Drew McManus on the orchestra business.
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 happy to give labor stoppages a 24-48 hour window to resolve on their own before taking …
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, that strike settled in a matter of days, but the amount of patron animosity reached higher …
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. But one common thread through both versions is Muti didn’t seem concerned about projecting his displeasure …
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 on what many orchestra musicians consider their organization’s ability to compete for the best on-stage talent. …
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. Number of female composers programmed by the Chicago Symphony and the Philadelphia Orchestra for the 2018-19 season: 0 — Alex Ross (@alexrossmusic) January 31, 2018 Not too long ago, we examined a similar lack of women composers in masterworks programming …