The two orchestral strikes are umbilically linked. Both orchestra have run deep deficits and are trying to force their musicians to accept pay cuts.

The musicians say that if the orchestra management wants to retain world-class status – with all the attendant kudos of international tours and civic prestige – they need to maintain a world-class pay level. If they don’t, the best players won’t stay for long.

What has become apparent over the past few weeks is that the boards of both companies have put their fingers in their ears and adopted fixed positions, preparing for an inevitable walkout.

In Pittsburgh, a ‘last, best and final offer’ was made to the musicians on September 18. It involved a 15 percent pay cut. When the musicians rejected it, a federal mediator was summoned from Washington. But there was no intention on the employers’ side to budge one cent from their final offer – effectively, an ultimatum. They were simply wasting Government time in calling in a mediator. When the musicians saw no movement on the other side, they walked out.

In Philadelphia, an external consultant was called in a year ago to advise on the best way of maintaining musical standards while reducing the deficit. None of his recommendations was activated. The management put a pay cut to the musicians. When they declined it the only way out was to strike.

In both instances, the employers’ side was not interested in talking – only in imposing terms.

That’s a mark of bad management. It’s also a sign of bad faith.

Allison Vulgamore in Philadelphia and Melia Tourangeau in Pittsburgh have not played fair with their musicians.

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The person who will negotiate the delicate balance between the Berlin Phil and its incoming music director Kirill Petrenko will make her first appearance on Thursday at his contract signing.

Andrea Zietzschmann, 46, has been in charge until recently of the NDR orchestras in Hamburg, preparing them for residency in the new Elbphilharmonie hall.

Her two previous jobs were as head of music at Frankfurt radio and manager of Claudio Abbado’s Mahler Chamber Orchestra. She was also involved with Abbado in the founding of the Lucerne Chamber Orchestra.

She seems to have all the right credentials to be Intendantin of the Berlin Phil.

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photo: NDR

 

 

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This is starting to look serious. The German tenor has cancelled performances so far in Berlin, Budapest and Munich. He has now pulled out of November’s Tales of Hoffmann in Paris. Apparently he has burst a small vein in his vocal cords.

Here is what he has told the Paris Opera:

I’m sorry that my cancellations have been the source of a lot of disappointment and frustration over the past few weeks.

Of course, I can understand the irritation of all those who had organized the expensive trips to come and listen to me. Unfortunately, the performance of a voice of singer cannot be guaranteed and sometimes a singer is facing events that require it to take a long rest.

When I noticed that something was wrong with my voice, at first I thought it was a beginning of infection. The medical examination, however, has given a different result: the side effects of a medicine made burst a small vein on my vocal cords.

So I must stop singing until the haematoma has completely subsided. To avoid permanent damage. Thus, it is with a heavy heart that I must also cancel my representations of the Tales of Hoffmann in Paris.


I wish here to warmly thank all those who have sent me their wishes for a speedy recovery by Facebook and by e-mail.”

En francais:

« Je suis navré que mes annulations aient été la source de beaucoup de déception et de frustration au cours des dernières semaines.
Bien sûr, je peux comprendre l’irritation de tous ceux qui avaient organisé des voyages coûteux pour venir m’écouter. Malheureusement, les performances d’une voix de chanteur ne peuvent être garanties et parfois un chanteur est confronté à des événements qui l’obligent à prendre un repos prolongé.
Lorsque j’ai remarqué que quelque chose n’était pas normal avec ma voix, j’ai d’abord cru à un début d’infection. L’examen médical a toutefois donné un autre résultat : les effets secondaires d’un médicament ont fait éclater une petite veine sur mes cordes vocales.
Je dois donc arrêter de chanter jusqu’à ce que l’hématome se soit complètement résorbé pour éviter des lésions irréversibles. Ainsi, c’est le cœur gros que je dois aussi annuler mes représentations des Contes d’Hoffmann à Paris.
Je souhaite ici remercier chaleureusement tous ceux qui m’ont envoyé leurs vœux de prompt rétablissement par Facebook et par e-mail. »

Jonas Kaufmann

A third US orchestra – the biggest yet – has gone on strike.

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Below you can read the musicians’ reason for walking out.

But pause a moment for reflection. One orchestra going on strike is a local dispute. Two is a trend. Three is a system failure. There must be a better way of doing orchestra business in the USA.

UPDATE: Editorial: Talks were not held in good faith

We, the musicians of the Philadelphia Orchestra, have decided to withhold our services and strike. We believe this is the only way we can gain the attention of our entire community and begin in a meaningful way the process of reversing the shameful decline of our treasured institution.

This strike is not about the musicians’ greedy search for ever more money. If it were, we would have gone on strike in 2009, when our salary was reduced by more than 1 percent. We would have gone on strike in 2010, when we absorbed a wage freeze. We would have gone on strike in 2011, when our salary went down by a further 14 percent. We make no apology for wanting to be well compensated when we have devoted countless hours of hard work to achieving a level of musicianship which has placed us at the very top of our profession. To claim otherwise would be disingenuous. But our actions over the past decade clearly demonstrate that we have been willing to continue to play at the very highest level while our salary has greatly declined relative to the pay of other major American orchestras.

Over the past nine years, we have endured multiple cuts to our wages, pension, and working conditions in the hopes that our sacrifices would give the Association time to rebuild and restore us to our proper status. We did not strike a year ago, when we reluctantly signed a one-year contract on the condition that the world-renowned consultant, Michael Kaiser, be brought in to lend his expertise to revitalizing the Philadelphia Orchestra. He issued his report in April, 2016. Five months later, the Association has yet publicly adopted a single one of his recommendations.

Just as in any other highly skilled profession, symphony orchestras compete for a small pool of talent, constantly striving to engage the very best in our field.

Montreal producer Howard Bilerman tells how he got to record ‘You Want It Darker’ with the legend that is Leonard Cohen and his local synagogue choir:

And so, this past winter Adam texts “Hey, is the studio free next week to work on a song of my dad’s?” And again, dear readers, I hope you will forgive me for another misunderstanding, thinking that what he meant was “I would like to record a cover of one of my dad’s songs.” The actual interpretation, it turns out was, “I am producing a record for my dad, and there’s a song that needs some overdubs. Would you and your studio be free to record them?”

Those overdubs were performed by Cantor Gideon Zelermyer and the Shaar Hashomayim Synagogue Choir (both Leonard’s great-grandfather, Lazarus Cohen, and his grandfather, Lyon Cohen, served as President of Congregation Shaar Hashomayim), singing on the title track “You Want It Darker.” A few weeks later, the same group sang on “Seemed A Better Way.”

Read the full story here.

 

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