DOS Orchestra #17 - 18 October 94

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

Topics

Cleveland Orchestra: Assistant Conductor Wins Competition

Alan Gilbert, newly appointed assistant conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra, won first prize at the International Competition for Musical Performers in Geneva. The prize, which is worth 50,000 francs (Swiss), was awarded to Gilbert, 27, by a unanimous vote of the judges. He also won the Swiss Prize, the Bunkamura Orchard Hall Award, and the Sir Georg Solti award. In total, he came home with $62,000 in prize money and a week of collaboration with Solti.

Covent Garden: Production of Rheingold Provokes Near-Riot

A new production of "Das Rheingold" at the Royal Opera House featuring grossly overweight nude Rhinemaidens, Wotan's eye spurting blood over the stage, and Alberich dressed in a trilby hat and frogman's flippers, received a mixed reception at its premiere on October 13. Conductor Bernard Haitink and the cast were warmly applauded by the audience, but the appearance after the final curtain of director Richard Jones and designer Nigel Lowery caused members of the the audience to erupt in boos, while others shouted approval.

Covent Garden spokesperson Sarah Corby, while conceding that "booing is very rare at Covent Garden," said that "it was simply a different reading of the 'Ring.'"

No Rhinemaidens were actually unclothed nor real eyeballs exploded for the production, although Alberich's flippers appeared to be authentic, as did the traffic sign that Wotan carried during the opera.

Eureka Symphony: Cellist Surprised by Controversy

Anne Conrad-Antoville, until last week the principal cellist of the Eureka Symphony, has expressed surprise at the controversy that has developed over her resignation from the orchestra to protest a performance of Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf." She told the Eureka "Times-Standard" that "this was essentially an artistic disagreement in a little orchestra. I wrote a letter, and suddenly it's been blown up into a national event." The letter she referred to was to a local newspaper, and stated that the piece teaches children "to hate and fear wolves and to applaud a hunter who kills a wolf." The story was picked up by the national media and appeared in a large number of newspapers across the country.

Minnesota Orchestra: Strike Continues Into Third Week

Minnesota Orchestra management announced on October 12, in a press release titled "Strike by Minnesota Orchestra Musicians forces cancellation of concerts through Saturday, October 22" that concerts for the third consecutive weekend had been canceled, including a set of subscription concerts featuring pianist Andre Watts.

The central issue in the strike, which began on October 7, is compensation. The most recent proposal by the musicians to management acceded to management's demand for a wage freeze in the first year of a new agreement, followed by increases in weekly salary of $70 in the 1995-96 season and $120 in the 1996-97 season, while management is proposing a five-year agreement, with raises of 3%, or $40 per week, for the 1995-96 and 1996-97 seasons, a 4% raise for the 1997-98 season, and a 5% raise for the 1998-99 season. Management has also proposed an increase in the pension of 11%, bringing it to $30,000. Minnesota Orchestra board member Joe Lapensky, citing projections of red ink through the 1997-98 season and the gradual collection of pledges to the orchestra's highly successful endowment campaign, said "our contract proposal is eminently fair. The Twin Cities are not Chicago, New York, or Boston."

Minnesota Orchestra management issued another press release dated October 7 and titled "Minnesota Orchestral Association Committed to Balancing Operating Budget by 1996 / Minnesota Orchestra musicians must share in the responsibility." The document describes the orchestra's long-range plan to address recent operating deficits, which have run as high as $2.5 million. The plan included a $50 million endowment/capital campaign, of which $43.89 million is already pledged, increases in earned revenue from 42% in 1992 to 52% in 1994, and a staff reduction of 16% during the last two years. Minnesota Orchestra president David Hyslop said that "we have a long-range planning process that works. For the past four years a committee made up of musicians, MOA board members and administrative staff have overseen this plan."

Board chairman Nicky B. Carpenter said that "reprojections of our long-range plan made earlier this year, however, show that we cannot balance our budget without the support of our musicians... and we have asked for a one-year freeze - including the salaries of the administrative staff - to bring our budget in line with the plan... we believe that we have offered a fair and equitable package to the musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra. During the past month of negotiations we have made it very clear that our operating budget cannot absorb additional pay increases to our musicians beyond those already offered. We've made a pledge to this community that we will balance our budget by 1996. This is a promise we must keep."

Ron Rollins, the Minnesota Orchestra musicians' attorney, said "we called a strike because there seemed to be no additional flexibility by the employer, and there seemed didn't seem to be any prospect for an extensive play-and-talk arrangement."

Hyslop said that, so far, the strike has not hurt the orchestra financially, as the orchestra is saving between $130,000 and $150,000 per week in orchestra salaries. He said that "I'm glad that this has been handled with dignity on both sides, but after a while the public will say 'are you going to make music or not?'" Hyslop estimated that approximately one-quarter of the orchestra's patrons are counting their unused tickets as charitable contributions rather than applying for refunds, down from past figures of approximately 50%.

The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Plymouth Music Series has moved previously scheduled concerts from Orchestra Hall to O'Shaughnessy Auditorium in St. Paul, citing the unwillingness of their musicians and stagehands to cross picket lines, although there has been no picketing to date. According to Rollins, musicians will not picket Orchestra Hall, which is owned by the Minnesota Orchestra, as long as management does not attempt to present concerts. In addition, upcoming auditions for a violin opening have been canceled.

No negotiations are currently scheduled. Future negotiations to attempt to end the strike, the first one by the musicians since 1979, will be attended by Hal Gold from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, as were the meetings held immediately before the strike began.

The Minnesota Orchestra is not the only orchestra that is simultaneously engaging in both difficult labor negotiations and a successful endowment drive. The Pittsburgh Symphony is currently in the midst of a highly successful endowment campaign while at the same time demanding that its musicians accept a three-year wage freeze.

Philadelphia Orchestra Sues Disney for $35 million

The Philadelphia Orchestra has sued Walt Disney Corporation and its subsidiary, Buena Vista, for $35 million in royalties on sales of the videocassette version of "Fantasia," the 1939 animated film featuring the orchestra and its music director Leopold Stokowski. According to orchestra attorney David H. Sattinsky, the claim is based on a 10% royalty on gross sales of $350 million of videocassette and laserdisks.

The pivotal document in the case appears to be a one-page agreement between Disney and the Philadelphia Orchestra signed in 1939, the existence of which was not known when the original suit was filed in 1992. Lawyers for Disney tried to have the document excluded from the case, but Judge Joseph F. McGlynn Jr. has allowed the document as evidence.

Disney signed a standard industry contract with Stokowski, which contained a "future-technologies clause," giving Disney the rights to the use of "Fantasia" for media not invented at the time. But, according to Sattinsky, "the orchestra's contract had no standard provisions and no future-technologies clause." The one-page agreement gave Disney the right to use the orchestra and Stokowski "for recordings in connection with this feature picture." When Disney produced a soundtrack album of "Fantasia," it sought the orchestra's consent and worked out a royalty schedule, but according to Sattinsky, the company neither asked the orchestra's permission for the video release nor offered to pay royalties.

Disney attorney Patrick T. Ryan told the jury that Disney had wanted to have Stokowski conduct a studio orchestra, but that Stokowski, then music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra, had requested to use his orchestra instead. Ryan said that the orchestra was so eager to do the project that it cut its normal feel of $5,000 in half for the recording sessions. He said "the one-page contract has not provisions for rights or royalties." He also said that "Fantasia" had only become profitable after multiple re-releases, and cited the film's releases in 8mm and 16mm formats, which he described as for home viewing purposes, proof that the video market had been foreseen. Mark Schubin, a engineer and teacher who testified for the orchestra, countered that the rental fee for the the 8mm and 16mm releases was $20, and compared that to the $.23 that a movie ticket typically cost at the time.

Philadelphia Orchestra president Joseph Kluger testified that he initially contacted the Disney company when he read that "Fantasia" was to be released in video formats, but that Disney refused to pay royalties and claimed the right to use the orchestra's name and performance. He said that Disney had based its position on the contract it had signed with Stokowski and was unaware of the one-page contract with the orchestra, which had been written by Stokowski's agent.

San Jose Symphony: Dueling Orchestras

Patrons of the San Jose Symphony were treated to two competing orchestras at a concert at San Joses Center for the Performing Arts on October 7. Inside was the San Jose Symphony performing an all-Russian program, while outside was a less conventional ensemble comprised mostly of lawn mowers and weed cutters, performing a protest concert against the ground maintenance workers employer, Reid Gustafson, who is a member of the San Jose Symphony Board of Directors.

Spoleto Festival Names Administrator

The Spoleto Festival USA has announced that Erica Gastelli has been appointed music administrator for the 1995 festival. Gastelli has served as artistic administrator of the American Opera Center at the Julliard School and as artistic associate of the Columbus Symphony.
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