Philadelphia Orchestra musicians set a meeting for this evening to "ratify a proposal to return to work under the basic provisions of the expired contract." Then the meeting was cancelled with the announcement that "further news will be forthcoming when appropriate."

David L. Cohen, Philadelphia Mayor Edward Rendell's chief of staff and the man who put together the proposal (rejected by the musicians) to settle the 8-week old strike at the Philadelphia Orchestra, announced he will leave the administration at the end of March to head up his old law firm. There is a story in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra appointed Oxford University Press executive John Manger as its new managing director. The appointment comes 11 months after former managing director Paul Findlay was fired.

Both the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News had stories on last night's rejection by striking Philadelphia Orchestra musicians of the latest proposal to end the 52-day strike. The orchestra's management also released a statement on the rejection.

San Francisco Symphony musicians announced that they would leaflet their own concert at Carnegie Hall. They have also printed leaflets in French and German for use on their upcoming European tour. The leaflet reads in part:

"America's symphony orchestras are under attack...Our fellow musicians in Philadelphia and Atlanta are on strike and the Cleveland Orchestra is playing without a contract. The New York Philharmonic settled only after a bitter, prolonged dispute."

Striking Philadelphia Orchestra musicians voted unanimously to postpone indefinitely a vote on a new proposal to end the labor dispute crafted by David L. Cohen, Mayor Edward Rendell's chief of staff. The musician's vote further specified sending the Negotiating Committee back to attempt further improvements in the proposal.

Four of the five members of the negotiating committee urged rejection of the proposal, while the the players' committee unanimously favored the proposal, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Striking Philadelphia Orchestra musicians will vote tonight on a proposal crafted by David L. Cohen, Mayor Edward Rendell's chief of staff. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that

"details were scant, but the deal assembled by David L. Cohen calls for improvements in wages and a mechanism for addressing players' concerns about the competence of the orchestra's professional management...The musicians are expected to vote on the proposal Monday night. It was not known whether the musicians' five-member negotiating committee would recommend the new offer to the general membership of 103 musicians and two librarians."

No progress on a new labor agreement for the San Francisco Symphony was reported from meetings on October 31 between management and representatives of the orchestra's musicians, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

The management of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra has cancelled two more weeks of concerts, stating that "two weeks of concerts have been canceled at this time in response to numerous patron requests for additional notification time." In their statement, musicians' spokesperson Doug Sommers said

"on one hand, we have management claiming to want an immediate resolution to this strike, and professing a desire to negotiate, while on the other, they are making no effort to schedule any negotiating meetings, and are canceling concerts far in advance of what is logistically necessary. As has been the case since the strike began, the musicians need only a reasonable contract offer to return to work immediately, but these cancellations call into serious question management's commitment to resolving this crisis in the near future."

Detroit Symphony music director Neeme Jarvi, who had originally agreed to conduct the scheduled joint concert of striking Philadelphia Orchestra musicians and members of the New York Philharmonic on November 10, has changed his mind, as has Placido Domingo, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. The musicians have said they will play without a conductor if necessary.

The Florida Philharmonic announced the creation of a $300,000 Florida Philharmonic Stabilization Challenge." Recently, the John S. and James L. Kni ght Foundation awarded the Orchestra a $100,000 challenge grant.

Striking Philadelphia Orchestra musicians are considering a plan to run the orchestra themselves, according to the Philadelpia Inquirer. The paper also reported on another planned strike concert by the musicians, this time joined by members of the New York Philharmonic and conducted by Placid Domingo.

Atlanta Symphony Orchestra management announced the cancellation of this weekend's concerts with music director emeritus Robert Shaw. A planned recording with Shaw has also been cancelled.

San Francisco Symphony management reported a $1.1 million deficit for fiscal year 1996, $300,000 less than budget, at its annual meeting on October 21. The musicians claim the figure is "phony," according to the San Francisco Chronicle:

`It's a gimmick,'' said negotiator Phil Sipser, who claims that the Symphony is using the deficit to deny musicians wage and benefit increases. ``It's a manufactured deficit.'' The Symphony board, Sipser said, could pay off the deficit with money it receives from donors who don't specify its use. Instead, it puts the money into the Symphony's endowment. ``You can't put operational money into the endowment and then say you're broke,'' said Sipser...``That's a phony deficit.''

Another dispute erupted over radio ads that the musicians tried to buy on three local radio stations. The Chronicle reported that musicians

"charge symphony management phoned the stations and threatened to pull their regular advertising if the musicians got their say. Symphony spokesperson Karen Ames tells us that an executive called the stations, but insists ``no threats were made to pull our advertising. That's not the symphony's style.'' Ames said the calls were simply intended 'to let them know that we were in the middle of a labor negotiation, and give them some idea how we saw the negotiations continuing.''"

The Philadelphia Orchestra announced the cancellation of concerts through November 5.

The Atlanta Symphony announced the cancellation of concerts through October 27.

The Associated Press reported on on incident at a Pacific Northwest Ballet performance:

Ballet aficionados were stunned when a man burst into a performance of George Balanchine's ``Divertimento No. 15'' and screamed at the conductor. It turned out the man was Pacific Northwest Ballet director Kent Stowell, who could no longer stand by as his conductor, Stewart Kershaw, led the orchestra in what he considered the wrong tempo. ``Too fast, Stewart!'' Stowell shouted Thursday while storming down an aisle to the orchestra pit at City Center.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported on the efforts by Mayor Edward Rendell's chief of staff, David L. Cohen, to mediate the labor dispute between the Philadelphia Orchestra's musicians and the management and board.

Sounding Board, the newsletter of the musicians of the San Francisco Symhony, has an obituary for violinist Gail Schwarzbart, who died on October 7.

The management of the Atlanta Symphony made a new offer in negotiations with their striking musicians. Management offered a three-year deal, with raises of 0%, 2%, 2% (3 years). The musicians' negotiating committee countered with a four-year proposal with raises of 3%,3%, 4%, 4%, which was rejected by the management team. At a subsequent orchestra meeting, the musicians voted unanimously to reject the management proposal and to back their negotiating committee. The musicians released a negotiations update regarding management's offer and their response.

The New York Times reported on the internal politics of the New York Philharmonic, with special attention to the reported tension between Deborah Borda, the orchestra's managing director, with music director Kurt Masur and the orchestra's musicians. The paper also reported that

"Musicians who spoke on condition of anonymity, however, said that Borda was one of two finalists being considered for president of the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, where she studied the viola, and that she was scheduled for another interviev Wednesday."

According to a story in the Hollywood Reporter,

"Top directors including Paul Verhoeven, Tim Burton and Renny Harlin will team with leading composers such as Jerry Goldsmith and Danny Elfman to create film shorts in a new concert-film program for the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Called ``Filmharmonic,'' the unprecedented project aims to create original short films of 15 to 20 minutes to screen with performances with the Philharmonic under the baton of its music director Esa-Pekka Salonen."

The Philharmonia Orchestra (London) has appointed Christoph von Dohnanyi as principal conductor. Dohnanyi told the Cleveland Plain Dealer that he would remain with the Cleveland Orchestra, of which he is music director, saying:

"I have the Cleveland Orchestra, which cannot be beaten by anybody. It's totally clear to everybody that the priority is Cleveland, even in the contract with the Philharmonia."

The Cleveland Orchestra has hired Hans Clebsch, former acting associate principal horn of the Houston Symphony, as a member of the orchestra's horn section.

The New York Philharmonic now has online ordering for subscription customers. You'll need a frames-enabled browser to order online.

Philadelphia Orchestra management announced the cancellation of concerts through October 29.

Sir Georg Solti turns 84 today.

Samuel Flor, assistant concertmaster of the Minneapolis Symphony under Dmitri Mitropolous and former assistant manager of the Aspen Festival, died in Abington PA at the age of 88. The Philadelphia Inquirer has an obituary.

Daniel R. Gustin, assistant managing director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, was named acting managing director by unanimous vote of the board on October 16. Gustin's appointment was made in the wake of a massive heart attack suffered by managing director Kenneth Haas, who remains in stable but critical condition in the cardiac intensive care unit at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Philadelphia Mayor Edward Rendell increased his presence in the Philadelphia strike, calling for the musicians to end threats of boycotts against board members' businesses and for management to restore musicians' health insurance. Both sides agreed. There are stories in both the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Daily News. The Inquirer also reported on the musicians' strike concert held last night and had a review.

San Francisco Symphony management has agreed to renew negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement with its musicians, even though previously management had said that it would not meet after October 19 so that " the players might concentrate on preparing" for the orchestra's upcoming European tour. Negotiations are set to begin on October 29, less than a week before the orchestra departs on tour, according to the San Francisco Examiner and the Chronicle. The current agreement expires while the orchestra is on tour, one day before the orchestra's concert in Vienna.

Atlanta Symphony Orchestra management and striking musicians have agreed to resume negotiations Monday with federal mediator Ansel Garrett, according to the Atlanta Constitution and Journal.

At a rally held yesterday for the striking musicians of the Philadelphia Orchestra, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, AFM President Steve Young announced that

"the musicians' strike benefits were being doubled, from $150 a week to $300 a week. In three weeks, if the strike continues, the benefits will be raised again, to $450."

The Philadelphia Daily News had an article on Philadelphia Orchestra management negotiator Ralph Craviso.

A concert on October 18 by the striking musicians of the Philadelphia Orchestra will be broadcast nationally on the WFMT radio network, which also broadcasts concerts by the Chicago Symphony and the Milwaukee Symphony, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Contract talks between the Tulsa Philharmonic's musicians and management broke off Friday in a dispute over the economic terms of a proposed two-year deal. According to the musicians' press release,

Negotiations on a contract for the current season began in August. "We want to stress that we are not at an impasse," said Tim McFadden, spokesman for the musicians. "All that separates us is a total of $12,500 for the entire orchestra--NOT PER MUSICIAN, spread over a two-year contract."

Peter Benoliel, chairman of the board of the Philadelphia Orchestra, responded to an Oct. 5 article entitled "Orchestra rejected proposal that would have ended strike" with a letter to the Philadelphia Inquirer that concluded:

"The association took the initiative in suggesting ways to address the musicians' principal concerns --media and public relations -- as well as the sidebar issue of management. The real issue for musicians is money. Now you have the full story."

The Inquirer also reported that

"Striking members of the Philadelphia Orchestra voted yesterday to return to work if orchestra management would agree to undergo the scrutiny of an independent blue-ribbon panel. Orchestra president Joseph H. Kluger yesterday said he had not heard about the union's vote, and declined to comment."

The striking musicians also announced details of a labor rally on October 16.
The paper also ran an article on "Strikes and their results for orchestras."

The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra has hired Jills Evans as director of marketing and Susan Stein as director of development. Evans, currently director of marketing for the Kansas City Symphony, replaces Kathleen Stacy, who left the orchestra in August to become executive director of the Milwaukee Chamber Theater. Stein, currently associate executive director - development for the Boys & Girls Club of Milwaukee, replaces Eric Meyers, who is leaving to become director of the development for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra .

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