-American".
So, again... explain to me exactly how "getting the unions out" is going to help any of this mess?— SupportTheArtsInPhilly - Look, I don't purport to have all of the answers to the orchestra's financial problems. The article suggests that it is a great tragedy that players are leaving the orchestra, and I'm saying that that is not necessarily a bad thing and could actually contribute to a financial recovery for the orchestra.
— MikeBrooks806 - Further to your point about "getting the unions out", I echo CoolZanna's statement that this has nothing to do with unions. Remember, by management's own words, (see http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/20110421_Bankruptcy_Court_hears_opening_statements_on_Philadelphia_Orchestra_s_Chapter_11_petition.html) their main reasons for filing Chapter 11 were: 1) Get relief from its pension obligations; 2) Get relief from its rental agreement at the Kimmel; 3) Extricate itself from its agreement with the Philly Pops; and 4) Set aside the current musicians' contract. So... once again, for you scoring at home....
(next post)— SupportTheArtsInPhilly - Mike, in all seriousness and with all due respect, do you even really understand how orchestras operate? You're attempting to paint a picture of an orchestra being strong-armed by the big, bad musicians union, while a handful of cellists and oboists hang around outside the union hall waiting to be whisked away to the Kimmel. Believe it or not, the musicians of the POA represent the top one-hundredth of the top one percent of the world's performers. They have practiced literally tens of thousands of hours, and in some cases spent tens of thousands of their own dollars traveling across the country to audition for vacant positions. No one in this orchestra has "secured their seat through union contracts"; they have worked their tail off in order to win a rigorous audition, and subsequently perform at a consistent level of excellence that most instrumentalists simply cannot fathom. — SupportTheArtsInPhilly
- Again, the orchestra's bankruptcy has absolutely nothing to do with unions. Every other top orchestra in the US is union, and they're doing just fine, in fact they're cherry picking our best musicians as we speak. There's two problems going on here totally unrelated to unions: 1) The orchestra ranks 12th in the US in terms of charitable giving, and annually raises half as much as its peers-this is pathetic and unacceptable. 2) There's no leadership in the management. If what Supportthearts says is true, that Vulgamore has a personal incentive to reduce musicians pay, then that's a recipe for destruction. The orchestra is not a sweatshop; our musicians are not interchangeable and manipulatable. They are incredibly talented and coveted by other orchestras, and they have the ability and right to play where they are wanted most and best served. Hopefully we'll get a new CEO that works for the musicians, not against them, and can make the association work as a cohesive unit. — CoolZanna
- Just so I have your math straight here:
Lower salaries = Better quality
Got it. I assume then, that this general design also hods true in the areas of education, public services (police, firefighters, etc), and professional sports. Not to mention corporate structure at large: Pay the workers less, don't let them organize themselves, take away job security... bingo! Better product, happier workers! Brilliant!
Please set your watches back to 1922.— SupportTheArtsInPhilly - Corporate salaries are dropping in the US, why? Competition for jobs; companies are keeping their best people and paying them less. That's just the way capitalism works; no free rides, constant improvement.
In education, extremely talented teachers are locked out of the system because the existing teachers are locked-in. That's why education sucks in the US. In contrast, our sports teams are based on competition with a constant flow of players in and out; records in sports are broken year after year because players have to be constantly working to stay ahead of their competitors.— MikeBrooks806 - The irony is that, while the true arts community at large will rightfully identify Allison Vulgamore as the leading architect of this orchestra's destruction and vilify her reign here, the faceless Board and other fat cats will in fact celebrate her achievement in pushing the musicians back to low-class status and indentured servitude, "where they belong". It is well known that her salary structure (again, folks... based in the $600,000 range, about double that of the highest-paid musician) contains numerous incentives based on the amount of concessions she is able to squeeze out of the players. (A former colleague of hers in Atlanta once told me, "Allison is brilliant. And the more blood she gets from the musicians, the higher her salary will go.") This is all pretty simple: The Board directed management through a series of short-sighted decisions, many against the wishes of the players, which resulted in an untenable economic situation for the organization. Now they have all decided that they no longer wish to honor the commitments that they themselves imposed on the players-- the pension, the move to the Kimmel, and the players contract. Is this the way business is done in the modern US? I suppose that to those of us who truly care about this orchestra and the cultural life in Philadelphia, the blood of the Philadelphia Orchestra will always be on the hands of Allison Vulgamore and the faceless group of 75 music haters. Unfortunately, it's the wealthy and powerful-- and ignorant-- who very well may wind up shaping the landscape here.— SupportTheArtsInPhilly
- Excellent post, CoolZanna. Vulgamore is paid $600,000, which is outrageous. Insiders whisper about her incompetence and scattershot approach to problem-solving. She's raised eyebrows among many donors, too, which ultimately be the kiss of death for her.— tomfox
- Interestingly, I have heard from a few Board members (and I begrudgingly acknowledge that there may be just a few who actually care about this orchestra) that there is a small but growing amount of significant discontent with Allison's performance. There are those who would not be upset to see her dismissed. There is zero chance of this happening before her contract expires, or before a final judgment, whichever comes first. — SupportTheArtsInPhilly
- This is just one more nail in the coffin of this once great orchestra. These players will not be replaced. Why bother? We won't even have a real orchestra within a couple years, maybe a couple months.— altekakker
- The Philadelphia Orch website has always been hard to use and very sparse in information. Now it's worse than ever. Are they still in court/ What's happening?— xkarivalis
- Discouraging news, however anticipated. On a slightly different note, Allison Vulgamore really needs to go. I received yet another season brochure in the mail with the same wrong seating prices as the infamous original. Maybe this is because the staff is overwhelmed, lazy, or incompetent, but whatever the reason may be, it's unacceptable. I'm also sick of how Vulgamore signs off "Yours in Music" for each insipid mass correspondence I receive from her, as she presides over the destruction of our orchestra. Other regular organizational failures include the unreliable website that is bereft of any interesting copy or media, the pathetic subscribers' desk they put up in the Kimmel before each concert, and finally, my favorite bit of idiocy, the "Undisclosed" phone number the fundraiser calls from. Obviously I don't pick up because I have no idea whose calling. And of course the message they leave doesn't include a call-back number. It's not surprising then that the musicians who are the one high-functioning part of the association leave when they have to suffer the consequences of such professional incompetence.— CoolZanna
- Once again mr dobrin has chosen the lazy route in his reporting. Rather than analyze on and report on the national, nearly universal problems of Amercai symphonies, he starts a blame game. Who will he pick on next? My vote is for Ed Rendell and Bill Rouse for foolishly foisting a building on the arts community......one tha is ugly, that we can't afford and never should have built. Blame Alison Vulgamore? Indeed! — Artman
- Dude, I am not Peter Dobrin, and there's a difference between playing the blame game and objectively looking at a failing organization and holding its highly paid CEO responsible. Furthermore, I don't like when the money I've payed via ticket purchases and donations is going to $750 an hour lawyers who are in the process of ruining an amazing ensemble, while the musicians are being scapegoated by management. The truth is that the San Francisco, LA, Chicago, New York, Seattle, and Boston orchestras are thriving, and to blame our orchestra's current state on some mystical erosion of classical music is lame and inaccurate. — CoolZanna
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.
