Drew McManus on the orchestra business.
Typically, the orchestra compensation reports are published each year in June and by this point in time, much of the initial data collection is complete. Inquiries about when this year’s reports will be published are already rolling in but as it turns out, business has been booming throughout 2017; Perhaps unsurprisingly, that means the entire process of gathering and processing that data is behind where it normally is in May. But …
Toward the end of last week, a pair of articles triggered by this year’s Orchestra Compensation Reports emerged at two traditional media outlets: The Cleveland Plain Dealer and Houston Chronicle. Both articles approached the topic by comparing national trends to what was going on at their local orchestra. What was especially wonderful to see is that both authors spent a portion of the articles examining why nonprofit organizations are required to …
For the past few years, one of the most popular items in the orchestra compensation reports is a big picture overview of all compensation alongside Total Expenditure figures. So if you’ve been looking for something that shows all of the report values in a single chart, this article is exactly what you’ve been looking for. 15 Year Trends Although the Orchestra Compensation Reports have been around since 2005 (which covered the …
Since the economic downturn, concertmaster compensation has failed to keep pace with executive and music director stakeholders and for the 2013/14 season, they were the only group to experience a decline in average compensation (-0.19 percent). Otherwise, the 2013/14 season didn’t witness any unusual items other than one positive note in the form of a new entry into the list of ensembles that report concertmaster compensation: the Kansas City Symphony. The Information …
If you were a music director (MD) during the 2013/14 season, odds are you generated pretty much the same amount of income as the previous season. Having said that, you may have also enjoyed one of the largest average increases in the past 15 years. Confused? Don’t worry, you should be as it was a very odd season for MD compensation. But first off, let’s cover some of the basic info …