Drew McManus on the orchestra business.
The recent Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) strike is an excellent example of something that demonstrates how much the work stoppage PR landscape has shifted over the past decade. For example, one of the strongest musician talking points is the deleterious impact concessions have on an orchestra’s ability to attract and retain the very best artistic talent. This was a cornerstone of the CSO musician position: If the employer does away with …
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 …
One day after a report that bargaining was stalled, the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra (FWSO) announced it reached a tentative agreement. The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS), which had been mediating the negotiations, released a press statement on 12/04/2016 announcing the tentative deal. The musicians have scheduled a ratification meeting for Wednesday, 12/07/2016 but as of now, there is no work if the musicians’ negotiation team plans to recommend their …
Just a quick post-Thanksgiving note today to make sure you haven’t inadvertently overlooked the good news that the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra work stoppage has ended and the group is back to work with a newly ratified collective bargaining agreement. Rumblings of a deal surfaced via an article by Elizabeth Bloom in the 11/22/2016 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette then became public via a 11/23/2016 article in the same outlet by Bob Batz Jr. We’ll take a …
Although the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (PSO) and its musicians returned to mediated bargaining at the beginning of the month, those talks have yet to produce enough momentum to prevent additional event cancellations. Case in point, the organization announced the latest round of cancellations for events through Monday, 12/5/2016. Since both sides agreed to a media blackout, there are few details but the 11/15/2016 edition of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette published an article …