Year: 2013

For the average music director, the 2010/11 season was a good year financially. Experiencing an average increase of 12.02 percent in compensation, conductors gained more than either executives or concertmasters; in fact, the average music director compensation reached an all time high of $480,037. Worth noting is the 2010/11 high earner, San Francisco Symphony’s music director Michael Tilson Thomas, experienced a staggering 33 percent increase in his compensation; although that still …

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By the onset of the 2010/11 season, the field was amidst the beginning of the worst austerity driven labor disputes for the last half century. Collective bargaining agreements were being reopened in order to incorporate concessions designed to forestall financial collapse and when stakeholders were unable to reach mutually agreeable terms, vitriolic public disputes erupted, oft accompanied by prolonged work stoppages. Nonetheless, the average orchestra executive experienced a 5.32 percent increase …

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This year’s compensation reports are all about context. For instance, the data covers compensation for the 2010/11 season, which if you recall was the first really nasty year of austerity driven conflict between stakeholders. The Detroit Symphony went dark for nearly the entire season as did the Louisville Orchestra and the Philadelphia Orchestra started walking down the bankruptcy path. In short, 2010/11 was the onset for a series of firestorm labor …

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