Drew McManus on the Orchestra business | est. 2003

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Planning Ahead For A Busy Week And A Quick CSO Update

Mon, Mar 3, 2019
Adaptistration People 168
What a week to be away at a conference. At the time this article was written (Sunday, March 10), the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) was in the last few hours before the musicians’ deadline to reach a new agreement before going on strike. Update: the musicians are officially on strike. As of late, I’ve been

Chicago Symphony Orchestra Musicians Will Go On Strike If New Deal Isn’t Reached By March 10, 2019

Fri, Feb 2, 2019
Adaptistration People 187
In 2012, the musicians of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) decided to announce a strike exactly one hour before one of the initial concerts from that season. The result was patrons arriving at the hall to discover the concert was cancelled.  While some offered their support, others were extremely upset at the short notice. Ultimately,

Chicago Concertgoers Get A Dose Of Moody Muti

Wed, Jun 6, 2018
The Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times published articles on 6/25/18 reporting on an incident at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) that involved music director Riccardo Muti stopping a performance due to coughing. According to the Sun-Times report by Mitch Dudek, Muti “castigated the audience” while the Tribune article by Morgan Greene relayed audience reactions.

Top-Tier Musician Compensation 2018

Fri, May 5, 2018
It’s time to revisit base musician compensation levels at the top eight highest paying orchestras. For a number of these orchestras, the 2017/18 season marks the end of their existing collective bargaining agreement (CBA) and they have yet to ratify a new contract. In each of those instances, the outcomes will have a large impact

Lack Of Women Composers Among Some Big Budget Orch 2018/19 Programming

Mon, Feb 2, 2018
Adaptistration People 195
On 1/31/2018, the always sharp Alex Ross published a short but powerful tweet about something he noticed in the 2018/19 season announcements from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Philadelphia Orchestra. https://twitter.com/alexrossmusic/status/958741910935371778 Not too long ago, we examined a similar lack of women composers in masterworks programming at the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO); in that
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