Issue: December 2020
Following the concerts last week, the musicians of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra heard something that has become incredibly rare, but was incredibly welcome: applause from a live audience in Orchestra Hall. Thirty audience members stood with appreciation for the 45 minutes of live music they had just heard. The subscribers and donors of the DSO had not been totally without music since March, but … [Read more...]
Issue: December 2020
ICSOM invited Michael Kaiser to speak with Member At Large Keith Carrick and Chair Meredith Snow on the current state of the arts as we progress through this pandemic. Currently Chairman of the DeVos Institute of Arts Management, Kaiser served as president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts from 2001 to 2014. His work leading other arts organizations, such as the Kansas City … [Read more...]
Issue: December 2020
ICSOM recently launched a highly-successful Phone2Action (P2A) initiative to support the musicians of the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra (PRSO) in their “Save the Symphony” campaign. Long before the global pandemic, the salaries and pension of the PRSO musicians, as well as the funding for their prestigious Casals Festival, were in jeopardy. With a proposed 50% cut to the orchestra’s budget by … [Read more...]
Issue: December 2020
The Grand Rapids Symphony is among the many ICSOM orchestras forced by the COVID-19 pandemic to reinvent their seasons, develop safety plans, and figure out how to financially survive. The Grand Rapids Symphony Society has worked hard to successfully keep their musicians employed and visible in the community, through a wide range of performances, while keeping musicians and staff safe and healthy. … [Read more...]
Issue: December 2020
The Minnesota Orchestra has been working hard to make things happen. Ever since we took the stage in our formalwear in an otherwise empty hall to play our final Friday night radio broadcast in March, we have been finding a way. We started with Minnesota Orchestra at Home, voluntarily recording videos as a thank you to our patrons. Some major donors got a private concert in their driveway. Our … [Read more...]
Issue: December 2020
The Musicians of the Nashville Symphony have been furloughed, with little or no expectation of returning to work, since management cancelled the entire 44-week 2020–21 season on July 1. (Note: after this article was written, the NSO musicians ratified an agreement under which they will begin receiving a modest weekly stipend in January; the details will be in a forthcoming settlement … [Read more...]
Issue: December 2020
COVID-19 has presented no fewer challenges in Fort Worth than in the rest of the world, but the musicians of the FWSO feel fortunate that our salaries and benefits have been neither diminished, nor interrupted. On April 30, 2020, the musicians ratified a one-year extension of the previous four-year agreement. The number of weeks remains 46, pay remains exactly the same; benefits change with a new … [Read more...]
Issue: December 2020
In many ways, 2020 has been a year we’d all like to forget, but it is helpful when we get discouraged to remember all that we’ve accomplished this year. The Baltimore Symphony Musicians remember vividly the difficulties of the past. We were walking a picket line just last summer, and in 12 short months we have made enormous strides in so many areas. We have established a new decision-making … [Read more...]
Issue: December 2020
COVID-19 has turned our world upside down. The Dallas Symphony Orchestra has been riding the COVID-19 rollercoaster along with every other arts organization in the world. Somehow we have found a way to continue performing music and engaging our audiences with music through the Internet and live, while still being paid. I think much of the credit should go to our CEO, Kim Noltemy, who came to the … [Read more...]
Issue: December 2020
A scientific approach to orchestra staging In the early stages of planning our return to the stage, Utah Symphony musicians were actively searching for information regarding airflow and aerosols from wind instruments. There were some very preliminary aerosol studies, but none seemed sufficient to answer our most important question: how safe is it to be onstage at Abravanel Hall? We began to … [Read more...]
