Phil Orch Prez Admits Misleading Statements

As the Philadelphia Orchestra’s contract negotiations spiral into an embarassingly public spat between managers and musicians, the orchestra’s embattled president, Joseph Kluger, has been forced to admit that some of the statements the management made on a website intended to turn public sentiment against the musicians were inaccurate. Kluger and board chairman Richard Smoot had claimed that rental costs on office space for the orchestra were unanticipated and impossible to predict; they had also claimed that the orchestra’s second harpist performs only three concerts per year. In fact, the rental costs were always known, and the harpist in question plays “16 of 30 subscription weeks, 19 single concerts, and has played or will play nine of 28 summer concerts.”