Drew McManus on the Orchestra business | est. 2003

Labor Relations

Enough With the Music Metaphors

Wed, Dec 12, 2010
Although the situation at the Louisville Orchestra is in stasis until the initial bankruptcy hearing on 1/6/2011, that apparently hasn’t stopped some of the local television outlets from having a field day with clichéd music metaphors when reporting on the situation. Case in point, the local Fox news outlet broadcast a segment on 12/27/2010 that

Louisville Bankruptcy Has All Eyes On January 6th

Mon, Dec 12, 2010
On Friday, 12/3/2010 the Louisville Orchestra (LO) announced that it filed for Chapter 11 (reorganization) bankruptcy stating that it seeks to break its collective bargaining agreement with the musicians. According to a press statement, the LO acknowledges that the “musicians may not be able to agree to voluntarily restructure the Orchestra” but the players won’t

More Tremors From Louisville

Tue, Nov 11, 2010
Grinding The Gears
The 11/27/2010 edition of the Louisville Courier published an article by Elizabeth Kramer that sheds a little more light on the current financial situation within the Louisville Orchestra. According to the report, the orchestra has taken an advance from the local Fund for the Arts which allowed them to make last week’s payroll but there

You Can Always Find A Distraction If You’re Looking For One

Wed, Oct 10, 2010
Amid the Sarah Chang/Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) drama, it can be easy to forget that it’s a smaller part of a bigger issue; specifically, the ongoing DSO work stoppage. To be certain, any messages sent to Sarah Chang that were threatening and/or intimidating have hopefully been passed along to authorities. Clearly, those are sober issues

AFM Calls Out The League

Fri, Aug 8, 2010
The August, 2010 edition of International Musician published an article by Christopher Durham, American Federation of Musicians (AFM) Symphonic Services Division (SSD) Director and Assistant to the President, titled Quality Leadership Is Essential in Difficult Times. Don’t let the obvious nature of the title fool you, the article essentially levies blame on much of the
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