Bruce Ridge, North Carolina Symphony Bassist and Chairman of the International Conference of Symphony (ICSOM), testified before the House Committee on Education and Labor in Washington D.C. on a hearing about the economic and employment impact of the arts and music industry on March 26, 2009. In a positive sign of our tax dollars at work, the committee has made available a video of Ridge’s address…
Month: March 2009
Recording Compensation Poll Results
On 3/19/2009, readers were asked to answer the question “Should an orchestra administration be expected to provide special compensation to musicians for recording marketing/education/outreach material?” At just over 200 responses the results don’t provide a clear majority opinion but they do provide additional insight into this topic…
Point-Counterpoint In Madison
The musicians of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra (WCO) issued a press release on 3/26/2009 announcing plans to picket WCO offices at 3:00p.m. CT and then move to the state Capitol to protest WCO Board tactics throughout their prolonged contract negotiations. Details of recent events in those negotiations and reasoning behind the latest round of offers have finally been made available…
Playing Catch-up
There’s only time for a quick post today: first, check out a slew of passionate comments to Stephen Lemons’ piece about the Phoenix Symphony brouhaha. Next, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra (WCO) issued their last, best, and final offer to musicians but don’t think that’s the end; the musicians have indicated they plan to wait on voting until after the NLRB issues a decision on their regressive bargaining complaint. But wait, there’s …
Bad Stuff In Phoenix Indeed
Over at Abu Bratsche, Robert Levine published an article on 3/23/09 entitled Bad stuff in Phoenix which brings to light ongoing events inside the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra regarding a slew of complaints resulting from what Robert describes as “general nastiness by the Phoenix Symphony management and Music Director Michael Christie.” But once you learn more about what has transpired over the past few years, you might think Robert’s description was downright polite…