DOS Orchestra 058
June 30, 1996
Copyright 1996, International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians.
Aspen Festival: New Music Director
David Zinman has been named music director of the Aspen Music Festival and
School, festival officials announced on June 17. Zinman, who is music director
of the Baltimore Symphony and artistic director of the Minnesota Orchestra's
Viennese Sommerfest, agreed to a four-year contract with the Aspen festival
that will have him conducting five weeks in 1997, six weeks in 1998, and
the full nine weeks of the festival in 1999, the festival's 50th anniversary
year.
Zinman will succeed Laurence Foster, who has been the festival's music director
for seven seasons. He will resign his Minnesota position, which he has held
since 1993, after this summer's season.
Zinman highlighted the teaching aspect of his new position in an interview
with the ~Rocky Mountain News~. "The school is the most important aspect
of Aspen in my opinion. We're training future musicians. I'll spend more
than 50% of my time with the kids... I'm able to reconcile my professional
career by passing on what I know to young people. And, let's not forget,
young people give you so much in return."
Boston Pops: New Recording Deal
The Boston Pops Orchestra has signed a four-year, six-record contract with
RCA Victor and the first release will be a recording of Glenn Miller favorites,
orchestra officials announced on June 3. The deal returns the Pops to the
RCA Victor fold after a fifteen-year relationship with Sony and former music
director John Williams. The Pops, under Arthur Fiedler, recorded for RCA
Victor from 1935 to 1969.
The orchestra recorded 11 Glenn Miller instrumentals on June 1-2 at Symphony
Hall. The recording is scheduled to be released in September.
Charlotte Symphony: Lots of Personnel Changes
The Charlotte Symphony has elected a new board chairman and appointed a
permanent general manager and chorus director, the Charlotte ~Observer~
reported on June 24. Six members of the 60-piece orchestra have also announced
their resignations or departures on leaves of absence, while three other
orchestra members on leave have announced that they do not intend to return.
Former vice-president for development Julie Duke has been named vice-president
and general manager in charge of production and artistic operations, a position
she has held on an acting basis for several months. Duke is a former development
director for The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and the National Symphony,
and was also executive director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.
Board vice-chairman and vice-president for finance James Kelly Jr., a partner
at Price Waterhouse, will become board chairman on July 1, replacing Fredric
Figge, who led the recent effort to downsize the orchestra's budget as well
as the musicians' compensation package.
David Tang, a graduate of Yale University and the University of Michigan,
has been appointed director of the Oratorio Singers of Charlotte, the orchestra's
resident chorus. The group has not had a director since the summer of 1995.
The orchestra is still searching for a replacement for former executive
director Rick Lester, whose resignation last October had all the earmarks
of a termination. Acting executive director Scott Singleton, a board member,
told the ~Observer~ that he couldn't comment on the search process.
Six musicians have already announced their intention to leave the ensemble,
while the deadline for applying for leaves of absence is still several weeks
away. Cellist Carol Bjorlie, who, along with her husband, is leaving the
orchestra after 27 years to return to Minnesota, told the ~Observer~ that
the orchestra's new labor agreement was "obscene... we lost ground
for the first time in 25 years... I chose this career to play the greatest
music in the world. That is not 'American Salute,' which we've played at
least 27 times in a row."
Assistant concertmaster Brian Lee told the ~Obsever" that he resigned
because "when I first came here 10 years ago, this was a good orchestra
to get into. I just don't feel like it's that way any more."
One musician, hornist Robert Rydel, is leaving his tenured position in the
orchestra for a temporary position with the Jacksonville Symphony. "I'd
like to be in a situation much more stable than Charlotte's," he told
the paper.
Music director Peter McCoppin was relatively sanguine about the departures.
"Changes in personnel at an orchestra are inevitable,' he said. "It
doesn't surprise me. I respect people's choices, the courage of anyone who
has the integrity to break away at all costs." He said that replacements
for the departing musicians "could bring another dimension" to
the orchestra.
He also denied that the orchestra had changed its mission. "To say
we're doing less classics and more pops is not accurate," he told the
~Observer~. `"We have here a company that has failed to generate community
ownership; we need to go out to the community and connect personally."
Meanwhile, ticket sales for the orchestra's revamped classical subscription
season are going very slowly. As part of an effort to increase overall sales,
the main classical series was cut from 14 sets of concerts to 8, while the
number of Pops, cabaret, and special-events concerts was increased. Joan
Laskey, the orchestra's vice-president for marketing, described the season
as "basically customer-friendly... we need audience. If this is the
way we need to go for a while to gain their confidence, that's what we'll
do."
As of mid-June, subscription renewals for the classical series were at 1,830,
compared to 2,998 at the same time last year. Laskey pointed out that this
year's campaign has only been running for five weeks, compared to four months
by last June. This year's campaign was delayed by a dispute with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg
Arts Council over the council's demand that the orchestra escrow ticket
income for the 1996-97 season, a condition to which the orchestra ultimately
acceded, even though it further weakened the orchestra's immediate cash
condition.
Laskey did say that subscriptions sales for the pops series were going "much
better."
The orchestra received an allocation for the 1996-97 season of $1,528,000
from the Arts Council, up 10% from this season's allocation. The orchestra
is still in the process of trying to raise $500,000 to match a $500,000
challenge grant from NationsBank and First Union to keep the doors open
until the fall in the absence of the escrowed subscription sales income.
Kelly said that "preliminary responses have been favorable... we're
optimistic. We're trying to nail down corporate indicators of support."
The fund drive is receiving support from WDAV radio of Davidson, Charlotte's
local public radio station. The station is broadcasting five daily fundraising
appeals for the orchestra. "It's just a response to the crisis the
symphony is in," said Casey Jacobus, marketing director for the station.
"It's because we are aware of the importance the symphony has in the
cultural life of the community."
Colorado Symphony: New Development Director
The Colorado Symphony has named Ann Randolph to the newly-renamed position
of director of resource management (formerly development). Randolph comes
to the orchestra from the Denver Public Library, where she worked in development
during its recent expansion and fund drive. She has also worked for Central
City Opera and Opera Colorado.
La Fenice: Fire Determined to be Arson
Fire experts investigating the January fire that destroyed the opera house
"La Fenice" in Venice have concluded that the fire was set intentionally
and could not have been the result of an electrical short circuit, as had
been previously speculated.
Gianfranco Pontel, superintendent of La Fenice and a life-long resident
of Venice, told the ~New York Times~ that he found the idea of the 204-year-old
building having been destroyed deliberately to be "unimaginable...
even in the darkest years of terrorism, we in Venice did not know such acts."
The five fire experts are reported by a number of Italian newspapers to
be close to concluding that a number of separate fires were started in the
theater with a mixture of oil and gasoline. News reports have suggested
that the office of Leonardo Corbo, chief of civilian defense for the city
of Venice, has already identified several suspects, and that one focus of
the investigation is believed to be construction companies hoping to profit
from a reconstruction.
A separate investigation of fire code violations at La Fenice, which was
closed for renovations at the time of the fire, has led to another investigation
of 14 officials, including Pontel and mayor Massimo Cacciari.
Pontel told the ~Times~ that he hoped that the fire investigators would
finish their report quickly so that a court order barring rebuilding work
can be lifted. He said that reconstruction is expected to be completed by
the fall of 1999 at a cost of $103 million.
Memphis Symphony: Two Retirements
Two veteran members of the Memphis Symphony, principal cellist Peter Spurbeck
and third clarinetist James Richens, have announced plans to retire at the
end of the 1995-96 season.
Spurbeck, 58, has been principal cellist since 1966 and has played with
the orchestra since 1959, while he was still a graduate student. He told
the Memphis ~Commercial Appeal~ that "thirty years is kind of a milestone,
and I'm not getting any younger... my body is beginning to argue with me.
Another thing is that the symphony schedule is a lot more demanding than
it used to be. Coupled with more activity at the university, it just didn't
seem possible to keep up all those things."
Spurbeck will retain his teaching positions at the University of Memphis
and the Sewanee Summer Music Festival in Tennessee. His wife Ann, a violinist,
will continue as a member of the orchestra.
The orchestra has already held one audition to replace Spurbeck and plans
to hold another.
Richens, 59, will continue to work for the orchestra as an arranger and
staff member. He began playing with the orchestra around 1967, and served
as an assistant conductor during the 1980's. Richens, who holds a master's
degree in composition from the Eastman School of Music, has composed a number
of works that have been premiered in Memphis, including a symphony and several
ballet scores. He composed several arrangements for the orchestra's recent
recording of Elvis Presley songs.
Milwaukee Symphony: New Labor Agreement
Members of the Milwaukee Symphony ratified a new three-year collective bargaining
agreement for the 1996-99 seasons on June 18. The ratification was the first
time in the orchestra's history that a new labor agreement had been reached
significantly before the end of the previous agreement.
The timing and content of the agreement are in dramatic contrast to the
MSO's last negotiation, which lasted six months past the expiration of the
old agreement and resulted in a 14.7% cut in musicians' salaries, the first
work stoppage in the MSO's history, and revelations by the local media that
the orchestra's board had turned down a $500,000 donation during the negotiations.
The new agreement provides for a 44 week season, with annual base salaries
of $46,244 ($1,051/week) in 1996-97, $48,092 ($1,093/week) in 1997-98, and
$50,028 ($1,137/week) in 1998-99. Current base salary is $44,800 ($1,020/week
for 44 weeks).
The new agreement moves the orchestra into the American Federation of Musicians-Employers
Plan, a multi-employer pension program, at a rate of 5% of gross individual
earnings (increasing to 6% on September 1, 1999), producing significantly
improved pension benefits for members of the orchestra at no additional
cost to management over the term of the agreement. The agreement also provides
for a one-year improvement in pension benefits under the current program
for musicians retiring during that period. Major improvements were also
reached in long-term disability insurance, while medical insurance was left
unchanged, with no premium sharing by members of the orchestra.
There were also improvements in pay for third wind players who play two
instruments, in solo/ensemble pay, in dental coverage, and in the amount
of guaranteed rotated time off.
The major concessions made by the musicians were in the area of vacations,
pay for extras and substitute musicians, and orchestra size. Previously
the musicians had 5 weeks paid vacation, with two of those taken whenever
the musicians chose individually. The new agreement increases the number
to 6, but gives management the right to assign the 2 weeks of rotated vacation
under guidelines designed to preserve the musicians' right to time off for
family and professional reasons. Because of these changes, members of the
orchestra will lose most of their previous opportunities to work two of
their vacation weeks, resulting in a net loss to approximately half of the
orchestra of approximately $600 in compensation in the first year of the
new agreement.
Pay for extras and short-term substitute musicians was reduced from 100%
of full-time per-service scale to 90% of full-time per-service scale, except
for MSO musicians working as extras and two long-time substitutes.
The agreement also reduces the size of the full-time orchestra complement
from 90 to 89 by providing for an internal audition to fill the assistant
principal bass left vacant by the resignation of former assistant principal
bassist Daniel Armstrong, thus reducing the bass section from 9 to 8 members.
There is also a provision for a temporary reduction in the cello section
by one member, should there be any attrition in that section over the term
of the agreement.
The original vote on the new agreement was held on June 9. After several
members of the orchestra (including this writer) protested to the AFM's
Symphonic Service Division and AFM president Steve Young that the June 9
vote was held without adequate advance notice of a ratification vote, Young
ordered George Sartick, president of the Milwaukee Musicians' Association,
Local 8 AFM, to hold another ratification vote, which was held on June 18.
Both votes were described by the MSO Players' Council, the orchestra members'
negotiating committee, as "overwhelmingly" in favor of ratification.
The orchestra's board voted to approve the new agreement on June 19.
A charge against Local 8 has also been filed with the National Labor Relations
Board by a Local 8 member who plays as an extra musician with the orchestra,
on the basis that Local 8 negotiated a two-tier wage system "that discriminates
against the substitute and extra musicians."
Members of the MSO Players' Council were Sara Harmelink (chair), Shawn Mouser,
Patricia Mumm, David Taggart, and Elizabeth Tuma. Local #8 was represented
by its president, George Sartick. Negotiating counsel for the musicians
was Susan Martin. The management negotiating team was led by MSO executive
director Steven A. Ovitsky.
New York Philharmonic: Board Shakeup
The chairman and president of the board of directors of the New York Philharmonic
will leave their positions as soon as successors can be named, orchestra
officials announced on June 12. No reason was given for the departure of
chairman Stephen Stamas and president H. Frederick Krimendahl 2nd, although
speculation focused on tension between the orchestras musicians and its
board and management following last fall's negotiations for a new labor
agreement. Both men told the ~New York Times~ that the "aftermath of
the contract talks played no role in their decision to step down."
Stamas and Krimendahl told the paper in a joint interview that "we
both have been around so long that we feel that rather than looking for
one person, the board really would be advantaged by looking at both our
successors." They also said that their actual departures would probably
not occur simultaneously.
I. Philip Sipser, long-time negotiating counsel for AFM Local 802 (New York
City) and the orchestra's musicians, told the ~Times~ that orchestra members
were still angry at the orchestra's board and executive director Deborah
Borda for their role in the labor negotiations, even though the agreement
raised the minimum salary for orchestra members to $81,120 for the 1997-98
season, the highest base salary in the industry negotiated to date. After
the agreement was ratified by the musicians on October 6, Sipser told the
~Times~ that "never seen players angrier than those of the Philharmonic"
and that he expected the bitterness to linger.
The musicians' anger at the way negotiations had been handled led them,
immediately before the ratification vote, to pass a resolution expressing
their lack of confidence in both Borda and the labor relations committee
of the orchestra's board. In an article in ~Forbes~ magazine on the negotiations
in November, it was revealed that consultant Ralph Craviso had been assisting
management in the negotiations. Craviso told ~Forbes~ that "the musicians
have a view of their contribution to society that drives their expectations...
Obviously, there's something wrong with this picture."
Stamas has been chair of the orchestra's board since 1989, and had previously
been the president of the board for five years. He is a retired Exxon Corporation
executive. In a statement released by the orchestra, he said "the Philharmonic,
artistically and financially, is in an enviable position today, and this
is an appropriate time to begin the transition."
Krimendahl joined the orchestra's board in 1976, and has served as president
since 1989, as well as chairman of the orchestra's endowment trustees. He
is chairman of Petrus Partners Ltd, a private investment firm.
A search committee has been formed to find successors to Stamas and Krimendahl.
The five-member committee will be headed by J. Caret Bacot, chairman of
the Bank of New York.
New York Philharmonic: New Principal Cellist
from the management of the New York Philharmonic, June 13:
The New York Philharmonic announced today that it has appointed Carter Brey
to its Principal Cello position effective September 15. Known to American
audiences for his consummate musicianship, virtuosity and technique, Mr.
Brey will join a long line of distinguished cellists who have held the post
in the Orchestra's 154 years. He replaces Lorne Munroe, who retired at the
end of the 1995-96 season.
"We are delighted to announce this appointment," said Deborah
Borda, the Philharmonic's Executive Director. "It continues the Philharmonic's
long-standing tradition of brilliant principal cellists occupying this chair.
Carter Brey's qualities as an outstanding ensemble musician are wonderfully
matched with his remarkable solo abilities."
"I am thrilled about this," commented Mr. Brey. "I grew up
in New York, and some of my earliest musical experiences were attending
Young People's Concerts by the Philharmonic with Leonard Bernstein conducting.
This is my hometown orchestra. To think that I'm not only joining it, but
also stepping into the shoes of Lorne Munroe and before him Carl Stern,
Laszlo Varga, and Leonard Rose - this is an honor."
Mr. Brey was educated at the Peabody Institute, where he studied with Laurence
Lesser and Stephen Kates, and at Yale University, where he studied with
Also Parisot. He rose to international attention in 1981 as a prize-winner
in the Rostropovich International Cello Competition, and his subsequent
appearances with Rostropovich and the National Symphony Orchestra were widely
praised. The winner of the Gregor Piatigorsky Memorial Prize, Avery Fisher
Career Grant, the Young Concert Artists' Michaels Award and other honors,
he also was the first musician to win the Arts Council of America's Performing
Arts Prize.
Considered today a leading instrumentalist of his generation, Mr. Brey has
appeared as soloist with virtually all the major orchestras in the United
States, and performed under the batons of Claudio Abbado, Semyon Bychkov,
Sergiu Comissiona, Christoph von Dohnanyi and other prominent conductors.
Among his noteworthy chamber-music collaborations are a series of duo recitals
with pianist Christopher O'Riley, and his recording, for Decca's Argo label,
of Aaron Jay Kernis' Still Movement with Hymn with violinist Pamela Frank
and violist Paul Neubauer. Recently he gave a program of works by Amy Beach
at Alice Tully Hall as part of a special Lincoln Center series on American
music. He lives in New York City with his wife, Ilaria Dagnini Brey, and
their two children, Ottavia and Lucas.
Philadelphia Orchestra: But Who Got the
Miles?
A dispute between the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Seoul (Korea) Arts
Center erupted during the orchestra's recent Asian tour over the cost of
the orchestra's airfare, with Arts Center officials claiming that the orchestra's
management had charged them almost twice the actual rate for the orchestra's
travel. "They are overcharging us for their airfare from Tokyo to Seoul,"
Eui Joon Kim, general director of the Seoul Arts Center, told the Philadelphia
~Inquirer~. "They are charging us $450 [per ticket]. We did our own
research. We contacted Korean Air and the airfare was less than $250. We
have had orchestras from all over the world - Baltimore, Boston, New York,
Pittsburgh - and this is the first time we had this problem. If they continue
this policy, then we don't want them back again."
Kim said that he had raised the issue with the orchestra several months
ago but had received no response from orchestra management. He told the
paper that he considered canceling the concerts, but that he had already
sold too many tickets by that point.
Orchestra president Joseph H. Kluger said that he was unaware of any unhappiness
on the part of the Arts Center until the orchestra's arrival in Seoul. He
told the ~Inquirer~ that the amount of the airfare was specified in the
contract between the Center and the orchestra. "We had a contract for
a specified amount, and they paid it," he told the paper. He said that
he would investigate the question of why the airfare was so high and, if
the orchestra received a refund, it would be passed back to the Arts Center.
Some members of the orchestra traveling on their own claimed that they had
been able to travel on United Airlines from Tokyo to Seoul for $90.
Sydney Symphony: Smelly Programs
Audience members at concerts of the Sydney (Australia) Symphony on April
17, 18, 20, and 22 were assaulted by an odor described as somewhere between
"active tomcat" and "rotten eggs." The offending odor
was traced to the paper on which the programs were printed. The paper had
come from Nordland, a high-tech paper mill in Bremen, Germany, and reportedly
emitted the odor due to an unspecified chemical reaction. Playbill, the
publisher of the orchestra's program books, has apologized and returned
the rest of the paper to Nordland.
People
Swiss conductor Michel Tabachnik was placed under investigation on June
12 in a probe of the deaths of 16 members of the Order of the Solar Temple
last year in France, according to French justice officials.
Investigating magistrate Luc Fontaine ordered Tabachnik investigated on
suspicion of criminal conspiracy and receiving stolen goods. He was then
released, although his movements were restricted by the court. He had been
in custody since his arrest near Paris on June 10.
Tabachnik's lawyer, Alain Feder, told ~Reuter~ that Tabachnik had demanded
that he be questioned and then placed under investigation in order to clear
up rumors about his membership of the cult and to prove his innocence. "Michel
Tabachnik will demonstrate, during the course of this investigation, that
he is innocent and has not been enriched in connection with the Order of
the Solar Temple," Feder told reporters.
Tabachnik's first wife died in the 1994 murder-suicide of 52 disciples of
the Order of the Solar Temple in Switzerland and Canada. Sixteen more members
died last December in France in a ritual that appeared similar to the 1994
deaths.
According to ~Reuter~, Tabachnik's name has appeared in cult documents and
witnesses have told investigators he played an important role in the sect.
Tabachnik has insisted that he broke all ties to the group in July 1994
and gave up the leadership of an affiliated group, the Golden Way, in 1984.
Deaths
Alan Booth, a pianist who was a founding member of the Symphony of the New
World, reportedly the first racially integrated orchestra in American history,
died in Newton, Mass., of brain cancer. He was 71.
Booth graduated from the Oberlin Conservatory in 1946 and accompanied American
bass Paul Robeson in concerts and recordings.
-----
Stephen E. Campbell Jr., an editor and advertising executive who was co-publisher
of the Boston Symphony Orchestra program magazine, died on May 1 at his
home in Florida of congestive heart failure. He was 77.
Campbell, a native of Brooklyn, attended Washington & Lee University
and Harvard University before joining the Office of Strategic Services during
World War II. After the war he served as editor of the Hempstead (NY) ~Sentinel~
and president of an advertising firm in New York before moving to Boston,
where he became an executive with the Media Rep Center and co-publisher
of the orchestra's program magazine. He also served as president of the
Sturbridge Rotary Club.
Campbell is survived by his wife Louis, a brother, two sons, a daughter,
and six grandchildren.
-----
Martin Ormandy, a cellist with the New York Philharmonic for 36 years and
reportedly the oldest working orchestral musician in the United States,
died on June 4 in New York. He was 95.
Ormandy was an active New York freelancer until his death, and performed
regularly with the Mostly Mozart Orchestra, the New York Pops, and the New
York Chamber Symphony.
Ormandy was born in 1901 in Budapest. His took his first professional orchestra
position, principal cellist of the Budapest Opera, at the age of 18. He
also studied mathematics and medicine at Budapest University.
He emigrated to the United States in 1921 to join his brother, Eugene Ormandy,
at the Capital Theater in New York, where Eugene was a violinist in the
pit orchestra. He freelanced in New York on both cello and saxophone until
1929, when Arturo Toscanini hired him to join the New York Philharmonic,
where he worked until his retirement in 1965.
He was also active in the orchestra's chamber music programs, and belonged
to two resident ensembles at Hunter College.
He was scheduled to play with the Mostly Mozart Orchestra this summer. His
last appearance onstage was with the New York Pops on May 7.
He is survived by a brother, Laszlo, two daughters, and four granddaughters.