Category: music

When San Diego Opera decided to replace its in-house orchestra with the musicians of the San Diego Symphony last year, some in the city’s arts scene were dubious. But one year into the partnership, the symphony and opera both pronounce themselves well pleased with the results.

The management of the cash-strapped Louisville Orchestra pulled out of contract negotiations with its musicians last week and went public with what it says is the musicians’ “complete disregard for the challenges facing the orchestra.” The orchestra’s executive director says that the ensemble may shut down before the end of the current season and reorganize in bankruptcy. The musicians say they were “stunned” by the announcement.

The stalled contract talks between the Louisville musicians and management can be summed up in two words: health care. “The orchestra now pays 99 percent of individual players’ health-care premiums. In its first offer, management sought a $50,000 savings in overall health-care expenses through a variety of options. The musicians’ Dec. 23 counterproposal included phased-in coverage for dependents — calling for the orchestra to pay 100 percent of dependent/family premiums in the 2008-09 season. The orchestra deemed that absurd.”

The president and CEO of the Fort Worth (Texas) Symphony Orchestra has been forced to resign after less than two years at the helm. Katherine Akos, who came into the job with an impressive resume including stints as a professional violinist and as a top fundraiser for the San Francisco Conservatory, reportedly had a hard time replicating her success in Texas, and her relationship with FWSO music director Miguel Harth-Bedoya was described as “frosty.”

“Music teachers who carry out the work of the foundation established by the violinist Midori went on strike on Thursday, denouncing what they said were a lack of raises, unfair pay and attempts to limit pensions.” Teachers in the program are paid $40 an hour, but say they are given only a few hours of work per week and are asked to travel for hours between classes. “The foundation countered that the teachers were making unreasonable demands on an organization created to do good.”

Global music retail revenues fell about 2 percent last year. In 2004 they remained flat at $33.6 billion, punctuating a four-year slide. The drop in overall sales came “despite a threefold increase in digital music revenue to $1.1 billion from $380 million, while illegal file-sharing volumes changed little. The new downturn, based on data from three-quarters of the global market, underlined major challenges facing record companies…”

The St. Lawrence String Quartet has a new violinist. It’s University of Toronto faculty-member Scott St. John. “When Barry (Shiffman)informed us he was leaving, we put together a short list of ‘dream’ candidates, Scott was the first name on that list, and when we sat down to play with him, we all realized he really is the perfect fit for the SLSQ.”

The controversial president of the Baltimore Symphony has resigned. James Glicker had been on the job only 18 months, and had drawn the ire of the BSO’s musicians over the appointment of Marin Alsop as music director designate. The orchestra has also been struggling with accumulating debt and disappointing subscription sales, and Glicker’s appointment as president roiled the organization from the start.

Musicians in South Carolina’s Charleston Symphony have walked away from the bargaining table after being given an ultimatum by the orchestra’s management that planning would not begin for next season unless a contract settlement was reached by February 1. The musicians’ contract doesn’t actually expire until the end of June, and the musicians claim that the ultimatum amounts to a “board strike.”

The Charleston Symphony’s board president is denying that musicians were ever given a February 1 deadline to sign a new deal. The musicians maintain that the ultimatum was real, and point out that they accepted an 18% pay cut in 2003 to help the organization right its financial ship.