Doublereed Archive - Posting 000048.txt from 2004/02

From: James Jeter <jyjeter@-----.com>
Subj: [DR-L] Good News!
Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2004 10:54:02 -0500

I just received this from Local 802 here in NYC - good news for live
music/musicians. Hopefully, this news will make it "across the pond,"
where our British colleagues are now engaged in the same struggle.

"On February 9th, 2004, Local 802 of the American Federation of
Musicians (AFM) announced an historic joint agreement with the Opera
Company of Brooklyn (OCB) banning the use of the virtual orchestra
machine in all future productions.

On February 6th, Local 802 protested the company's opening performance
of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro, that replaced musicians with a virtual
orchestra machine called RealTime Symphonia. This is the same machine
that is currently being used to threaten the replacement of musicians in
the Les Miserables production in London's West End.

According to the terms of the Memorandum of Agreement, the employer
agrees to use only live musicians for all of its productions,
performances and rehearsals and shall not employ a virtual orchestra, or
any other mechanical synthetic or technological means to reproduce
music, except upon the express written consent of the union.

"This is the first agreement that we know of that bans the use of the
virtual orchestra machine. I want to thank the Opera Company of Brooklyn
for their commitment to live music and their cooperation in severing
their partnership with RealTime Symphonia. Local 802's main priority is
to keep music live and will continue to aggressively fight the
displacement of live musicians with the virtual orchestra machine.
Local 802 has great appreciation for the courage and foresight of the
musicians that stood up to OCB's use of the virtual orchestra machine,"
said Local 802 AFM President David Lennon.

The agreement also gives union recognition to OCB musicians and requires
the employer to negotiate for a collective bargaining agreement by March
1st."

All the Best - Jim

--
James Jeter, D.M.A.
NYC Bassoonist
http://www.westfieldnj.com/wso/jeter.htm

"Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that
you do it." Mahatma Gandhi
"Mach' es kurz! Am Juengsten Tag ist's nur ein Furz!" Goethe