The 9/15/2014 edition of The Seattle Times published an article by Nicole Brodeur that reports the Seattle Symphony Orchestra (SSO) not only raised $600,000 at its recent gala but also garnered a $10 million gift from Rebecca Benaroya. Yes, the Minnesota Orchestra recently announced a $10 million gift too but Seattle managed to snag theirs without having to first thrust the organization into chaos.
Even though the organization came rather close to an ugly labor dispute in 2013, the stakeholders managed to fend off outside pressures and keep it together long enough to sign a one year deal. In June, 2014 they extended that agreement into a three year extension with historically modest but comparatively healthy improvements.
So kudos to everyone at the SSO where the musicians promptly acknowledged Ms. Bearoya’s generosity at their players’ organization website and <cough>I’m sure the SSO will be posting something about it at their website and press pages soon</cough>.
Nonetheless, it’s always nice to have one more group to include when reporters as about orchestras that aren’t enduring a self-induced bout of senselessness while simultaneously trying to take everyone else down with them via hyperbolic claims that the entire field is collapsing.
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Typo? The donor’s name is Rebecca Benaroya (widow of Jack Benaroya). Thanks for the shout-out to The Seattle Times!
Now that’s interesting as I recall doing a copy/paste for her name although I don’t recall the source; meaning, that same typo is still floating around out there at another source.