DOS Orchestra #39 - 5 May, 95

News from the world of professional orchestras.
Copyright 1995, International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians

Topics

Louisville Orchestra: Settlement in Contract Dispute

Louisville Orchestra musicians and management have reached a settlement in their long and difficult fight over the renegotiation of the orchestra's collective bargaining agreement, musicians and orchestra officials announced on May 1.

The new agreement, which will replace the final year of a three-year agreement reached in 1993, will provide for a 40-week season at current weekly salary figures for the musicians, effectively a salary freeze. The agreement maintains the size of the orchestra at 70 musicians, and requires three vacancies left unfilled during the 1994-95 season to be filled for the 95-96 season. The agreement also calls for a renegotiation of the final two years of the agreement in the spring of 1996.

Chicago Symphony executive director Henry Fogel, who has been mediating the negotiations since March, will lead a comprehensive study of the orchestra's operations, relationships, and scope beginning this summer. Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson told the Louisville ~Courier-Journal~ that "ultimately (Fogel) will make a recommendation as to the size, the number of weeks, the marketing strategy, and ... the legitimate bottom line that this community can support."

The settlement comes after a series of renegotiations of a collective bargaining agreement that was originally signed in 1993. That agreement called for a salary freeze in the first year, 2.1% increases in each of the following two years, and for musicians to share in any surplus the orchestra might run during that period. However, in April 1994, before the first season covered by the labor agreement was over, the orchestra's board of directors asked for and received salary cuts from the musicians that reduced the 1994-95 season by one week and the 1995-96 season from the contracted 45 weeks to 40 weeks.

In November 1994, the orchestra's board of directors of the Louisville Orchestra voted to accept a board committee's recommendation to cut the compensation of the musicians for the 1995-96 season by $280,000 in response to a projected deficit of $409,000 season, a projection which was hotly disputed by the musicians. That board committee shared a number of members with the Louisville Fund for the Arts, which became viewed by many musicians as spearheading the movement to downsize the orchestra. Allan Cowen, president of the fund, had previously demanded that the orchestra develop "a fiscally creditable budget that includes elimination of the accumulated debt within five years" and "product refocus," in addition to a "viable restructure of the Louisville Orchestra's configuration to match financial resources with market demands [that] should take into account orchestral needs of the Opera and Ballet." Cowen had served on the task force that guided the efforts of the Louisville Orchestra restructure committee. That committee, which was led by a paid consultant who was the former vice-president of Cowen's Fund for the Arts, oversaw the preparation of the budget draft on which the orchestra board's vote was based. Two other members of that restructure committee were board member Carole Birkhead and Louisville Orchestra executive director Wayne Brown, both of whom are officers of the American Symphony Orchestra League.

The orchestra's board and management went even further on January 30, 1994 when they released a proposal to reduce the budget for full-time musicians by 37% for the 1995-96 through 97-98 seasons. The plan would have placed a salary cap of $1.45 million on salaries for full-time musicians, compared to the $2.32 million projected for next season under the current labor agreement. Under this cap, the salary for a section player would plunge from $27,000 next season under the current labor agreement to $17,000. If salaries were to remain the same, the number of full-time musicians would have had to have been cut from the current 67 to as few as 44. The board gave the musicians until March 7 to accept its offer. The offer was described to the New York ~Times~ by the musicians' negotiator, Liza Hirsch Du Brul, as "designed to encourage the orchestra's bargaining unit to cannibalize itself. It sets up the expectation that some players will be betting with themselves that they'll be among the 45, and that if the majority will be O.K., they can outvote the minority. This orchestra has already seen cut and betrayal after cut and betrayal, but it will probably not cannibalize itself."

In March, a fund was established by Mrs. Clarita Whitney, the widow of the orchestra's founding conductor, Robert Whitney. The goals of the Robert and Clarita Whitney Fund were described in a press release as follows: Talks were held on March 5 and 6 in Chicago, and were mediated by Henry Fogel, executive director of the Chicago Symphony. During the talks, the musicians expressed a willingness to make salary concessions for the upcoming two seasons.

The orchestra's board announced on March 9 that it was willing to continue discussions with the musicians, but at the same time authorized its 18-member negotiating committee to terminate the labor agreement for next season if a new agreement for next year was not reached with the musicians.

Management's response to the musicians' offer of further salary concessions was unyielding. Jonathan Goldberg, the orchestra board's general counsel, told the ~Courier-Journal~ that "it's clear that their proposal in some respect offers some money, which indicates that if they believed the deficit wasn't real, they would have stuck to their guns." (In addition to serving as the board's general counsel, Goldberg is also a member of the board of the Louisville Fund for the Arts and is counsel for the Kentucky Center for the Arts.)

On April 6, in response to a management proposal for a 40-week 1995-96 season, with an freeze on musician income and orchestra complement, the musicians made a new proposal. This proposal would have cut the number of weeks for the 1995-96 season from the contractually guaranteed 45 weeks to 40 weeks, with a cost-of-living adjustment to their 1994-95 weekly salary and an increase in the number of full-time musicians from the current 67 to the contractually mandated 70. The proposed new agreement would have run through May 31, 1998, and would have contained two windows for "reconsidering" salaries and orchestra complement.

The orchestra's board responded to the musicians' offer with its "last and best offer" on April 7, and threatened to terminate the last year of the agreement (1995-96) if the musicians did not accept the offer by April 10. This proposal was very similar to the proposal the musicians had previously rejected, except that it offered a 3% cost-of-living payment should ticket sales for the 1995-96 season exceed the projected budget by $60,000, which, according to management, was the approximate cost of the bonus. This offer was reminiscent of the profit-sharing clause of the original 1993 agreement, which had been renegotiated before the clause could have come into effect. Making the offer even less attractive to the musicians was the fact that the board had suspended fundraising and subscription marketing efforts for next season on January 30. Normally, orchestras begin subscription sales in January or February for the following season, and a late start on a subscription campaign is considered by marketing professionals to risk losing renewing subscribers to competing events.

Sue Carroll, the head of the musicians' negotiating committee, told the ~Courier-Journal~ that the board's April 7 offer did not represent "any significant movement from the board's last proposal." The board's response to this rejection of its "last and best offer" was to notify the musicians on April 13 that it would terminate the final year of the existing agreement, thus putting next season in peril. Goldberg told the ~Courier-Journal~ that the termination was necessary to prevent the orchestra's financial demise. "Our point of view is that we have to protect the organization," Goldberg said.

The termination created several new possible scenarios. By the terms of the collective bargaining agreement, the musicians could file a grievance and take the the termination to binding arbitration, a process that could force the board to adhere to the terms of the existing agreement. By terminating the agreement, the board also created the possibility of the musicians legally striking; before, they would have been prohibited from striking by the terms of the labor agreement.

On April 25, the board announced that it would cancel the orchestra's summer season and withdraw its last offer if the musicians did not immediately agree to management's terms. "The bottom line is that if we don't have resolution by (April 28), we do not have enough time to [plan] a summer season," Goldberg told the ~Courier-Journal~. Carroll responded that "the arbitrary threats contained in the deadline certainly are not productive for reaching an agreement. We do intend to respond in the next couple of days."

On April 27, the musicians' negotiating committee made a new proposal that included a offer made to board president Carol Hebel by Mrs. Whitney to cover a deficit of up to $84,000 (the total compensation for three musicians) if the board would agree to hire 70 musicians instead of the 67 in its most recent proposal. After a board meeting that afternoon (from which the musician members of the board were excluded), Goldberg informed the negotiating committee that the musicians would have to accept the board's offer of 67 musicians before the board would discuss whether to accept the Whitney gift for the three additional players.

However, the board soon changed its position on the issue of orchestra complement and the final tentative agreement was reached on April 28, ratified by the board on May 1, and ratified by the musicians on May 3. At a joint press conference held on May 1, Carroll described the settlement as "an agreement that leads to a process that may lead to a solution," while Wayne Brown said "we've managed to find a means by which we can identify a process to address long-term issues."

This dispute was very closely watched by the rest of the American orchestra industry. Not only did the board's proposed two-tier system of contracts represented the most radical restructuring of a major American orchestra yet proposed; given the involvement of two officers of the ASOL on the board's "restructure" committee, it was viewed by some observers as a model of how some in the ASOL think orchestras should be structured in the future.

The final settlement does not signify closure on the overall issue of the future of the Louisville Orchestra, but it does represent the board of director's very public failure to impose its downsizing vision of the future on the musicians by a series of ultimata. The Louisville Orchestra will actually employ more full-time musicians next season than this season. For their part, the musicians were not able to get the board to honor the final year of the existing agreement, and were left with an annual salary of $23,856, 13% less than the $27,269 guaranteed by the old contract.

Henry Fogel, in a prepared statement, said of the settlement:

I am delighted that the musicians and management of the Louisville Orchestra have reached agreement on revision of their existing contract which will permit the Orchestra to continue to operate.

The Louisville Orchestra is one of the gems of American musical life. Its accomplishments, including its legendary recordings of American music, comprise one of the bright chapters in the cultural history of this country. Its importance as a national cultural treasure and as a significant representation of the city of Louisville to the world cannot be overstated. It is, and must remain, a source of great pride to all of the citizens of Louisville and to America.

The musicians, the board and the management have all made, over the past two months, significant movement throughout the process in order to bring about this settlement, and I am very grateful for the spirit of cooperation and goodwill that they have shown. Despite the tensions that one would expect to be an inherent part of the process we have been going through, all parties have demonstrated their intense goodwill and desire to keep the Louisville Orchestra alive. It is this desire which has brought us to this point, and will be important as everyone goes forward.

This settlement is only the beginning of what will be a long, difficult, but, I hope, mutually rewarding process. I have agreed to direct a process that will involve board members, management and musicians, as well as representation from all of the important segments of the community. This process will evaluate all aspects of this Orchestra, its role in and relationship to the community, and I hope it will also begin to build more mutually rewarding and beneficial internal and external relationships for the Orchestra. I very much look forward to this process, and remain committed to doing everything I can to help the Louisville Orchestra maintain its position as one of America's truly important orchestras.

Metropolitan Opera: Discrimination Lawsuit Filed

The Metropolitan Opera is being sued for employment discrimination by a former employee who was fired by the company from her position as assistant stage manager in 1993. In the lawsuit, Martha Ellen Brennan, 48, claims that she was fired because she is a heterosexual woman, and that the executive stage director, David Kneuss, was prejudiced against heterosexuals and people over 40. The suit alleges that Kneuss favored homosexuals when assigning work and made demeaning remarks about her sexuality.

A spokesperson for the company declined to comment on the suit.

North Carolina Symphony: State Funding Targeted

The North Carolina Symphony would be required to raise another $100,000 in private donations in order to keep $100,000 of state funding under a budget plan approved by the state House Budget Committee on April 27. The plan, crafted by the Republican-controlled committee, would cut state spending by $216 million overall. Cuts would include reductions in faculty in the University of North Carolina system, cuts in a program that represents abused and neglected children in court proceedings, and elimination of a program to help abandoned spouses.

The original Republican proposal would have cut $100 million what the state contributes to its employees' health insurance and retirement plans, but that amount was restored on April 26 after heavy lobbying by state employees and teachers.

The cuts would help to pay for a $240 million cut in the state personal income tax and a repeal of the intangibles tax on stocks and bonds, which will cost the state $125 million in tax revenue.

San Francisco Symphony: New Recording Deal

Michael Tilson Thomas, music director-designate of the San Francisco Symphony, signed a 25-album contract with BMG Classics/RCA Victor on April 26. The contract calls for the orchestra to be featured on 15 of the recordings, while Thomas will record 10 albums with the New World Symphony and the London Symphony Orchestra. The first of the 15 recordings will be made in September in San Francisco and will feature Thomas's arrangement of Prokofiev's "Romeo and Juliet" ballet music. Recordings of music by Copland and Mahler are also planned.

Terre-Haute Symphony: New Music Director

The Terre-Haute (Indiana) Symphony has appointed Cindy Egolf-ShamRao as its next music director. She will succeed Ramon Meyer, who has retired.

Egolf-ShamRao, 38, currently conducts at De Paul University in Chicago. She is a graduate of Ball State University, and received a Doctorate of Music Arts degree from the University of Michigan.

Deaths

Adele Marcus, who taught many of the most prominent pianists on today's concert circuit, died on May 3 at her home in New York City. She was 89.

Marcus was born in 1906 in Kansas City and began her musical studies in Los Angeles. She began to study with Josef Lhevinne when she was 15 and subsequently became his assistant. She also studied with Artur Schnabel.

She won the Walter H. Naumberg Foundation Award in 1928. A New York debut followed, along with performances with major American orchestras.

Marcus joined the faculty of the Julliard School in 1954, retiring in 1990. Her students included Horacio Gutierrez, Byron Janis, Jon Kimura Parker, Jeffrey Swan, Norman Krieger, Stephen Hough, and Neil Sedaka.
Louis Krasner, former concertmaster of the Minneapolis and Syracuse orchestras and renowned exponent of 20th-century music, died at his home in Brookline (MA) at the age of 91.

Krasner, who also served on the faculties of Syracuse University, the New England Conservatory, and the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood, was best known for commissioning and premiering Alban Berg's Violin Concert in 1936. He premiered the Violin Concerto of Arnold Schoenberg in 1940, and made the first recordings of both works. He also premiered works of Roger Sessions, Henry Cowell, and Roy Harris.

Krasner was born in 1903 in Cherkassy, Ukraine, and moved to Providence (RI) at the age of 5. He began violin studies when he was 9. After studying with Eugene Gruenwald at the New England Conservatory, he studied in Europe with Lucien Capet, Otakar Sevcik, and Carl Flesch.

He was concertmaster of the Minneapolis Symphony from 1944 to 1949, when he left to join the faculty of Syracuse University. He served as concertmaster of the Syracuse Symphony from 1960 to 1968. In 1976, he left Syracuse to join the faculties of the New England Conservatory and the Berkshire Music Center.
Irene Newcomb Maddox, former principal flute of the Charlotte (NC) Symphony, died on May 2 in Charlotte. She was 60.

Maddox was a native of Texas and received a B.A. from the University of North Texas. After graduation, she studied with Jean-Pierre Rampal and played with the Pittsburgh Wind Symphony.

Maddox, who was a life member of the National Flute Association, founded the Charlotte Flute Choir and was its director when it won the World Championship at the Flute Band competition in Ireland in 1985.
Joanne Eenigburg, harpist with the Northwest Indiana Symphony, died on January 23 in Valparaiso, Indiana. She was 48.

Eenigburg began to study piano at the age of 8, and began harp studies in 1977 with Elizabeth Cifani, harpist of the Chicago Lyric Opera orchestra. In addition to playing with the Northwest Indiana Symphony, she was choir director at a local church and recently started a cluster bell choir. She also taught English at Purdue University Calumet and Indiana University Northwest.
Copyright 1995, International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians

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