A lot has happened since the last AFM Convention, and we have asked the delegates of each of our member orchestras to give a sense of what their orchestras have faced in the last few years as well as the challenges they face going forward. Responses were collected during the months of April and May. Charter members of ICSOM are denoted with an asterisk (*).
Alabama Symphony Orchestra
Founded: 1997
Joined ICSOM: 1998 (the predecessor Birmingham Symphony was a member of ICSOM 1975–1995)
AFM Local: 256-733
Delegate: Brad Whitfeld
The Alabama Symphony Orchestra has resumed almost all pre-pandemic activities as of April 2023. In addition to bringing back live audiences at full capacity in our performance spaces, we have also seen the creation of two new concert series. The “ASO @ Avon,” featuring soloists from within the orchestra at the historic Avon Theater nestled amongst a bustling restaurant scene, as well as “Tunes on Tap,” which presents the orchestra in free concerts in breweries across town for a more casual and approachable setting.
Our greatest challenge as we move forward will be charting a path of sustainable growth for the organization. Historic wage cuts, lost weeks of work, and inflation have put the musicians in an unsustainable financial position, yet we have remained as committed as ever to serving our community. It is our sincere hope that productive and progressive negotiations will take place next season.
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
Founded: 1945
Joined ICSOM: 1971
AFM Local: 148-462
Delegate: Lachlan McBane
The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra is finishing its first season with new Music Director Nathalie Stutzmann, currently the only female music director of a major American orchestra. Reviews have been generally excellent, audiences have averaged around 90% of capacity, and the orchestra is headed for a ninth straight year of budget surplus. In the fall the musicians will enter the second year of a three-year contract that will bring our base salary to $100,000 for the first time. A major challenge for the orchestra in the short term will be completing the current $55 million drive to supplement the ASO’s endowment.
*Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Founded: 1916
Joined ICSOM: 1962
AFM Local: 40-543
Delegate: Jacob Shack
The highlight for the Baltimore Symphony in the past two years has been the announcement of our new music director, Jonathon Heyward. We are excited for the growth as an ensemble we will experience under his leadership and cannot wait for where we can go together. However, like many orchestras, we have experienced challenges in retaining audiences since the pandemic has subsided. Our main challenge over the next two years will be capitalizing on the announcement of our new music director and using this momentum to spur ticket sales as well as new and continuing contributed revenue.
*Boston Symphony Orchestra
Founded: 1881
Joined ICSOM: 1962
AFM Local: 9-535
Delegate: Carl Anderson
The BSO, along with Music Director Andris Nelsons, recently completed a recording cycle of all 15 Shostakovich symphonies which won three Grammy Awards for Best Orchestral Performance. This summer the BSO musicians look forward to helping to mentor the first recipient of ICSOM’s scholarship for underrepresented high school musicians as part of the Boston University Tanglewood Institute (BUTI).
*Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra
Founded: 1934
Joined ICSOM: 1963
AFM Local: 92
Delegate: Dan Sweeley
The BPO has returned from the pandemic with exceptional financial support from the community and solid ticket sales for many performances. We negotiated a very fair two-year contract. Our main concern moving forward is continued ticket sales growth in all series, especially Classics.
Charlotte Symphony Orchestra
Founded: 1932
Joined ICSOM: 1999
AFM Local: 342
Delegate: Bob Rydel
The Charlotte Symphony and Local 342 negotiated a CBA in 2022 that represented many positive changes and modernizations, including adding to the season length and to the size of the orchestra. The organization has implemented a robust strategic plan, and we are experiencing positive results in fundraising and overall enthusiasm as supporters are motivated by our comprehensive goals. We are seeing evidence that audiences are returning post-COVID, as ticket sales are strong in many areas. COVID grants and tax breaks have given us a positive cash flow position, and we have received additional grant money to partner in developing immersive programming with the goal of establishing new audiences.
We are hoping that ticket sales and overall fundraising maintain the positive trend. As we don’t own our hall, we also hope to continue to get favorable dates in the venues we use, as the orchestra competes with shows that were delayed by COVID and are now rescheduling.
Chicago Lyric Opera Orchestra
Founded: 1954
Joined ICSOM: 1969
AFM Local: 10-208
Delegate: Amy Hess
Since April 2022, the Chicago Lyric Opera Orchestra has independently partnered with a local school hosting Ukrainian refugee students, raising over $67,000 through two benefits and visiting the students for an in-school concert. Over the term of our recently settled progressive five-year contract, we look forward to building back our ranks by filling the many vacancies left open from retirements and the pause on auditions during the pandemic.
*Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Founded: 1891
Joined ICSOM: 1962
AFM Local: 10-208
Delegate: Miles Maner
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association and its musicians have successfully risen from the ashes of the pandemic as a team. Management was able to take care of the musicians thanks to its ability to secure relief funding from the government and run successful campaigns to keep donations on track. Musicians remained on board to create content throughout the shutdown to stay connected to subscribers while maintaining a safe working environment. Concerts are now back to a pre-pandemic model and we already have many successful and well-attended concerts in the books.
Our current CBA expires in September 2023—negotiations begin this summer. The musicians are optimistic that a spirit of collaboration will result in a successful and simple process. Maestro Riccardo Muti’s tenure comes to an end this June and the complex search for the Chicago Symphony’s next music director continues.
*Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
Founded: 1895
Joined ICSOM: 1962
AFM Local: 1
Delegate: Jennifer Monroe
Reflecting on the past two years, we take great pride in our return to the stage following the COVID shutdown in 2020, successfully keeping all musicians playing and compensated. Although our audiences haven’t fully returned to pre-pandemic levels, we have made significant strides toward that objective. We are thrilled that auditions in the 21–22 season were incredibly fruitful, resulting in the addition of nine exceptional musicians to our orchestra this year.
Our primary challenge for the next two seasons is to continue our progress toward a restored complement. Given our MD’s reduced availability in his final season, as well as the possibility that the position remains vacant in 24–25, surpassing retirements with new hires will be a formidable task in the coming years.
*The Cleveland Orchestra
Founded: 1918
Joined ICSOM: 1962
AFM Local: 4
Delegate: Katherine Bormann
The Cleveland Orchestra has received a historic $50 million gift from the Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel Foundation, which will provide funds for an opera and humanities festival, invest in the endowment, and support the orchestra’s digital initiatives, including the launch of our streaming platform, Adella, and the installation of a sophisticated camera system. We have also received a $10 million gift from the Milton and Tamar Maltz Family Foundation that will benefit the Blossom Music Center. We have seen a return to full salary, live concerts, and touring both domestically and internationally.
However, audience attendance remains mixed—at times we have had robust crowds, including a sell-out concert at Carnegie Hall and on our Florida tour, and then alternately, we see weeks with far fewer patrons. There is currently an unusually large number of musician vacancies, and we continue to have issues with touring: transportation, COVID restrictions, and high inflation.
Colorado Symphony Orchestra
Founded: 1989
Joined ICSOM: 1968 (joined as the Denver Symphony, then reformed as the CSO after bankruptcy proceedings in 1989)
AFM Local: 20-623
Delegate: Jason Shafer
The Colorado Symphony has had huge success in ensuring a major endowment gift from an anonymous donor. This incredible gift provides a substantial financial boost to the orchestra, as the total gifts from the endowment drive raised the total to $88 million, up from approximately $10 million total previously. In addition to this financial stability, a series of successful one-year CBAs have ensured consistent raises for the orchestra, each being around 9%-10% of base wages each year. Artistically, we are glad to continue to work with Peter Oundjian as our principal conductor. Finally, the orchestra is happy to announce the recent hiring of Mark Cantrell as our next CEO, who joins us from The Florida Orchestra. His hiring was the result of a search committee that had equal numbers of musicians and board members, and his appointment was unanimous.
The main challenge awaiting us is to secure more consistent annual giving/contributions. Our proportion of contributed income vs. ticket sales has always been extremely weighted towards ticket sales. Our hope is that our new CEO can help solve this problem that has plagued us for many years.
Columbus Symphony Orchestra
Founded: 1951
Joined ICSOM: 1990
AFM Local: 103
Delegate: Betsy Sturdevant
The Columbus Symphony is currently in the first year of our new contract which adds weeks to the orchestra’s season. We have successfully navigated the COVID and post-COVID environment without suspension of operations or pay cuts, and the orchestra has greatly expanded community outreach through educational and community-based performances of the orchestra and chamber groups. We expect some difficulty moving forward due to dwindling audiences and challenges in funding our added weeks and newly hired musicians.
Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Founded: 1900
Joined ICSOM: 1968
AFM Local: 72-147
Delegate: Emily Levin
After two seasons of pandemic impact, 2022–2023 has felt “almost” normal for the Dallas Symphony. We celebrated a return to full capacity audiences, large-scale programming, and went on our first tour in almost a decade to the East Coast in March. We are looking forward to another season with Music Director Fabio Luisi, the beginning of our Ring cycle programming, and the inaugural year of our Diversity Fellowship in 2024.
The DSO gained managerial control of the Meyerson Symphony Center in late 2019—a positive development with rather unfortunate timing! We are still recouping the lost revenue from canceled rentals and concerts during the past few years as we deal with long-overdue critical maintenance. We are also working to build back our audience numbers, which are not yet at pre-pandemic levels.
*Detroit Symphony Orchestra
Founded: 1887
Joined ICSOM: 1962
AFM Local: 5
Delegate: Monica Fosnaugh
In the past two years, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra has received many donated instruments from across Metro Detroit for our Detroit Harmony initiative, which provides instruments to any Detroit student who wants to learn how to play, and has seen success from our African American Orchestra Fellowship program, with Cole Randolph winning a position in our cello section. Unfortunately, audiences have been slow to return, and rebuilding those numbers, in addition to renegotiating a new contract, will be our main challenges the next few seasons.
The Florida Orchestra
Founded: 1968
Joined ICSOM: 1987
AFM Local: 427-721
Delegate: Warren Powell
Our biggest success in the past two years has been the negotiation of a progressive three-year CBA with 24% increases over the term of the agreement. But we still have a few challenges, including increased difficulty accessing our main venues for rehearsals and concerts, staff shortages, board governance, and a tendency for the organization to fall short of its fundraising goals.
Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra
Founded: 1957
Joined ICSOM: 2001
AFM Local: 72-147
Delegate: Debbie Brooks
The FWSO’s 22–23 season saw the debut of Robert Spano in his inaugural season as our music director, as well as the appointment of Kevin Edusei as our new principal guest conductor. The FWSO is leading the way in creating unique concert experiences through a concept called “Theater of a Concert.” By partnering with other arts organizations and using different multimedia elements, audiences have been able to experience Stravinsky’s Firebird, Haydn’s Creation, and the music of Wagner in a multi-sensory way—all to critical acclaim. A new chamber music series also started, providing the opportunity to feature FWSO musicians in a much more intimate setting—even giving Robert Spano the chance to lead from the piano instead of the podium! One full-time position was added this year, and we celebrate the return to regular programming post-COVID. We are indebted to our management, board, and audiences for their continued support of our work and look forward to many great concerts next season.
Grand Rapids Symphony
Founded: 1930
Joined ICSOM: 2013
AFM Local: 56
Delegate: Barb Corbató
At the beginning of the 21–22 season, the Grand Rapids Symphony returned to pre-pandemic wages, and has since had an increase beginning in January 2023. Additionally, a one-year extension to the current agreement—which includes a 3% wage increase—has been negotiated. Expiring on August 31, 2024, the extension was negotiated in advance of the departure of our CEO this past December, so that a new President/CEO could get settled in the organization before embarking on negotiating a new agreement. The arrival of a new President/CEO will be an exciting time. Maintaining and increasing audiences post-pandemic is one of the challenges faced by the organization, but we look forward to seeing success in this area.
Grant Park Orchestra
Founded: 1944
Joined ICSOM: 1977
AFM Local: 10-208
Delegate: Amy Hess
After a dark summer of 2020 and a modified 2021, the Grant Park Orchestra is back to its full 10-week season in the heart of Downtown Chicago. Our programming continues to feature new commissions and little-known works alongside orchestral staples, attracting thousands to free outdoor concerts. We look forward to welcoming a new music director in 2025, who in addition to their artistic leadership will need to partner with management and board to continually reaffirm the orchestra’s claim on our prime location in Chicago’s Millennium Park.
Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra
Founded: 2011
Joined ICSOM: 1967 (as the Honolulu Symphony)
AFM Local: 677
Delegate: Rebecca Matayoshi
In July 2022, the Hawai‘i Symphony Orchestra ratified a new agreement which runs through the 25–26 season. This ratification comes with a guaranteed increase in weeks from 18 to 21, as well as an increased salary and EMG—formerly part of our base salary, but now in addition guaranteed wages. This past January, HSO announced new Music Director Designate Dane Lam will begin a five-year contract in July 2023.
Our usual performance space, Neal Blaisdell Concert Hall, is owned and run by the City of Honolulu and will undergo major renovations beginning in the fall of 2023.We will not have access to it for the foreseeable future. The majority of our next season will take place at the Hawai‘i Theater, but the space is not ideal for an orchestra, acoustically or spatially.
Houston Symphony
Founded: 1930
Joined ICSOM: 1965
AFM Local: 65-699
Delegate: Brian Del Signore
Successes of the past two years include the return of audiences for live performances and the successful implementation of livestreamed Saturday night subscription concerts, both Classical and Pops. There are continuing hall renovations in the summer which require us to be away from the hall, but acoustics are being improved noticeably. Education and community engagement initiatives continue to expand with a Community Embedded Musicians program now including teaching residencies at area public schools and fellowships at Rice University and the University of Houston.
One of our challenges going forward is getting subscription sales/season ticket holders back to pre-pandemic levels. The return of our audience has come mostly through single ticket sales. The orchestra balanced its budget in 2022 but as of May 2023, we are running a slight deficit and project a small deficit for 2024. A return to touring is also a challenge with the way it is funded here in Houston, but a strategic planning committee involving musicians continues to tackle the issue.
*Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra
Founded: 1930
Joined ICSOM: 1962
AFM Local: 3
Delegate: Melissa Deal
The past few years in Indianapolis have been some of the most tumultuous in the history of the organization, from the pandemic furlough—including the unthinkable loss of health insurance—to our return to the stage after taking a nearly 25% pay cut. Like other organizations, we have seen our audience slowly return, especially for our Classical series, which has been encouraging.
Unfortunately, we have been without a music director since 2020. In the meantime, we have maintained some semblance of artistic continuity through our relationship with Jun Märkl, who has served as artistic advisor since the 20–21 season. In this capacity, he conducts three weeks a season and serves in the music director role for auditions—under Märkl’s leadership, we have successfully hired 10 new tenure-track musicians since May 2022.
We continue to put pressure on our management to make the music director search a top priority, as it has become an urgent issue for the musicians that we are hoping to solve for the 2024–25 season.
Jacksonville Symphony
Founded: 1949
Joined ICSOM: 1997
AFM Local: 444
Delegate: Brian Magnus
There has been good recovery for the Jacksonville Symphony since 2020, and the Orchestra is poised to do great things in the coming years, both financially and artistically. The Jacksonville Symphony’s 75th anniversary is next year, with special events in the works to celebrate. The current CBA concludes at the end of the 23–24 season; negotiations for the next contract are underway, with hopes for an early agreement. Leadership in the coming years should be stable, as Music Director Courtney Lewis—who started in 2015—has renewed his contract through the 26–27 season, and Executive Director Steven Libman remains under contract until 2028.
Kansas City Symphony
Founded: 1982
Joined ICSOM: 1998 (the predecessor Kansas City Philharmonic was a member of ICSOM 1966–1983)
AFM Local: 34-627
Delegate: TK DeWitt
We have had runaway success with our Mobile Music Box—a mobile stage that is towed by a pickup, with lighting and even minor climate control—which began as a way to perform safely during the pandemic. This has been transformative to our reach within the community, allowing us to have dozens of outdoor concerts at schools, parks, and other community locations. Even after the pandemic, these concerts have remained quite popular, and there are still around 20–30 during the warmer months of the spring and fall.
However, there have been a good amount of growing pains that will continue into the next few years as we make the transition between our outgoing and incoming music directors. Between 2019 and 2024, we will have experienced a changeover in every major leadership position within the organization, including CEO, COO, most of our operations staff, music director, associate conductor, concertmaster, as well as the chair of our board. Preserving our culture of trust and transparency throughout this change is a priority for all, but there will be an ongoing learning curve.
Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra
Founded: 1978
Joined ICSOM: 1978
AFM Local: 161-710
Delegate: Douglas Rosenthal
In September 2021, we ratified an agreement that included KeyComp as a listed given example in our virtual orchestra machine technologies prohibition. While there will likely be brief and narrow compromises for one touring musical theater producer over the coming months, the Kennedy Center administration has expressed to us steadfast opposition to such technology.
Our biggest challenge at the moment is the displacement of opera and ballet due to an increase of touring musical theater presentations in the Opera House. Because of this, Washington National Opera and touring ballet productions have been significantly reduced. We are very concerned that this is not the Kennedy Center’s strategy to come back from pandemic cancellations, but rather, that it is their prioritization of commercial art forms that already flourish elsewhere in the Washington, DC Metro Area.
*Los Angeles Philharmonic
Founded: 1919
Joined ICSOM: 1962
AFM Local: 47
Delegate: John Lofton
The LA Phil’s Resident Fellows program has had a successful tenure here. We’ve placed all of our violin Fellows in professional orchestras including the Seattle Symphony and Montreal Symphony Orchestra. We are expanding our program to include a French horn Fellow. We face a challenge moving forward due to the departures of Music Director Gustavo Dudamel and CEO Chad Smith. We’re happy for their new positions and for the music world of New York and Boston, respectively, but also look forward to our next music director and CEO appointments.
Louisville Orchestra
Founded: 1937
Joined ICSOM: 1980
AFM Local: 11-637
Delegate: Jonathan Mueller
The successes that the Louisville Orchestra has achieved in the past few years have been the release of our first Deutsche Grammophon recording featuring Yuja Wang, the advent of our Creators Corps program that features three resident composers per year that live in Louisville, and the securing of state funding for a multi-week tour of Kentucky.
Our main upcoming challenge—besides a CBA negotiation in 2024—is ensuring that all organizational stakeholders participate in and are in agreement on a shared vision for the future of our great symphony orchestra. We all need to, with the help of an industry professional, craft a clear path forward that ensures that the Louisville Orchestra will continue to grow and innovate as we approach our 100th anniversary in 2037.
*Metropolitan Opera Orchestra
Founded: 1880
Joined ICSOM: 1962
AFM Local: 802
Delegate: Jessica Phillips
On the positive side, there were a series of extra payments to the Orchestra which offset contractual concessions that were negotiated in 2021 in order to bring the company back after the pandemic furlough. These were achieved by the negotiation of a sizable special payment for a concert before the opera season began, the negotiation of a settlement for some of the unpaid furlough wages, and the creation of a Carnegie Hall chamber music series that secured an annual payment of one extra week of base pay for every musician regardless of participation, with an additional fee for those who elect to participate.
Although our Orchestra was successful in increasing our Pension Benefit in 2018, our Orchestra’s biggest challenge in the coming years will be trying to overcome years of wage concessions since 2011 and catastrophic financial losses during the COVID furlough. Starting in 2021, new hires have to wait until their sixth full season in order to be eligible for a large annual special payment. The effect of this is roughly a 6% loss in starting salary. Further, in 2018 the orchestra started to contribute pre-tax premium sharing for our health care for the first time and in 2021, new hires are now only eligible for a high-deductible health care plan. Finally, management has taken advantage of our “Mid-Season Break” negotiated in 2018 to cut roughly 25% of our rehearsal hours, which are compensated on top of our base pay.
The total cumulative result of these concessions means that the base salary of a Met musician will be lower in actual dollars in the final year of our current contract (24–25) than it was in the 13–14 season. Solidarity will be of the highest importance in our next negotiation in order to achieve a contract with financial gains in the midst of the Met’s financial challenges.
Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra
Founded: 1959
Joined ICSOM: 1970
AFM Local: 8
Delegate: Helen Reich
Our greatest success of the last two years is settling our current collective bargaining agreement four-and-a-half months early. Our biggest challenge for the next two years will be the task of raising $75 million to increase our endowment.
*Minnesota Orchestra
Founded: 1903
Joined ICSOM: 1962
AFM Local: 30-73
Delegate: Michael Sutton
The Minnesota Orchestra is being seen and heard—our audiences have come back to 86%, and our live stream TV performances are averaging 20,000 views. Our DEI work is full steam ahead, including a commissioned work to commemorate the murder of George Floyd called brea(d)th. And we are also welcoming an exciting new music director next fall, Thomas Sondergard.
That said, the orchestra still runs at a significant deficit. We are diligently fundraising—receiving NEA and State grants—and trying to tap into new donors and revenue streams.
Nashville Symphony
Founded: 1946
Joined ICSOM: 2000 (the orchestra was also an ICSOM member 1975–1977)
AFM Local: 257
Delegate: Bradley Mansell
The Nashville Symphony returned to work after an 18-month furlough in September 2021. Highlights since that return include two major premiers of important works, “Her Story” by Julia Wolfe and “The Jonah People” by Hannibal Lokumbe. We also continued with recording projects that were shelved during the furlough. Our biggest challenges are ticket sales, filling several positions lost as a result of the furlough, and drastic pay cuts that have yet to be restored.
*National Symphony Orchestra
Founded: 1931
Joined ICSOM: 1963
AFM Local: 161-710
Delegate: Alex Jacobsen
The NSO had planned a very exciting 19–20 season. We had recently hired a popular music director, had multiple international tours in the pipeline, were invited to both Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, and were planning to record all the Beethoven symphonies. Obviously all of that had to be put on hold. However, over the last two years, we managed to perform in Carnegie Hall again, finish recording our Beethoven cycle, and begin planning a European tour for February 2024.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion remain a big topic in the orchestra, and our new musician-organized DEI committee has been meeting to take stock of what we can do as musicians in the fight against racism, both internally and externally. It is a massive, daunting challenge that may not be solved quickly, but we musicians did not get this far by giving up when things got difficult.
New Jersey Symphony
Founded: 1922
Joined ICSOM: 1973
AFM Local: 16-248
Delegate: Derek Fenstermacher
New Jersey Symphony concludes our monumental 100th anniversary season, featuring world class soloists, world premieres, and celebrating the beautiful diversity of our musical family. In addition, this season marked an important achievement for our musicians—in September 2022 our musicians joined together in one voice and sent a powerful message to our management that our salary and benefits must remain intact to survive the next century. Subsequently, we negotiated a five-year progressive contract with modest salary gains and an increase in our season to 29 weeks, with benefits fully intact.
New York City Ballet Orchestra
Founded: 1948
Joined ICSOM: 1968
AFM Local: 802
Delegate: Ethan Silverman
In January the New York City Ballet presented a new full-length work, “Copland Dance Episodes,” an all-Copland ballet including Rodeo, Appalachian Spring, and Billy the Kid, performed without pause and choreographed by Justin Peck. Also, we are pleased to report that our loyal audience has returned and attendance has been and continues to be excellent.
Our contract will expire on August 31 of this year. Bargaining its successor will surely be a challenge.
*New York Philharmonic
Founded: 1842
Joined ICSOM: 1962
AFM Local: 802
Delegate: Dasol Jeong
Over the past few years, the New York Philharmonic has enjoyed quite a few successes, such as the opening of the newly renovated David Geffen Hall—on time and on budget—the restoration of our full, pre-pandemic salary, and the appointment of new Music Director Gustavo Dudamel, who will become the 27th conductor to preside over the Philharmonic with a five-year term beginning in the 26–27 season. We have also returned to international touring with a trip to the Usedom Music Festival in the summer of 2022 and will travel this summer to Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Going forward, there will be challenges as we enter a period of unknown contract negotiation, as well as with the difficulty of maintaining artistic momentum in the years between the departure of Jaap van Sweden and the start of the Dudamel era.
North Carolina Symphony
Founded: 1932
Joined ICSOM: 1972
AFM Local: 500
Delegate: Kurt Tseng
Some of our biggest successes these past two years at the North Carolina Symphony include a steady recovery from the effects of the pandemic and maintaining growth with the endowment. We recently have made new connections with audiences in the western part of North Carolina through education and evening concerts, but also have branched out closer to home with our first concert entirely in Spanish for the Spanish-speaking communities. We also concluded our music director search and will be welcoming Carlos Prieto officially this coming 23–24 season, and we have been continuing to work to increase the diversity in our programming and guest artists.
With the expected rapid growth of the Research Triangle Area (aka Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill), we believe our challenge for the next few years is to find ways to continue to serve and stay relevant to an increasingly diverse community. Education outreach will always be a big part of our mission, but as more and more people move to the area, it will be important to maintain and even expand upon our visibility to gain more support from the community.
Oregon Symphony
Founded: 1896
Joined ICSOM: 1971
AFM Local: 99
Delegate: Zach Galatis
The Oregon Symphony installed a new acoustic system in our hall which has improved the listening experience for the audience, and additionally helps us hear better on stage. Also, our fundraising gala this spring brought in a record $2 million.
However, even though our ticket sales are above average industry-wide, we still face challenges regarding bringing audiences back to pre-COVID numbers—partly due to perceived safety of the downtown Portland area. We also face a constant challenge due to the steeply rising costs of renting our hall.
Orquesta Sinfónica de Puerto Rico
Founded: 1958
Joined ICSOM: 2003
AFM Local: 555
Delegate: Miguel Rivera
In 2022, after many advocacy efforts supported by ICSOM, the Puerto Rican Governor reached an agreement with the Fiscal Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico (FOMB) for a $20 million contribution—over a 10-year period—to fund the PRSO Musicians’ Pension Fund, protecting its solvency in the long term. Another important success was convincing the Puerto Rico Legislature and FOMB to reconsider drastic budget cuts to the orchestra, making the 22–23 fiscal year the first without cuts since 2017.
Going forward, we still expect the need to continually advocate for a healthy budget that allows the Orchestra to fulfill its mission. Also, the PRSO has not had a full roster of 80 musicians since 2018, as the budget restrictions imposed by the FOMB make it difficult to fill the eight current vacancies.
Pacific Symphony
Founded: 1978
Joined ICSOM: 2021
AFM Local: 7
Delegate: Rob Schumitzky
We are very fortunate to have been able to keep our musicians compensated these past two years. In the latter half of 2021, we recorded performances to video and gradually resumed live concerts in the summer of 2021. For the 21–22 and 22–23 seasons, we resumed a schedule of performances of Classical, Pops, Ballet, and other concert sets similar to the pace and variety of previous years before the COVID pandemic.
Our season ticket renewal rate is down, which is of concern to our Board. However, single ticket sales are dramatically up which is unusual for us. The 23–24 season will begin the final year of a four-year agreement, and we anticipate difficult contract negotiations but are hopeful to make significant gains that will increase the stature of our orchestra. We will also be navigating the challenge of identifying and choosing a new music director.
The Philadelphia Orchestra
Founded: 1900
Joined ICSOM: 1962
AFM Local: 77
Delegate: Nicole Jordan
For The Philadelphia Orchestra, the successes of the past two years include the presentation of a digital concert series during the height of COVID, the restoration of full salaries in the 21–22 season, resuming summer residencies and international touring, and our first Grammy win in the “Best Orchestral Performance” category for our recording of Florence Price’s Symphonies Nos. 1 & 3.
Our challenges ahead include an increase in performances of Film and Pops music, efforts to equalize compensation for substitute musicians, bringing our compensation into line with our peer orchestras, filling the contractually obligated complement, and ensuring that personal contracts of our new members are not used to violate provisions in the CBA.
Phoenix Symphony
Founded: 1947
Joined ICSOM: 1974
AFM Local: 586
Delegate: Melita Hunsinger
After being furloughed for the entirety of the 20–21 season, the orchestra returned for the past two years at reduced weeks and pay. The previously consistent 38-week season has shrunk to 30 and 33 weeks over the past two years. Still, it should be considered a success that the organization survived closing its doors and continues now to perform for our community—albeit in a more limited capacity. Part of that resurrection was due to unusual, large and generous gifts by the federal government, the State of Arizona, and the Piper Foundation, a regular supporter of Arizona nonprofits. Other successes include attracting a number of very fine musicians on one-year contracts to replace a large volume of musicians due to the furlough, contract uncertainty, wage and work week reduction, and retirements.
We face a major challenge in regaining Classics audience and subscribers in general, as well as keeping up the fundraising necessary for the orchestra that we were once and want to be again. We anticipate an ongoing struggle to have our salaries keep pace with the cost of living in Phoenix and the difficulty in appealing to our community and audience when the options for entertainment are very numerous.
*Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
Founded: 1895
Joined ICSOM: 1962
AFM Local: 60-471
Delegate: Bronwyn Banerdt
The PSO has seen very encouraging numbers with audiences returning to concerts post COVID. We have launched several promising new initiatives with the aim of reaching new audiences, including a new concert format for select Saturday nights featuring a less formal atmosphere and onstage discussion, as well as multimedia elements. One of the challenges we have already been dealing with is a massive turnover in staff during the past pandemic years. We also need to continue rebuilding our subscription base and—since we have had multiple contract extensions due to the pandemic—will soon face our first full contract negotiation since our strike in 2016.
*Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra
Founded: 1922
Joined ICSOM: 1962
AFM Local: 66
Delegate: Nikki Labonte
Due to proactive musicians and staff, the RPO has been able to successfully navigate the COVID-19 pandemic both financially and musically. While attendance has not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels and fundraising is becoming complicated by the current financial market, the RPO is looking ahead to the future. We have just launched our centennial celebration which features both a capital campaign that has been consistently hitting its goals and targets as well as a massive repertoire of major works and soloists!
*St. Louis Symphony
Founded: 1880
Joined ICSOM: 1962
AFM Local: 2-197
Delegate: Hank Skolnik
In the Summer of 2022 we concluded negotiations on a new four year CBA that included modest increases and a return to stable trends post-COVID.
The Orchestra had a successful, four-country European tour March 23–31, 2023, conducted by our Music Director Stéphane Denève with pianist and recording artist Víkingur Ólafsson as piano soloist. The five performances took place at Vienna Konzerthaus in Vienna, Austria; the Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels, Belgium; the Muziekgebouw Eindhoven in Eindhoven, Netherlands; The Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Netherlands; and the Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid, Spain.
In May 2023, ground was broken on an expansion and renovation of our St. Louis home, Powell Hall. The auditorium will get a new stage floor and audience seating, reducing the seating capacity and increasing leg room for concertgoers. There will be new construction to the backstage areas with the addition of a large rehearsal space, new offices, dressing rooms, percussion and piano storage and a new library space, plus new expanded foyers and a new audience entrance facing the theater district south of Powell Hall. The orchestra will perform primarily at Stifel Auditorium in downtown St. Louis and at the Touhill Performing Arts Center on the University of Missouri campus for the 23–24 and 24–25 seasons during the construction.
Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra
Founded: 1959
Joined ICSOM: 1984
AFM Local: 30-73
Delegate: Lynn Erickson
Our free online concert library has allowed us to significantly expand our ability to share the SPCO and the music we perform with our community. Consequently, our digital audience has grown substantially over the past two years and so has the number of programs available online for free to our community. We continue to advance the musician-led model with Creative Leads. As a Creative Lead, musicians are able to curate a program and oversee it from development through performance. It’s been a great way for our musicians to develop a closer connection with our audience while programming music that they are passionate about.
Our greatest challenge emerging from the pandemic in the next two years will be rebuilding our audience and annual fund giving to pre-pandemic levels.
San Diego Symphony Orchestra
Founded: 1910
Joined ICSOM: 1974
AFM Local: 325
Delegate: PJ Cinque
In the past two years we opened our new outdoor venue, the Shell, and have had many successful performances there. In June 2022 we negotiated a two-year contract with significant increases in wages and EMG. We will also be opening our newly renovated hall, Copley Symphony Hall, in November 2023. The orchestra will be going on a short tour to Carnegie Hall in October 2023 as well.
Looking ahead, we have another contract negotiation coming up before the current CBA expires in June 2024. Because of the rising tide of inflation and the extremely high cost of living in Southern California, we are still in need of significant financial gains. In addition, with two new venues we will be faced with the challenge of staying visible and making sure audiences consistently come out to concerts after the buzz around the grand opening dies down.
San Francisco Ballet Orchestra
Founded: 1975
Joined ICSOM: 1977
AFM Local: 6
Delegate: Joe Brown
The SF Ballet orchestra stayed unified through the pandemic, negotiating a COVID contract that successfully restored our 21–22 season to full pay retroactively. We also just ratified a three-year contract that begins to address the extreme cost of living and inflation in the Bay Area. We have successfully hired a number of key positions in the orchestra and just celebrated the Ballet’s 90th anniversary season with a critically acclaimed new works festival.
Most of our management is new to the Ballet within the last couple years, with a new artistic director, executive director, and general manager, to name a few. Our Board leadership is also changing next season. While this will be an exciting time, it brings with it new challenges and uncertainty.
San Francisco Opera Orchestra
Founded: 1980
Joined ICSOM: 1983
AFM Local: 6
Delegate: Leslie Ludena
The SF Opera Orchestra has spent the last two years celebrating the arrival of our new Music Director Eun Sun Kim. Our first season together included a star-studded Verdi concert on the opera house stage in 2022 that was critically acclaimed. The current season marks the 100th anniversary of the Company and will feature a Centennial Gala this summer.
In the next two years, the biggest challenge facing the SF Opera Orchestra is the first contract negotiation since the COVID pandemic. Our three-year COVID contract was a bitter pill, and our goal is to return to our pre-pandemic salary levels, however hard we have to fight to get there.
*San Francisco Symphony
Founded: 1911
Joined ICSOM: 1963
AFM Local: 6
Delegate: Barbara Bogatin
The 21–22 season marked our first full, live season with our new Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen following 15 dark months of lockdown. In March 2023 we embarked on our first tour since the pandemic, performing in Paris, Luxembourg, and Hamburg, with a new touring model of residencies that included regular orchestra concerts in addition to our SoundBox multimedia performances. We continue to increase diversity with our programming, guest artist, and guest conductor rosters.
We are still playing under the terms of an expired COVID side letter—which expired in November 2022—and our Management wants to reset our wage scales at pre-COVID rates. We have many openings in the orchestra and can only hold so many auditions each year. Therefore, we are facing some years of playing with many unfilled positions, as Management is unwilling to hire one-year subs.
Symphoria
Founded: 2012
Joined ICSOM: 1970 (as the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra)
AFM Local: 78
Delegate: Patricia Sharpe
The Symphoria Board, which includes several musicians—all of whom are on Board committees—has made raising musicians’ salaries their top priority. Our current contract, in effect from 2022 through 2024 contains a 25% raise the first year and 16% the second, meaning that our base salary will rise from $17,500 to $25,375. Symphoria also received three unanticipated bequests, and the Board has developed special secure funds as insurance if future problems occur.
Now Symphoria has to be able to fund these increases and continue making progress. We are still working to get audiences back after the pandemic but also to engage patrons from the Syracuse Symphony days who have not embraced Symphoria after the bankruptcy in 2011. We want to continue our co-op structure while being able to add capacity in the management section, including such areas as marketing, development, and outreach, in order to help the organization grow. We also need to attract aspiring musicians by making them aware of our growth and progress over our first 10 years.
Utah Symphony
Founded: 1940
Joined ICSOM: 1979
AFM Local: 104
Delegate: Veronica Kulig
During the month of February, an educational program featuring Black composers from the past and present called Encore: A Celebration of Black Symphonic Music was presented for fifth grade students in Abravanel Hall. Music from such composers as Adolphus Hailstorm, Jessie Montgomery, Carlos Simon, and Florence Price filled out the fifty-minute program.
This season and last, the orchestra has filled many vacant positions, including two new section violins, 2nd associate concertmaster, principal oboe, principal tuba, and principal horn.
We are currently searching for a new music director, as Thierry Fischer completed his tenure in May 2023. Despite having been in a MD search for a few years we have yet to find a replacement.
Virginia Symphony Orchestra
Founded: 1920
Joined ICSOM: 2000
AFM Local: 125
Delegate: Everett Burns
In the last two years, the Virginia Symphony has welcomed Eric Jacobsen as our new music director, as well as Norfolk native Thomas Wilkins as our first principal guest conductor. Under their leadership, we’ve had successful collaborations—including recording projects and world premieres—with artists like Yo-Yo Ma, Gil Shaham, Chris Thile, and Branford Marsalis.
Ticket sales and marketing continue to be our biggest challenges. Our audience size can be inconsistent from week to week, and our ticket sales are still not reaching pre-pandemic levels, with the exception of a few very specific programs. Our marketing strategies are not always getting the word out successfully about what the VSO is doing, and we need to keep working at reaching new and different audiences.
