Departing concertmaster: Israel is no place for a musician to make a living
NewsThe Israel Philharmonic concertmaster David Radzyinski, newly appointed to the Cleveland Orchestra, has giving a hard-hitting interview to Goel Pinto on Kan-tarbut criticising the miserable salaries paid to musicians.
‘Orchestras in Israel don’t have enough support from the Government,’ he says.
‘There are people who come to work at the Philharmonic and make 8 to 10k shekels ($2,400-3,000) a month. Life is very difficult for them. They have to take up other jobs to make ends meet.
‘If you want musicians to be happy and want to stay, it’s pretty obvious what needs to be done.
‘It’s not a secret that our principal violist, cellist and 2nd violinist left not long ago. If you don’t see a pattern here, you’re just blind to what’s going on.
‘To be a musician in Israel is very difficult.’
On going to Cleveland: ‘Zubin Mehta was so happy for me.’
Listen here (Hebrew/English)
Many people earn this amount of money in the uk.
Coming from the states it is not a lot of money for him
Tel Aviv is the most expensive city in the world. More than the UK. Do the math.
A worker at McDonald’s in Liverpool* does not typically require the costly upkeep of a fine instrument.
*rent in Liverpool is about 53% less than in Tel Aviv.
https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=Israel&country2=United+Kingdom&city1=Tel+Aviv-Yafo&city2=Liverpool
And you don’t need to study for at least 17 consecutive yrs nor practice for hours every single day nor buy and keep up your expensive instrument…that’s only the principal differences between having a job at MacDonald and being an very responsibly employed musician…
1) Paris pays very poorly as well. I think the expectation is that one gets a professorship at a conservatory as one’s day job.
2) Cleveland pays more. But you have to live in Cleveland. And there are only 75,000 Jews in the greater Cleveland area. (There are 560,000 in Brooklyn.)
3) People wonder how Cleveland can sustain one of the top orchestras in the world while Paris can’t sustain a single one? Because Paris has to fund and construct space for 3 orchestras, 2 opera houses, 1 ballet company, 21 conservatories in each arrondissement, and it’s all paid for by the state.
Perhaps Israel has the same problem: When you have to spread the wealth around to the maximum number of people, you’ll lose people no longer willing to play for peanuts.
“Cleveland pays more. But you have to live in Cleveland. And there are only 75,000 Jews in the greater Cleveland area. (There are 560,000 in Brooklyn.)”
The cost of living in Cleveland is MUCH lower than many American cities, especially New York City. And living in CLE is good in other ways–a first-class art museum with free admission, good restaurants, some of the best health care facilities in the entire country.
Yes. Well said. Cleveland gets a bad rap. He is going to improve his standard of living immensely and will be playing in a truly GREAT orchestra (I heard them in NYC the other evening). To compare the Jewish population of Cleveland with that of Brooklyn is rather ridiculous, nowhere in any major US city is the Jewish population as a percentage of the total anywhere near that in Brooklyn. There are plenty of Jews in Cleveland – and some in the orchestra. My main complaint about the city is the weather (!). The suburbs are truly lovely and downtown is not as bad as it was. As Milton Friedman said “people vote with their feet” and they want to come to America.
… to rampant capitalism, megalomaniac politicians, a consensus of opinion around the ‘hard right’, extraordinary inequalities in wealth, very poor health outcomes, no state intervention around welfare, housing, maternity, child care etc… Who wants that dystopia? Give me Europe any time!
Also 1st class colleges and universities, high tech opportunities as well as the CIM. The Cleveland Clinic is on a par with Mayo etc… Shaker Heights offers a superb area to live. Cleveland, like Pittsburgh, isn’t stuck in 1970.
Also has the Guardians, the Cavaiers and the Browns — something for everyone, year-round!
and a pretty good Poker Room at the Casino downtown……………
Actually, the surrounding suburbs of Cleveland are quite nice and pretty affordable, so you don’t actually have to live in Cleveland. And Cleveland itself does have some nice things about it and is easy to commute to if you work there or if you just want to visit for the day.
If you factor in the cost of living, the pay for Cleveland Orchestra is the highest of any orchestra in the world.
Population of Paris: 2.24 million. Population of Cleveland: around 370000.
I appreciate it’s never justified to pay serious professional musicians poorly but what a difference it makes to musical life for the state to accept responsibility for proper funding of education, tuition and performances. Europe’s salaries may be modest but at least we don’t have to depend on sycophantic kowtowing to wildly overpaid oligarchs …
You also forgot to mention that Tel Aviv is the most expensive city in the world… and that most musicians make around 6k shekels a month (about $1.8k) while living in a very expensive country, with extremely expensive living costs and high taxes. He’s right…
He chose to live in israel. And he complains.
He was not forced to leave america.
According to his bio, David was only 28 when Zubin Mehta hired him as his concertmaster so you can’t really blame him for taking that role at such a young age. You also can’t blame him for accepting a better job, and what is a huge step in his career. Sounds like the only one complaining here is you.
Dear Henry,
I don’t think he is complaining, but merely stating the facts.
Looks like he’s using his platform to try and help other people, and kudos to him for speaking up.
I’m one of those Israeli musicians he’s talking about and he’s absolutely right. This is a widespread problem here, he didn’t make anything up.
I’ll tell you a secret: everybody knows about it, but nobody says anything.
Let’s also not forget the seniority pay system of the IPO where orchestra veterans who have been playing there over 25-30years can earn in excess of 30,000+ shekels (just under 9,000euros) while their younger colleagues in a corresponding/equal position earn between 10-12.5k shekels before tax (2.7k-3.4K euros).
Interesting! I just retired after 35 years with the New York Phil, and I was earning a couple hundred dollars per week more than my youngest colleagues. The paucity of seniority pay increases is galling to some, but it helps prevent that sort of huge inequity so damaging to young IP players.
Good point, Judy..
Congratulations BTW!
A mensch, it takes integrity to state facts; but Mr Lebrechr, Mr Radzynski said nothing of Israel not a place for musicians. Tel Aviv is one of the world’s priciest cities to live in. Local or not, the money earned there doesn’t go a long way with its astronomical rents. The WSJ, as reported June 8, ranks Tel Aviv 6th most expensive, just behind Tokyo and London. Zurich is 7th; try living in Zurich on even 3000 usd a month.
Gerry the people i know that have gone to
Live in Israel from the uk are all well off. They are not concerned about prices.
Yes, the sun rises in the east and Elizabeth is Queen—your point?
Any of them postmen? Cleaners? even lower rank local cops, or nurses? I imagine the people you know who have gone to live in Israel are pretty well-heeled.
From the Land of Milk and Honey to the Land of the Almighty dollar.
He is not mentioning something pretty important: another reason for the fact that some of leaders in the Israel Phil (including David) are leaving is the huge amount of work and concerts they are doing there and no reduction in the work for the those leading positions there as oppose to parallel jobs in european orchestras.
A graceful exit. I’m sure his IPO colleagues are appreciative.
“As populists flourish, the purveyors of culture are impoverished.”
Discuss.
The IPO is not a non-profit. It is collectively owned by the musicians. Tel Aviv is ridiculously expensive but there is cheap housing to be had in mid-sized towns such as Be’er Sheva, which are only a 45 minute train ride away.
Anyone thought about moving next door to Palestine then?
Same in Ontario Canada.
$3,000 is quite nice money even in the USA. Besides musicians can give private lessons and participate in small ensembles.
It’s all relative to where you live buddy. 3K a month in Missouri is very different from 3K in NY. Also, I’m pretty sure if it was just about the salary he could have gotten a job in other places too. Clearly the Cleveland position is a career move as well.
to NON-buddy,
I live in a quite expensive city.
Congratulations
I do not think that this should have been published on Slipped Disc. Believe me, it is as difficult, or perhaps moreso, to be a Musician in the UK!
So sad that we are experiencing an exodus of members of our beloved Israeli Orchestra – a vital part of the return to our Homeland. Please let’s establish a Foundation to make sure that they are compensated adequately. Please don’t go. You are all a treasure!!!
Drs. Len and Barb Vosens