With the exception of where concertmasters fell in the overall Top 10 earners, the 2009/10 season was a wholly unremarkable year for concertmaster compensation. Based on the figures available (which are fewer than executives or music directors, but more on that later), the average concertmaster experienced a marginal decrease of 1.9 percent in annual compensation.

The 2009/10 season was one of transition at a number of orchestras, especially the larger budget organizations. Several groups were amidst music director changes and/or in the middle of interim leadership and without those larger figures, the cumulative average compensation was lower than the previous season. However, if you remove the Top 10 Total Expenditure

The 2009/10 season was the first to suffer the brunt of the economic downturn but its impact on executive compensation varied wildly from one group to the next. This season experienced some of the largest gaps between compensation extremes with some executives enjoying modest to healthy increases while others experienced sizable cuts. But in the