On 3/12/09, conductor Ron Spigelman posted an article at his blog, Sticks and Drones, that examines some recent decisions at the Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestra reported in an article from the 3/9/09 edition of the Grand Rapids Press. Whether he intended to or not, Spigelman raised exactly the right set of questions at exactly the right moment in time to avert a potentially damaging course of action…
Labor Relations
An Interesting Take On The WCO
Robert Levine posted an intriguing piece over at Abu Bratsche on 3/6/2009 regarding ongoing developments with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra (WCO) negotiations. Never the dull writer, Robert launches the post with this gem, “Labor disputes never bring out the best in employers, and orchestras are no exception.”…
Madison’s Red Herring Special
When considering historical reasons behind work stoppages in the orchestra business, what comes to mind are intense disagreements on financial compensation and/or work rules, impending financial impasse, entrenched positions among stakeholders, attempts to implement sizeable budget cuts, etc. After the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra (WCO) announced they were cancelling their 2/27/2009 Masterworks concert due to what the organization defined as the musicians rejecting their latest contract offer, it seemed the two sides must have these sorts of disagreements. However, the reality may be very different…
Something Doesn’t Smell Right In Madison
After making steady progress on months of contentious negotiations, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra (WCO) issued a press release on January 30, 2009 announcing they were cancelling an upcoming February concert nearly a month away. According to the PR, the reason for the cancellation is because the Musicians of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra negotiation committee rejected provisions in the WCO’s latest negotiation offer. However, additional details in the WCO’s PR come across as smelling a bit off…
More On Musician Temperament
The ever sharp Sam Bergman published a fascinating post on 12/3/08 in response to the satirical article published by Holly Mulcahy about how musician behavior can alienate audiences (you have to love cross blog blogging). Sam does a wonderful job at expanding on Holly’s original premise, especially with regard to root causes which unintentionally develop inadvertent conduct, but it is the end of his article that caught my attention…