ORCHESTRAS ARE THRIVING

(August 29, 2006) Nashville, TN - Despite reports of the diminishing relevance of orchestral music, there has never been a time when so many people across America have had access to a professional orchestra. So when musician delegates and guests from most of the nations' major symphony, opera and ballet orchestras gathered recently in Nashville, Tennessee for the annual meeting of the International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians ("ICSOM"), raising awareness of how orchestras are thriving was a focal point of setting the organization's agenda for the coming years. ICSOM represents the top 51 orchestras in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, approximately 4,000 of the country's most dedicated artists. In addition to discussions about legal, financial and contract interpretation, and negotiations, delegates elected their 10th chairperson in ICSOM's 44-year history.

Addressing the delegates, Bruce Ridge, bassist with the North Carolina Symphony, cited a May 2006 New York Times article that proclaimed "rumors of classical music's demise haven't just been exaggerated, they've been dead wrong". The article claimed that for "classical music, this is the golden age." Ridge went on to encourage cities to continue their support of the arts and managers to support the growth of their organizations, pointing to the leadership roles orchestras can take in their cities. "Everywhere we look, near and far, there is evidence of the importance of what we do. The power of symphonic music is unmistakable. It is seen and heard through historical events", said Ridge, citing events like Leonard Bernstein conducting Beethoven's 9th Symphony at the fallen Berlin Wall, the Boston Symphony's performance of Mozart's Requiem at President Kennedy's memorial mass in January 1964, and the dozens of performances that occurred within days of September 11.

He spoke about the trend by some managers to seek to "both promote and undermine" their institutions at the same time and called upon the music industry to change the negative rhetoric and to "mold it into a positive message that we can spread to our constituencies and their communities." He called upon the American Symphony Orchestra League ("ASOL") to be a "true advocate for our orchestras."

ICSOM, a conference of the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada, AFL-CIO, ("AFM"), was formed in 1962 for the "promotion of a better and more rewarding livelihood for the skilled orchestral performer and to the enrichment of the cultural life of our society." ICSOM holds annual meetings at which delegates actively address the problems and concerns of the orchestra musician.

The 2006 conference was dedicated to the memory of Bill Roehl, a visionary who formulated the current structure of the Player Conferences and their relationship with the AFM. Officers of ICSOM's parent organization, the AFM, and Player Conferences representatives from the Regional Orchestra Players' Association ("ROPA"), which represents over 70 U.S. regional orchestras, the Canadian Conference of Symphony Musicians ("OCSM") representing 20 large and small Canadian orchestras, and the Recording Musicians Association ("RMA"), addressed the conference.

Local orchestra hosts, the Nashville Symphony, treated attendees to a tour of their nearly completed Schermerhorn Symphony Center, this country's newest and most technologically advanced concert hall, which will be the symphony's new home when the facility officially opens September 9. The tour and dinner provided by the Nashville Association of Musicians and the Nashville Symphony for more that 120 delegates, officers, guests and Nashville Symphony musicians, was the first event held in the new hall.

During the conference, workshops focused on a primer on bankruptcy law featuring attorney Patricia Polach of Bredhoff and Kaiser; Negotiation Preparation and Effective Use of Power by Nathan Kahn, a Negotiator for the Symphonic Services Division ("SSD") of the AFM; the potential application of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act on ICSOM orchestra boards by Ms. Polach and Len Leibowitz, ICSOM Counsel; Public Relations by Barbara Haig of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; A workshop on arbitrator's rules of contract interpretation was conducted by Len Leibowitz, and his wife, Labor Arbitrator Peg Leibowitz; and a report from Bill Foster, Chair of the ICSOM Electronic Media Committee and a violist with the National Symphony, on the details of the new self-produced Symphony, Opera and Ballet Live Recording Agreement recently ratified by AFM musicians and managements of 48 orchestras.

Resolutions included a salute to recently departed labor activist Richard Totusek, support for the Atlanta Ballet Orchestra musicians and the Orquesta Filarmonica and Teatro Municipal employees in Santiago, Chile during their current labor struggles, support of Local 802 AFM and their President David Lennon's battle to ban the use of the Virtual Orchestra Machine to replace live music, and AFM By-law changes that will be recommended to the 2007 AFM Convention.

In addition, Brian Rood, a trumpeter in the Kansas City Symphony was elected as ICSOM's new President. Michael Moore, tuba player with the Atlanta Symphony, and Richard Levine, cellist with the San Diego Symphony, were likewise re-elected as Treasurer and Editor of ICSOM's newsletter Senza Sordino ("without mute"). Meredith Snow, violist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and new addition to the Governing Board Paul Gunther, Librarian of the Minnesota Orchestra, were elected as Members at Large. Gunther replaced Nancy Stutsman, bassoonist from the Kennedy Center Orchestra. They join Laura Ross, violinist with the Nashville Symphony as Secretary, and Members at Large Stephen Lester, bassist with the Chicago Symphony, and James Nickel, a French horn player with the Dallas Symphony, on the ICSOM Governing Board. Retiring ICSOM Chairman Jan Gippo of the St. Louis Symphony received a standing ovation and kudos for his tenure as Chairman the past four years.

The 2007 ICSOM conference will be held in Minneapolis, Minnesota and will be hosted by the Minnesota Orchestra and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. For more information call 919-833-8720 or visit the ICSOM web site at www.icsom.org.