Klarinet Archive - Posting 000108.txt from 1998/01

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausman@-----.com>
Subj: Re: Vienna Phil. and women
Date: Sat, 3 Jan 1998 22:16:14 -0500

At 06:11 PM 1/3/98 -0600, Neil Leupold wrote:
>...I forgot about the plain impact that money has on this issue
>and the distinction between public vs. private funding. Does this
>distinction exist in Europe as well? Is the Vienna Philharmonic
>Orchestra in some way funded by the European Union? Or does the
>Unions governing body simply have regulatory powers in matters of
>labor dispute throughout its jurisdiction, regardless of funding
>sources?
>
I really don't know, although I suspect European orchestras are even MORE
publicly funded than ours. I believe I read that Abbie Conant's lawsuits
were directed in part against the city of Munich.

>> distinction here. "Hiring" must be based ONLY upon qualification to
>> perform the job, "joining" can include other factors.
>
>Also another interesting point (above). Would a U.S. orchestra ever
>be able to get away with the lip service to "equal opportunity" that
>the Vienna Phil. seems to?
>
Not today. But the U.S. is relatively enlightened in that regard. As
someone else has already pointed out, reacist/sexist attitudes are quite
common in Europe that would be considered completely unacceptable here.
And there are hundreds of years of precedent to back them up.

Bill Hausmann bhausman@-----.com
451 Old Orchard Drive http://www.concentric.net/~bhausman
Essexville, MI 48732 http://members.wbs.net/homepages/z/o/o/zoot14.html
ICQ UIN 4862265

If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is too loud.