Drew McManus on the orchestra business.
Every time a work stoppage rolls around and lasts for more than a few weeks, it is common to see some typical questions arise. To that end, today’s #TBT includes some articles I’ve written over the years that cover some of these topics. Here’s one that continues to be one of the most visited articles at the blog. Understanding The Difference Between A Strike And A Lockout While a contract expiration …
On Monday, 3/25/2019, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association (CSOA) released a statement that it was cancelling a week’s worth of concerts and events through April 2, 2019. Ticket holders received notifications of the cancellations and their options for what to do with the now obsolete tickets: Exchange your tickets into the same or similar seating section for other concerts in the current season, for no additional charge. Return your tickets and …
In 2014, we took a deep dive into which International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians (ICSOM) symphonic orchestras paid substitute musicians the same rate as core musicians and in the wake of a recent conversation with ICSOM chairperson Meredith Snow and ICSOM President Paul Austin, it’s time to update that list. My thanks to Paul Austin for spearheading this effort and providing ICSOM’s list of changes. As with most comparative …
I am all kinds of happy to see Frank Almond is back up and running with his non divisi blog. He published the first new post-hiatus article on March 21, 2019 and it touches on a topic that deserves as much attention as possible: improving the academic landscape for emerging musicians. Basics Be sure to sign up for Frank’s new email subscription as well (even if you were subscribed to the …
At the end of week two, Chicago Symphony Orchestra is no closer to resolving the strike than they since it started. While both sides have engaged in bargaining and there appears to have been some progress, it was limited to non-showstopper level terms. Both sides continue to hammer away at their existing talking points. The bulk of musician press statements have been focusing on highlighting support and while there’s plenty of …