Drew McManus on the orchestra business.
Last week, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) labor situation exploded into a full-blown lockout. Since that happened smack in the middle of the orchestra compensation reports week, we have had to wait until today to conduct an overview. At the same time, it would have been wonderful for all involved if the BSO managed to resolve the dispute during the interim but based on where things are today, it’s clear that …
The Oregon Bach Festival’s (OBF) troubles started in 2017 and never really went away. Long story short, OBF Executive Director, Janelle McCoy, spearheaded a process that ultimately removed then artistic director Matthew Halls from his position in the wake of allegations of discrimination against women and a minority. OBF ultimately dismissed Halls but it didn’t take long for numerous reports of erroneous charges to emerge, such as the complaint of discrimination …
Each year, one of the most popular items in the orchestra compensation reports is a big picture overview of all compensation alongside Total Expenditure figures. If you’ve been looking for something that shows all the report values in a single chart, this is your article. Sorry, but this information is only made available for one year until the following season’s reports are published. Copies are available for a fee (feel free …
After three consecutive years of decline, the 2016/17 season continued to see positive gain in the average concertmaster’s compensation level. Nonetheless, overall growth over the last decade continues to be far below their music director and executive peers. The Information In order to provide information that is as accurate as possible, info from the 2016/17 season is gathered from the following source: Concertmaster compensation figures were obtained from their respective orchestra’s IRS Form 990 …
If you were a music director during the 2016/17 season, there’s a good chance you had several hundred thousand good reasons to see it as a really good year and one conductor in particular had more than three million good reasons. But if we’re looking at things from middle out, music directors continued to maintain an average compensation rate in excess of $600,000. The Information In order to provide information that is …