 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: kdk
Date: 2019-09-23 05:16
This was posted yesterday in the Baltimore Sun, but I don't see that it has yet been brought up here. It seems like a sort of temporary band-aid, whatever it includes, because it's only a one-year contract. The terms won't be made public until a ratification vote, apparently tomorrow (Monday). Still, it might salvage the rest of this season while everyone takes a deep breath.
https://tinyurl.com/yybg6g9a
Karl
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2019-09-23 16:48
I haven't heard the details yet either. I suspect it will be a bandaid if it's approved by the musicians. As a former member I can't believe how devastating the whole thing has been. We fought so hard to get the 52 weeks season and become a major orchestra in the middle of the top tier orchestras and now an ineffectual management takes them back to where they were in the 70s.
ESP eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2019-09-23 17:00
It was just announced that the musicians accepted the contract but no details were given. I suspect it was not a decent offer. Details as I find out.
ESP eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: m1964
Date: 2019-09-23 17:20
It is so sad to hear that musicians' salary has to depend on promised donations.
Classical music is not very popular in the US, and one would hope that a government body (state or federal) would support BSO and other major major symphony orchestras financially and promote classical music...but in the world of commerce, when success is measured in $$$, major symphony orchestras have to depend on philanthropists in order to survive.
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Author: DougR
Date: 2019-09-24 01:02
I don't ever, EVER kid myself that fund-raising for an entity like the BSO is easy. It's a job I absolutely wouldn't want to do. But, if you sign onto the board for the canapés, glitz and posh parties, you're gonna have to make some cold calls and be beholden to the donors who actually come across--face it, you're in "sales" whether you think you're too grand to be or not.
One of the things that aids in the fund-raising effort is having a good story to tell, which the Minnesota Orchestra now has (after a disastrous lockout by a contemptible management and something of a renaissance under new management and a renewed sense of community support).
I don't know what kind of fund-raising story the BSO has to tell at this point. If current management stays, and the season is reduced, management will have "won" in a narrow sense, and the community that supports the BSO (either financially or in spirit, or both) will have lost.
In addition, there was an opportunity for community leaders who love the idea of a world-class BSO to put their muscle where their mouths are/were, and demand that the board and president snap-to and deliver. I'm not close enough to Baltimore anymore to know whether that happened or not. If not, that's perhaps the biggest loss of all.
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2019-09-24 15:59
Sept. 23, 2019
The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, which locked out its musicians over the summer while seeking substantial budget reductions, ratified a one-year agreement on Monday that will cut the number of official weeks of work for the musicians this year, but will make up the difference with bonus pay.
The orchestra’s management had wanted to cut the musicians’ paid weeks of work to 40, from the current 52. The musicians argued that such a cut in paid weeks would demote them from the ranks of year-round ensembles and make it harder to attract and retain top talent.
[More about the labor dispute in Baltimore.]
So are they still a full-time orchestra, or a part-time one? It depends on how you count.
Under the new agreement, management said, musicians would be paid for 40 weeks of work this coming season — and for another 10 weeks next summer through what the orchestra called “bonus compensation” that was made possible by a group of donors.
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That means the players will be paid for 50 weeks this season. It is less than the customary 52 weeks, but that is because the first two weeks of the season were lost to the labor dispute.
The agreement will allow the orchestra to start its delayed season on Friday. But it leaves some of the big questions about the orchestra’s future unresolved, since it runs only through next September — and it is unclear whether the bonus pay that will keep the musicians’ compensation stable this year will be available again.
Under the new agreement — which raises weekly salaries by 2.4 percent — the minimum base pay of Baltimore’s musicians will be just over $81,438 this season for 50 weeks, down from $82,794 for 52 weeks under the old contract.
And the orchestra is creating a “vision committee,” with musicians participating, to plan its next steps.
“Important work lies ahead,” Peter Kjome, the orchestra’s president, said in a statement. Brian Prechtl, the co-chairman of the players’ committee, said that the musicians “look forward to working side by side with leadership to chart a course for a promising future and to once again fill this room with the glorious sounds of music.”
ESP eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: kdk
Date: 2019-09-24 18:00
Ed Palanker wrote:
> And the orchestra is creating a “vision committee,” with
> musicians participating, to plan its next steps.
>
> “Important work lies ahead,” Peter Kjome, the orchestra’s
> president, said in a statement. Brian Prechtl, the co-chairman
> of the players’ committee, said that the musicians “look
> forward to working side by side with leadership to chart a
> course for a promising future and to once again fill this room
> with the glorious sounds of music.”
>
Would these musicians be the ones who stay after the exodus of players who can find work in other, still full-time (52 weeks), orchestras?
Karl
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Author: Ken Lagace
Date: 2019-09-24 18:14
As an aside, this type of management where the donors (stock holders) are more important than the product, has caused trouble elsewhere.
Boeing, the 'Rolls Royce' of aircraft companies, may be heading for bankruptcy for the inept and stupid upper management decisions over the 737 MAX, just to sooth the stock holders.
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2019-09-24 22:28
My take is that those young musicians will be taking as many auditions as possible but those with roots and are older will stay and hope. The BSO will be a revolving door orchestra even more that it's been before. Having played in it for 50 years and fighting for the 52 weeks season it breaks my heart to see this happen. Scale this year will still be $6K less than it would have been if the contract was observed in 2009. We gave back 20% then. Ten years later they are still making less that back then. SAD.
PS, the article I posted was from the NY Times.
ESP eddiesclarinet.com
Post Edited (2019-09-24 22:29)
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