Monday Morning Violin Gossip, Op. 2, No. 6

By Darcy Lewis

First we had the book Mozart in the Jungle, a disgruntled look at the inner workings of American orchestral life. Now, an article in the Guardian newspaper describing the working state of British orchestral string players gives one pause. Here’s an excerpt:

"One could argue that in this country we do not get the orchestras we deserve: we get far, far better than that. And it is the players who are subsidising us. String players are the rank and file of the orchestra, the infantry. Of the 600 or so orchestral string players in full-time work across the country, few earn more than £25,000 a year. Many are on much less. Orchestral rates of pay in western Europe are high, where a premier-league player can earn up to £50,000. In America, where there is no state funding for the arts and orchestras rely mainly on private sponsorship, the average starting salary is $58,000 (£32,805), more than one and a half times that of British recruits. But it's not just the money and lack of career advancement that prompts some players to hang up their bows..." The Guardian (UK) 02/01/06

Read the entire article here

Meanwhile, in a seeming stroke of irony, the San Franciso Symphony has negotiated a new, still-tentative contract with its players that will most likely put base pay near $120,000 per player. The San Francisco Chronicle reports: "The musicians and management of the San Francisco Symphony reached a tentative agreement Sunday [1/29] night on the terms of a new three-year contract ... Neither side would disclose the terms of the settlement before it is ratified by the players and the labor committee of the Symphony's board of governors in the coming days." Violist David Gaudry, chair of the players' negotiating committee, tells the paper that many of the contract's terms had been settled in previous sessions and "said the remaining issues -- chiefly pensions and seniority pay -- had been resolved by compromises from both parties." Gaudry comments: "The fact that this took so long to resolve and was so hotly contested should tell you that in order to be acceptable, there has been some give on both sides."

People News

Grant Cooper has signed a contract with the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra extending his contract as music director through 2006-07, according to the ASOL. Cooper is now in his ninth season in that post.

2/12/06 – Violinist Julia Fischer is performing a trio recital at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam with Daniel Muller-Schott and Jonathan Gilad. On the program, works of Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky. The following evening, she will play Beethoven sonatas at the Beethovenhaus in Bonn with Milana Chernyavska at the Beethoven Ring Award Ceremony.

2/2/06 – Alexander Mickelthwate has signed on as Music Director of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, according to the Globe & Mail. His three-year contract commences with the 2006-07 season. Mickelthwate, currently an assistant conductor at the Los Angeles Philharmonic, replaces Andrey Boreyko, who led the orchestra for four seasons.

1/31/06 - The Capuçon Brothers — violinist Renaud and cellist Gautier—performed in San Francisco. On the program: Ravel’s Sonata for Violin and Piano, Kodály's Duo for Violin and Cello and Martinu’s Duo No. 2 for Violin and Cello. The French pair have been dubbed that country’s Instrumentalist of the Year.

1/31/06 – The Columbus Dispatch profiled Columbus Symphony Orchestra bassist Russell Gill,, who is a world-record-holding stair climber: "Gill has participated in 20 climbs of the skyscraper, raising $246,570, climbing 783,571 steps and setting a world record. He has so many sponsors that he uses a database to keep track of them." Gill was to have participated this weekend in a climb of the 41-story Rhodes Tower to raise money for cystic-fibrosis research: He "plan[ned] 50 ascents, beginning late Friday and ending early Saturday." The paper notes: "Gill ... has performed and climbed on the same day in years past, but the orchestra has no concerts this weekend." In the 1990s, he twice used the Rhodes Tower climb to set speed marks recognized by Guinness World Records. “His 1994 record was 53 ascents in nine hours, 16 minutes and 24 seconds. (Descents are done by elevator.)"

1/27/06 - Robert Bernhardt has extended his contract as Music Director of the Chattanooga Symphony for another four years, reports the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

1/24/06 - The prominent Bay Area violinist and educator Doris Fukawa has been appointed executive director of Berkeley's Crowden Music Center, having served as interim director since June, reports San Francisco Classical Voice.

Orchestra News

The Houston Symphony has announced details of its 2006-07 season. Highlights include a continuation of the orchestra's program of commissioning new solo works for its musicians. Principal Violist Wayne Brooks will be the soloist for the world premiere of a viola concerto by Gabriela Lena Frank.

Starting in March, the Cleveland Orchestra will begin a new syndicated 26-week radio series featuring performances at Severance Hall. The series includes 20 broadcasts of performances conducted by Music Director Franz Welser-Most, with additional broadcasts of performances led by guest conductors including Vladimir Ashkenazy, Pierre Boulez, and Lorin Maazel. In addition to concerts from the current season, the series will feature historically significant performances such as the 1981 concert celebrating the 50th anniversary of Severance Hall.

1/31/06 - The Louisville Courier-Journal reported that representatives of management and the players of the Louisville Orchestra agreed to seek a mediator to help bring them closer to agreement. Orchestra clarinetist and head of the musicians' committee Tim Zavadil comments: "The musicians are very committed to the orchestra and to the process of mediation -- and ... working as hard as we can to come to a solution." The paper adds: "Earlier yesterday, the orchestra's board heard from its bankruptcy attorney, John S. Egan, who laid out strategies for the orchestra as its cash runs out over the next two months" and quotes Executive Director Scott Provancher: "Our legal counsel advised us not to take a [bankruptcy] vote until closer to the date where we will run out of cash ... which would be early April." Provancher said “forestalling bankruptcy would involve 'a complete rethinking of our relationship with the musicians, as well as the contract and the operating model for the orchestra.'" Board President Joseph Pusateri "said yesterday that he was willing to try mediation, but cautioned that 'the orchestra's situation is deteriorating every day, so if we are going to explore this path it would be better to do it sooner rather than later.'"

1/31/06 - The Toronto Globe and Mail profiled the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, writing: "It has an energetic new leader [in Music Director William Eddins], ticket sales are hitting record levels, and a string of balanced budgets has tamed a once-fearsome accumulated deficit. Four years ago, the ESO was desperately in need of intensive care, after a five-week strike and a series of administrative setbacks put the orchestra (whose current budget is around $7-million) nearly $900,000 in the hole in one season." The paper calls Eddins a "young yet experienced conductor (who at age 40 had spent 10 years assisting Daniel Barenboim at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra) with an outsized public persona and a bold way of thinking about symphonic music."

1/27/06 - The Dallas Symphony Orchestra's summer residency at the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival in Colorado will end after this summer's concerts, reports the Dallas Morning News. After an eight-year run presenting the DSO, the festival has opted not to renew the DSO's contract and the Philadelphia Orchestra will take its place, joining the New York Philharmonic and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra on the 2007 Vail schedule. DSO President Fred Bronstein comments: "We were thrilled to have kept such a prestigious residency for this extended period and will miss our fans in Vail. But we are mindful of the fact that the Bravo! music festival is not a permanent residency for any orchestra.”

1/24/06 – The Honolulu Advertiser gave the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra an improved prognosis: "Financial problems, public apathy and infighting within its top ranks threatened to plunge the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra into irrelevance last year, but now the 106-year-old institution is showing signs of recovery." The paper cites a 50 percent increase in fund raising from last year, plans for new education and outreach initiatives, and "an influx of new members on the symphony's board of directors" among developments. The HSO is expected to decide on a permanent executive director in March and hire a music director later this year.

1/20/06 - The Wichita Symphony Orchestra's Legacy Endowment Campaign has received another major commitment toward its $3 million goal. The S.M. and Laura H. Brown Charitable Trust has pledged $250,000 to support the orchestra's concertmaster position for the next 50 years.

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