Issue:
Issue: October 2006
This year’s ICSOM Conference was held at the Downtown Nashville Hilton in Music City USA (Nashville, Tennessee) from August 16 through 19, just one block away from both the Schermerhorn Symphony Center and the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. The Conference was dedicated to Bill Roehl, the visionary trade unionist who formulated the current structure of the AFM, including the Player … [Read more...]
Issue: Chairperson's Reports
Lessons from Nashville In the few moments during the ICSOM Conference that did not find me in meetings, I was able to sneak away from the hotel and venture into the streets of Nashville. This was my first visit to this city, and I was eager to hear as much music as I could in the clubs that line Nashville’s Broadway. I had learned and played a lot of this music when I was growing up, especially … [Read more...]
Issue: October 2006
So, ICSOM, what have you done for me lately? As painful as it is for me to say, I began to despair about the relevancy of ICSOM these past few years based on the actions of some of our own orchestras. I have despaired about the changing attitudes of our society, when the question “What can I do for you to make your life better?” is rarely asked anymore. Instead, it’s always about “ME” and the … [Read more...]
Issue: October 2006
On September 19, the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra signed their new music director, David Robertson, to a contract extension going through 2010. As part of the artistic growth required in Robertson’s agreement, the SLSO management has made a commitment to a continuing series of small ensemble concerts featuring new music or crossover venues, to continued annual returns to Carnegie Hall, and to an … [Read more...]
Issue: October 2006
“What does ICSOM do for me? It’s a question often heard around the time that dues are collected. Nevertheless, it is a valid question. ICSOM was formed as an international “union” of orchestras that would force the AFM to address our specific needs, most particularly the right to negotiate our own contracts, a union of orchestras that would advocate for the needs of the musicians it represents. … [Read more...]
Issue: October 2006
Resolution #1—Conference Dedication Whereas, Some of the most important contributions to the International Conference Symphony and Opera Musicians (ICSOM), the American Federation of Musicians (AFM), and the quality of the working lives of musicians in general, have been made by men and women who could not play a note of music; and Whereas, Many of these men and women have, nevertheless, … [Read more...]
Issue: October 2006
I’m a veteran of 33 years in the Houston Symphony. I served as an ICSOM alternate delegate and attended my first ICSOM Conference shortly after my second season with the HSO. That would have been in 1977. The HSO had just come back to work from being locked-out for around six months. As you can probably imagine, just starting out as a professional musician found me with little reserve for a major … [Read more...]
