The musicians of the Cleveland Orchestra voted "overwhelmingly" to authorize their negotiating committee to call a strike on December 7 if agreement is not reached by them with management on terms of a new labor agreement.

Richard Wiener, the chair of the musicians' negotiating committee, told the Cleveland Plain Dealer that talks were proceeding until last Tuesday:

"I think we still have a good relationship with maangement," Wiener said. "I don't undersatand why we've reached this apparent impasse."

Joan Hammond, one of Australia's leading operatic soprani, died at the age of 84 in Sydney. She was honored three times by Queen Elizabeth II, being awarded a CBE in 1963, a CMG in 1972 and a Dame of the British Empire, the equivalent of a knighthood for women, in 1974. In 1941, she became the first operatic singer to sell more than 1 million records.

The Philadelphia Inquirer ran an analysis of the Philadelphia Orchestra strike and its possible aftermath.

The musicians of the Atlanta Symphony have reported donations totalling $15,750 from other orchestras, including $5,000 from the Philadelphia Orchestra, which was itself on strike until last Monday. The rock group REM donated $7,500 to the musicians' strike fund.

Meanwhile, the Fulton County board of supervisors approved a resolution in support of a settlement that would "maintain the world-class status" of the orchestra:

RESOLVED that the Fulton County Board of Commissioners hereby expresses its sincere concerns over the current impasse in discussions between the leadership of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra's board of directors/management and the musicians; and BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that the board of Commissioners of Fulton County hereby encourages the management of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra to take those steps necessary to continue negotiations with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra musicians so that the number of musicians and the salary of the musicians are sufficient to maintain the world-class status of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

Sources within the orchestra report that the management has made thinly veiled threats about bringing in a replacement orchestra. One musician wrote

Allison Vulgamore (the ASO's President) in recent days has several times made the not-so-veiled threat of a replacement orchestra. It has been in the form of her saying something like, "I must tell you that recently I've heard from certain board members, 'When can we bring in the next orchestra?'" I have no doubt there may be a couple of uneducated, ignorant anti-union board members that might indeed have that sentiment, but what really pisses me off is that our president doesn't educate or inform those board idiots of the absurdity of their notions, but instead chooses to threaten us with them. I guess the Atlanta Symphony musicians (winners of 14 Grammy Awards, 7 ASCAP Awards, Stereo Review's Record of the Month a few months back, nominated for the first ever International Orchestra of the Year Award in England in 1993-among other things) really overstepped their bounds by asking for (on the heels of our most stunningly successful fundraising year ever) cost of living increases in our proposal!

The Milwaukee Symphony reported a surplus of $418,294 for its 1995-'96 operating budget. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "MSO board president Allen N. Rieselbach attributed much of the surplus to a half-million-dollar grant from Franklyn W. Esenberg, a longtime board member."

Rieselbach cited the brightening financial picture -- the previous year's surplus was $52 -- as part of the reason to believe MSO has "turned the corner." The other part, he said, is Andreas Delfs' appointment as music director. Esenberg's gift is earmarked to pay debts accumulated over past seasons.

The paper also reviewed Delfs' first concert with the orchestra as music director designate.

The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra has cancelled next weekend's series of pops concerts, even though the first rehearsl for the concerts was not until next Friday, four days after the next scheduled negotiation meeting.

There are two reports from the San Francisco Symphony's East Coast/Europe tour from musicians; one about the orchestra's New York concert and one about events in London. The orchestra's musicians have decided to finish the tour without striking, according to the San Francisco Chronicle and Examiner.

Federal mediator Ansel B. Garrett confirmed Monday that management and musicians for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra have agreed to meet for talks within the next week, possibly as early as Saturday, according to the Atlanta Constitution & Journal :

"This is a critical meeting in my view," said Garrett, who stated he hoped a compromise could be reached to salvage the orchestra's Christmas concerts, which begin Dec. 5-7 with "Gospel Christmas" and also include perennial favorite "Christmas With Robert Shaw" (Dec. 11-14) and complete performances of Handel's "Messiah" conducted by Shaw (Dec. 19-21). Douglas Sommer, president of the ASO Players' Association, expressed similar aspirations. "It's our hope the parties can come together and find a path toward resolution that can save the holiday season."

The paper also ran an editorial by Cynthia Tucker supportive of a quick end to the dispute and sympathetic to some of the musicians' arguments:

The last offer by the ASO board ---a three-year offer it termed "final" ---would give the musicians no raise in the first year. In the second and third years, the board would offer 2 percent annually. That proposal, which would increase the musician payroll to $6.5 million in the third year, does not do enough to reward the talent of this ensemble, frequently mentioned among the nation's top 10. Fifteen other cities pay their orchestras better. Cleveland, where housing costs are cheaper, pays its orchestra better. So do Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, where average house prices are also lower.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported on the Philadelphia Orchestra's return to work yesterday:

Sullen and angry, musicians yesterday morning streamed slowly into the Academy of Music to rehearse for last night's season-opening concert. Lugging instruments back into lockers emptied nine weeks earlier on the night they voted to strike, the musicians hardly wore the faces of victory -- or even, generally, of contentment. Orchestra president Joseph H. Kluger did not look happy either as he prepared to address players from whom he had taken shots for much of the 64-day strike. ``It's a great pleasure to see you back,'' he said softly and nervously from the academy stage after the musicians had taken chairs at the music stands. ``You have some very strong feelings, and I look forward to hearing about them in greater depth.'' There was no applause. Just silence and a few hisses.

The Inquirer also had a review, while the Philadelphia Daily News ran a piece on the aftermath of orchestra strikes. The New York Times also covered the end of the strike.

The Philadelphia Inquirer had coverage of last night's ratification vote by the Philadelphia Orchestra musicians. The orchestra will play a special concert tonight. Management and the musicians issued press releases. Management also announced a new series of live local radio broadcasts of the orchestra.

Monique Buzzart, a musician advocating coordinated protests about the Vienna Philharmonic's exclusion of women musicians during the orchestra's upcoming American tour, as set up a web page of information about the protests and the orchestra's hiring policies. (This information is posted here as news and should not construed as advocacy by the webmaestro or ICSOM of such protests.)

The members of the Philadelphia Orchestra ratified a new three-year labor agreement tonight by a vote of 54-47, with 2 abstentions. The proposal approved was the proposal put together by Mayor Edward Rendell's chief of staff, David Cohen, with some modifications.

The musicians of the Atlanta Symphony issued a response to management's FAQ on the strike.

The Houston Symphony Orchestra has a new web site.

Alma Kitchell Yoder, who sang in the first televised opera in 1939 -- a hour-hour version of "The Pirates of Penzance" of Gilbert & Sullivan -- has died at the age of 103. She joined the NBC Opera Company in 1926. She ended her career in broadcasting as hostess of one of the first commercial TV series,``In The Kelvinator Kitchen,'' an instructional cooking show that ran from May 1947 until June 1948.

A web site devoted to Leonard Bernstein opened on Thursday, the 53rd anniversary of his debut with the New York Philharmonic. The New York Times has a story on the opening, as well as on the plans of the Library of Congress to digitize its Bernstein archives.

San Francisco Symphony musicians leafleted their concert in Paris. The leaflets were "in French, on tasteful beige paper adorned with music notes," according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

The management of the Atlanta Symphony has cancelled subscription concerts scheduled for November 21-23.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported on the remaining issues dividing Philadelphia Orchestra management and musicians in their nine-week-old strike, and also revealed some differences of opinion on the musicians' negotiating committee.

The musicians' chief negotiator, Stuart W. Davidson, Esq., denied that he or the musicians had ever agreed to the proposal put together by David L. Cohen, Philadelphia Mayor Edward Rendell's chief of staff, to end the labor dispute, as orchestra management has claimed:

Davidson said, "That simply isn't true." Neither I nor the (Negotiating) Committee agreed to the Mayor's proposal. I did agree to present the Mayor's proposal to the Negotiating Committee and to the membership as it was deemed a final proposal by the Association's Board. When I first received the offer from the Mayor's representative, I advised him that I thought it would be rejected by the Negotiating Committee."

The Chicago Symphony has appointed Lee Koonce as Director of Community Relations, a newly-created position. His primary responsibilities will include "helping to increase the participation of targeted communities (African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, and low-income individuals and families in CSO activities, and establishing and nourishing relationships with other cultural organizations."

The Philadelphia Daily News reported on yesterday's rejection by the Philadelphia Orchestra board of the musicians' proposal to return to work.

The St. Petersburg Philharmonic was robbed at gunpoint on a bus from Moscow airport. The orchestra was returning from a tour of Japan.The five robbers got away with $30,000 in "money and valuables," according to Reuters.

Musicians of the San Francisco Symphony leafleted their concert at the Barbican Centre in London, the first stop on their European tour.

The Philadelphia Inquirer had a review of yesterday's joint concert of the New York Philharmonic and striking musicians of the Philadelphia Orchestra, which was sold out.

The board of the Philadelphia Orchestra officially rejected the musicians' proposal to return to work, stating that

The Association Board further unanimously resolved that it is not willing to consider the one-year contract subsequently offered by the musicians, because it would not provide the Association with the long-term financial stability of a three-year contract nor allow the Association to develop the joint venture with the musicians to increase electronic media activity. The musicians' one-year proposal would also create a climate of uncertainty for fund-raising and subscription sales, as well as the potential for another strike next fall. Such an event would be devastating to subscribers, donors, sponsors, volunteers, the music-loving public and the musicians themselves.

The orchestra's board also "unanimously agreed to urge the musicians to reconsider the three-year proposal crafted by the Mayor's office" and cancelled the ninth week of concerts affected by the dispute.

The Philadelphia Inquirer ran a story about Detroit Symphony music director Neeme Jarvi's decision to conduct today's joint benefit concert between the New York Philharmonic and striking musicians of the Philadelphia Orchestra.

The Kennedy Center (Washington DC) will close its Opera House for renovations sometime between 1998 and the year 2000, center President Lawrence J. Wilker announced on November 7. The move threatens not only the Washington Opera, which will have to find another venue, but the musicians of the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, who work not only for the Opera but for the Center directly.

Bernard Holland of the New York Times wrote today about the coming death of the music business:

"Let it be said that Stravinsky, Schubert, Berlioz and Bach must be saved. Expendable is the system now in place for delivering them to the public: the network of schools, managers, concert halls, opera houses, orchestras, publicity people and journalists. We can't waste much time finding replacements lest we be left only with ruins. The demise I see coming is neither good nor evil. Having outlived its time, the system is dying of old age; its various conflicts are like geriatric diseases. "

The Minnesota Orchestra has appointed Jeffrey Tate as principal conductor of the orchestra's Viennese Sommerfest for an initial term of four years. Tate succeeds David Zinman, who served as the festival's artistic director since 1993. The change in title "more clearly reflects the role Tate will play in the upcoming seasons of Sommerfest," according to the orchestra's press release. The orchestra also announced the appointment of Akira Mori joins the Minnesota Orchestra as acting assistant conductor for the 1996-97 season. The orchestra described Mori as

a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music and Indiana University, the 38-year-old Japan native divides his time between that country, the United States and Europe. A former music director of the Asahi Chamber Orchestra in Yokohama and resident conductor of Tokyo's Shirogane Philharmonic, Mori was a faculty member and director of orchestral studies at Louisiana State University from 1992 to 1995.

The musicians of the Detroit Symphony have sent a letter of support to the members of the Philadelphia Orchestra and New York Philharmonic, to be distributed at their joint concert tomorrow.

The Arizona Opera has established a "Virtual Opera House" - aka a web site.

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." The meeting was canceled, according to the musicians, because

management refused to consider our counter-proposal to return to work under the provisions of last year's contract with a reduced media guarantee of $3,000 (down from $6000) and the implementations of the new "Millennium Task Force" and Media Business Entity (new from management's proposed contract). The "Millennium Task Force", composed of three board members, three from the musicians, and three members appointed by Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell, would have authority to look into the finances, management, fund-raising, and relations between the constituents of the Association. The Task Force would be required to submit a report to the Executive Board of the Association within six months. The Media Business Entity would be 50% board, 50% musician controlled and be responsible for making decisions about media and marketing, as well as attempting to procure additional media opportunities. The Association would provide unspecified start-up costs for the new entity.

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.

The Chicago Lyric Opera has appointed William Mason, currently the company's director of operations, as general director. He will replace Ardis Krainik, who will retire on April 30th.

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.

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