Quebec has new music director but no money for musicians
NewsThere is outrage among musicians of the Orchestra symphonique de Québec at the appointment of a German music director who declined, unlike other contenders, to make the livelihood of the players a condtion of his acceptance.
Many musicians in the QSO live on the poverty line at a base salary $33,300 a year – about a third of their near neighbours at the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal.
At least one rising young conductor walked away from the QSO offer on hearing of these miserable terms.
The newly appointed Clemens Schuldt will have to do much more than wave a magic wand to earn his players’ trust.
No doubt they should be earning more, but it’s not right to compare them to the OSM, which is both an orchestra of much greater stature and, I assume, quite a bit busier.
Orchestra stature is almost entirely location rather than quality or superiority. Larger cities have more money. End of story.
OSQ is a superb orchestra with fantastic musicians. The field is so crowded and desperate in Canada and the USA that all musicians are just fortunate to have employment. But they all should be treasured equally, as they are in Europe, Germany especially.
Perhaps once he gets acclimated there, has a number of concerts under his belt, earns the respect of staff and board, he will be a much stronger position to advocate on behalf of his musicians.
Like I said…perhaps.
Hello, I am a member of this orchestra and therefore quite close to the situation. Thank you for bringing light to this issue. However, I’m curious to know what your sources are as to my knowledge, most of the details in this article are incorrect.
What are the sources of these claims? I’m a member of the OSQ and none of us are upset at the appointment of Clemens. On the contrary, we’ve been seriously in need of a director, and he was by far our top choice, so we’re all absolutely thrilled to have him. And who walked away from an offer? We didn’t offer the job to anyone else.
The salary is a serious issue, but this has nothing to do with Maestro Schuldt. The timing of our activities has been entirely coincidental.
$33K from one location would be considered a HUGE luxury among the many fine musicians who comprise the ‘freeway philharmonic’ circuit out on the west coast. These are ‘per service’ musicians who drive from southern Oregon, on down to Fresno and Bakersfield (and everywhere in between) for weekend symphony work. That’s to say nothing of the next tier down, which are the community orchestras. Some of those are quite good as well.
The comparability of circumstances depends on the exchange rate (USD vs Canadian dollar), the local cost of living, and the density of orchestras between which itinerant musicians might be able to commute.
The salaries are embarrassments for musicians; yet, their government enterprises have no problem with billions on war mongering.
Does Montreal need two professional orchestras?
Yes they do. But we’re talking about Quebec City. In case you don’t know, it’s a different city hundreds of kilometers away.
Also (in my humble opinion), Quebec is much prettier.
Montreal and Quebec City are two different places.
Quebec City is the Nationale Capital of the Province of Quebec in Canada and the Quebec Symphonic orchestra the oldest orchestra in Canada and Montreal is a 3 to 4h drive away from Quebec. Just for your information:-)
Well, what did they expect? Clemens only cares himself and himself only – I urge the Quebec musicians to fight for their worth, and they could certainly have done better than a third rate conductor. I weep for these musicians who have the misfortune of working under his “guidance” he will certainly not be missed by the Münchener Kammerorchester – a bitter welcome to my Canadian friends but a good riddance for Germany!
As stated above by two OSQ musicians, “Clemens” (as you call him) has NOTHING to do with the current negotiation. Those are two different situations. It must feel great to criticize someone for absolutely no good reason though, bravo.
Talk about a low paying job for Larry the viola player……
Stock up on Spam.
Yeah, they have money for Language Police and other nonsense.
What exactly do you know about the history of Quebec, Mark? That’s what I thought.
Congratulations to the QSO for securing Clemens Schuldt as music director. He has worked wonders with his last orchestra, the MKO (Munich Chamber Orchestra) and has inspired the orchestra as much as his audience. Already his debut concert with the MKO on October 13, 2016 showed where the journey will go:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=HYODl6mnFW0
You can’t do anything if you walk away – that shows a lack of character and willingness to fight and build. Just as well they did walk away.
Is the orchestra just not to perform until they are paid more? Is there a strike on? Surely they need a conductor to function.
This article is mostly nonsense – we like Clemens, and we’re not on strike. A future director has no say in this matter. All we’ve done is launch a public awareness campaign. We are still performing as usual.
What an argument… If we had to judge salary on music merit… OSQ’s salary should be 1/6 or 1/8 the OSM.
There is no reason to hire a German or any European conductor. Quebec produces the finest conductors in the world as well as the finest musicians. It is simple snobbery to think that European musicians are something beyond. Believe me, they are not. We all strive for the same thing.
Hahahahha the hypocrisy, you say that none of us are better than the other and that we’re all striving for the same thing, and then you say that “Quebec produces the finest conductors in the world”… it’s either one or the other.
I tried to say “some of the finest” (which is true). But my intention is sincere and your insults are not necessary.
The province of Quebec has some fine conductors indeed. Let’s look at the history of OSQ : their last Québécois music director was Françoys Bernier in 1966. What about OSM? Their last one was Wilfrid Pelletier…in 1935!!! Clearly, those institutions are not looking for local talent.
Bravo to the musicians of the Orchestra symphonique de Québec. I am a teacher in Quebec and we have just been offered a 35% raise from the provincial government. This recognizes all the incredible sacrifices we have all made as front line heroes over the past few years. Solidarité!
Never mind the other stuff …
does he speak fluent French?
Surely a sine qua non, or rather: de rigueur.
33,300CAD is gross. after taxes net is likely ~24K. Yikes. Add in music “school” loans, tuitions etc. Sounds sad. Maybe just be conductor (“music director”=diversity/inclusionary integration specialist)