DOS Orchestra #12 - 13 September 94

News from the world of professional orchestras.
Copyright 1994, International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians

Topics

Boston Symphony: Emeritus Musician Dies

Jerome Lipson, a violist with the Boston Symphony for 45 years, died of heart failure on Sept. 2 at the age of 77.

Mr. Lipson was a native of Boston, where he attended Boston Latin School with his then-accompanist Leonard Bernstein. He attended the Curtis Institute and became a charter member of the Tanglewood Music Center in 1940. After service in the Army Air Corps, where he was a traffic controller and played with the Glenn Miller Band and on the show "Winged Victory," he joined the BSO in 1946. He served on the BSO Players' Committee for many years. He was also a founding member of the Stockbridge String Quartet and solo violist of the Zimbler Sinfonietta on a tour of South American.

He is survived by his wife, Marian Berkman Lipson, three daughters, two granddaughters, and a brother.

Cincinnati Symphony Musicians Authorize Strike

Musicians of the Cincinnati Symphony are continuing to work and negotiate, even though their collective bargaining agreement expired on Sept. 4.

On Sept. 1, the musicians voted unanimously to authorize the negotiating committee to set a strike date. Martin James, CSO bassoonist and chair of the committee, said "it was just a preliminary kind of vote to get an idea of where people stand on an issue - and on this issue, people felt betrayed by the board."

At issue is the restoration of a voluntary pay cut that the musicians took in 1992 to help correct a budget deficit of $8.5 million, which involved the loss of five total weeks over three season. The deficit has since been eliminated. James said that there was a written agreement between the board and the musicians that the concessions would end at the expiration of the now-expired contract. Restoration of the lost weeks would return the CSO to a 52-week season.

CSO executive director Steven Monder stated "the last thing anyone wants is an interruption to our centennial season. Our goal, which we expect to achieve, is to reach a fair agreement with the musicians which will not put the CSO back in debt."

Eugene Frey, president of the Cincinnati Musicians Association, Local 1 AFM, which represents the CSO musicians, expressed optimism. "I think things are going to work out," he told the Cincinnati ~Post~.

Cleveland Orchestra: Emeritus Musician Dies

Louis Berman, a violinist who played with the Cleveland Orchestra from 1927 to 1947, died in Philadelphia on Sept. 9 at the age of 86.

After leaving the Cleveland Orchestra, Mr. Berman played with the Curtis Quartet until 1954. He also taught for 20 years at the Germantown Friends School and played in the Pennsylvania Ballet Orchestra.

He is survived by his wife, Rose, two children, and two brothers.

Florida Philharmonic: New Labor Agreement

The musicians of the Florida Philharmonic ratified a new collective bargaining agreement on Sept. 9. Details of the settlement are not yet available, but the settlement reportedly provides for an increase in the musicians' income of approximately 30% over four season.

Memphis Symphony: Play and Talk

Memphis Symphony musicians voted on Sept. 6 to extend their expired labor agreement until Sept. 30. Greg Luscombe, spokesperson for the negotiating committee, said that the extension met with more opposition among the musicians than expected.

Negotiations began in February. Luscombe said that management was still proposing that musicians receive no raise in the first year of a new contract, but that management had upped their offer in the second and third years.

Also at issue is the size of the orchestra, which management is trying to reduce by two core positions, a management proposal to reduce the 38-week season by 2 weeks, and various bonuses that management wants to eliminate.

The musicians are represented by Local 71 of the American Federation of Musicians.

Milwaukee Symphony: New General Manager

The Milwaukee Symphony has announced the appointment of Jean Hamilton as its new General Manager. Hamilton comes to the MSO from the Baltimore Symphony, where she has held the position of Orchestra Manager since 1990. Prior to her tenure in Baltimore, she was the Manager and Artistic Administrator of the Richmond (VA) Symphony Orchestra.

Hamilton earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Michigan and a Master of Music degree from the University of Cincinnati, and played horn with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. She has also been an Orchestra Management Fellow with the American Symphony Orchestra League.

In an interesting bit of timing, her appointment was announced on August 15th, one day before the MSO announced the departure of executive director Joan H. Squires, to whom Hamilton would have reported. She replaces Ernest Rose, who is leaving the MSO to pursue a business venture.

National Symphony: Slatkin Speaks

Leonard Slatkin conducted his first concert with the National Symphony Orchestra as its music director designate on Sept. 8. Before the concert, Slatkin spoke to the audience for almost an hour. Dressed in what the Philadelphia ~Inquirer~ described as a "perfectly styled light gray suit," Slatkin fielded questions from the audience of 250 and talked about his plans for the orchestra.

The concert itself, which featured music of Verdi, Beethoven, and Copland, received mixed reviews.

Paris Opera: Dispute Coda

On September 7, the Paris Opera announced that it had agreed to reinstated fired music director Myung-Whun Chung for the first performances of the season, but would then terminate his contract and pay him compensation equal to two years' wages. Gerard Ngo, Chung's lawyer, described the negotiations between Chung and the company which led to the announcement as a "coup de theatre."

The dispute began when the incoming manager of the Paris Opera, Hughes Gall, tried to cut Chung's pay, shorten the length of his contract, and reduce his authority over artistic matters. When Chung resisted, the company fired him and attempted to hire replacement conductors for the first few productions of the season. Chung went to court and won reinstatement for the first production, Verdi's "Simon Boccanegra," but was physically barred from attending the next scheduled rehearsal by interim director Jean-Paul Cluzel. The court then fined the company $9,260 per day that Chung was barred from returning to work.

When asked about Chung's future plans, Ngo stated "for now he has to digest what has happened. He is a bit foggy about what he will do because he had hoped things would not turn out like this until the last moment." Chung said that he was "very sad. The marriage was not between the opera and me but between the musicians and me, and we are being forced to separate."

Chung was hired in 1989 to replace Daniel Barenboim, who left in a similar dispute over compensation and artistic autonomy.

Philadelphia Orchestra Names Acting Concertmaster

William de Pasquale, associate concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra, has been named acting concertmaster while the search for a permanent replacement for the retired Norman Carol continues, management announced on Sept. 6.

The orchestra's search for a permanent concertmaster has proven problematical. William Preucil, the first violinist of the Cleveland Quartet and former concertmaster of the Atlanta Symphony, was offered the position but accepted the concertmastership of the Cleveland Orchestra instead. It is also reported that the position was offered to a member of one of the London orchestras, who also turned it down.

In a written statement, music director Wolfgang Sawallisch said that "there is no question that Mr. de Pasquale has demonstrated time and again his ability to lead the orchestra. We are very grateful that he will lead the orchestra during this interim period."

De Pasquale said of his appointment that "I just got a letter that I should have gotten a long time ago." The concertmaster audition committee was not informed of management's decision to appoint Mr. de Pasquale until the day of the announcement, according to the Philadelphia ~Inquirer~. One member of the committee said that "management has been very secretive (about the search) - even with us."

Sawallisch has announced that he plans to record Strauss' "Ein Heldenleben" in the spring of 1995, and that he expected to have a new concertmaster in place by then for the notoriously difficult violin solo part. "I don't know who or what he wants, but I think he's got a fixation in his mind for young," said the 59-year old de Pasquale.

Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra: Water Music

The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the only full-time chamber orchestra in the United States, performed a free concert on Sept. 10 on a barge anchored in the Mississippi River opposite downtown St. Paul. The concert, which appropriately included music from Handel's "Water Music" (composed for an earlier floating orchestra), was part of St. Paul's riverfront revitalization project.

It was not reported whether the Coast Guard enforced its usual policy on life vests for the event.

San Jose Symphony: Audience to Star in TV Production

ABC-TV camera crews will be present at the opening concert of the San Jose Symphony's season on Sept. 11, but not to tape the orchestra. Instead, ABC crews will film the audience as part of "Redwood Curtain," an upcoming Hallmark Hall of Fame production.

Camera crews will return to the Center for the Performing Arts on Sept. 12 to film 200 extras for additional audience footage. ABC will pay the San Jose Symphony $50 per extra and the extras will get to claim a $50 charitable donation for their taxes.

Savannah Symphony on Strike

When negotiations between AFM Local 447-704 and the Savannah Symphony Society failed to reach agreement by the start of their season, September 5th, musicians of the Savannah Symphony Orchestra took to the picket line once again, on strike against their employer for the second time since 1990.

Despite numerous meetings with the representatives of the Society in the past week, the orchestra's negotiation committee was unable to recommend any proposal to the players when talks broke down on Saturday, September 3rd. Musicians then voted to endorse the negotiation committee's recommendation not to return to work. Earlier in the week, the union filed an NLRB charge of unfair labor practice against the Savannah Symphony Society for its failure to provide financial information from 1993-94 and for its refusal to discuss wages until all other economic and non-economic issues were resolved.

The principal issues at stake are wages and health insurance benefits; concessions on leave provisions and other working conditions; and the Savannah Symphony Society's refusal to remove contract language which allows the Society to label any outside activities, musical or otherwise, that musicians might engage in, as a conflict of interest with the orchestra.

The orchestra employs 38 full-time musicians and approximately 150 freelance musicians from around the Southeast on per service contracts. With a budget last year of $2,050,000, the orchestra has advertised itself as a rare model of financial turn-around in the orchestra world, running in the black for the past 5 years and increasing revenue nearly 50%. The musicians waged a 13 week strike in 1990 and achieved several major improvements in their contract. Section salary in 1993-94 was $15,589 and the import per service scale was $41.50.

As musicians hit the pavement in front of the symphony's office, they also joined other unions in a Labor Day rally sponsored by the International Longshoremen's Association. The celebration marched to the city's main park where, amidst other labor and political speakers, the orchestra's spokesman, Michael Grose, and a brass quintet took a turn at the podium in front of a crowd of over 1000 union workers. Musicians also took the opportunity to sell T-shirts and cook books for the Orchestra Players of Savannah. Future plans include a benefit concert, numerous informances, and informational picketing around Savannah.
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