Category: music

“For starters, the musicians have a no-strike clause in their contract. Also, the Allentown Symphony Orchestra is seeing its audience grow and revenues increase. The musicians will vote next week on a three-year contract that gives them a raise. … Allentown Symphony Conductor Diane Wittry described it this way Monday: ‘We’re an orchestra that’s in a growth phase.'”

“There are stations that feel that digital will save them should the audience dwindle. They have to be very careful because the competition is so great. A single station is going to have a hard time making up lost over-the-air revenue online. Over-the-air radio isn’t going away for now, and this is not a head in the sand view—over-the-air is still the mainstay.”

“From 2013 to 2016, ticket income rose 82.5 percent after a 60 percent increase in season subscriptions and a 128 percent increase in single ticket sales. Individual donations have jumped 34.5 percent.”

The cellist who is chair of the negotiating committee said “the final deal was an improvement over management’s original offer, and the players were eager to return to work. ‘We wanted to avoid harming the institution.'”

“Regardless of whether this is quick, or the kind of long, damaging strike the orchestra sustained in 1996, bigger problems loom. Musicians returning to work will no more end the orchestra’s troubles than the group’s exit from bankruptcy in 2012. The salient question: Is there enough willing philanthropy in Philadelphia to support this orchestra’s traditional spot as one of the top ensembles in the nation? Some believe wholesale change in the organization is what it will take to preserve that status.”

“Reich’s Grammy-winning 1988 work was performed at Edge Hill station, with passenger trains rolling in and out of Liverpool on both sides of the stage.
About 1,200 people watched on the station’s Victorian carriage ramp.”

“It used to be understood that there was a group of good community citizens, usually associated with the big companies in town who had deep ties to the community and a sense of civic responsibility. … Now companies are changing, they’re owned by holding companies, their headquarters are elsewhere, and CEOs move around.”

“There’s no happy ending in sight for any of these situations. One can only hope that everyone has learned from the bitterness of other recent disputes to try to minimize the collateral damage and work hard for a swift resolution. Philadelphia and Pittsburgh are two of the country’s leading orchestras, and while they are out, there is a lot of great music not being made.”

“Friday night, a crowd of about 1,000 sat in Verizon Hall waiting for the orchestra to appear for the scheduled start of the Opening Night Gala. But no Philadelphia Orchestra appeared on stage. Unbeknownst to most in the audience, the 96 musicians and two librarians belonging to American Federation of Musicians Local 77 had decided to go out on strike about an hour before curtain time.”