Auditioning the St. Louis Symphony

Every time an orchestra announces a vacancy and schedules an audition it’s actually holding a referendum among the world’s professional musicians.  That referendum is whether or not that orchestra is artistically worthy of attracting a certain level of player. On January 3rd and 4th, the St. Louis Symphony had scheduled just such a referendum among the French Horn and Double Bass players in the industry, they had an audition. There are …

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More Breaking News From St. Louis

Throughout this week’s drama surrounding the contract issues at the Saint Louis Symphony, there’s been a small PR campaign covering the larger philosophical issues of what’s keeping the musicians and management apart; and that smaller issue is one of culpability surrounding the wave of this week’s cancelled auditions and concerts.

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Breaking News From St. Louis

After speaking with representatives from the Saint Louis Symphony Management and the Player’s Association, more details surrounding the auditions and resulting situation have emerged. The Auditions I spoke with Jeff Trammel, Director of Communications for the SLSO and he said that: The orchestra’s management had contacted some of the individual orchestra musicians who were scheduled to serve on the audition committee (the group of musicians responsible for listening to audition candidates). …

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Post Concessionary Thoughts: Do’s And Don’ts

I quoted Sam Bergman in yesterday’s article as saying:

“Agreeing to this contract was the right thing to do, simply because many of the messes that exist in our organization are not the fault of the current upper management team, which has been on the job for only a year. It seemed only logical to allow a new group of managers an adequate period of time to reverse the years of mismanagement that preceded their arrival.”

And that’s a very wise and reasonable point of view.  But what happens if an upper management team fails in their attempts to improve the organization’s situation and, as a result, can not deliver on their part of the contract?

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More Contract Negotiation Extensions

It appears that the Chicago Symphony now joins Cleveland in extending the deadline for reaching a new CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement).  Chicago Tribune critic, Wynne Delacoma, reported in today’s issue that talks have been extended through October 31, 2004.  The article also reports that a retired judge has been brought in to mediate the remainder of the bargaining sessions.

I think this is an excellent example of how flexible both musicians and managers can be when it comes to bargaining methods.

There’s always been a great deal of talk in the industry about which bargaining method is best.  Some people swear by traditional methods and others endorse processes such as Interest Based Bargaining.

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