Issue: June 2019
On behalf of the ICSOM Electronic Media Committee, I am pleased to report that the AFM has recently concluded negotiations with the Employers’ Media Association (EMA) on a successor Integrated Media Agreement (IMA), after many months of arduous and intense negotiations. We on the Media Committee unanimously recommend its ratification. The AFM will use ElectionBuddy to facilitate the … [Read more...]
Issue: June 2019
Update: On May 30, the Baltimore Symphony management called an emergency meeting and announced the cancellation of the BSO summer season. This sudden action, despite a recently approved $3.2 million grant from the State of Maryland, also suspends the tenth BSO Academy, the subject of this article. In spite of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s current tenuous contract state, the BSO Academy … [Read more...]
Issue: Counsel's Columns
Contract disputes between orchestra managements and musicians are nearly always resolved pursuant to the grievance and arbitration process. I am not aware of any ICSOM orchestra’s collective bargaining agreement (CBA) that does not contain a grievance and arbitration clause. Nonetheless, the process strikes many musicians as mysterious. One of the questions I hear most frequently is who, exactly, … [Read more...]
Issue: June 2019
It had been two decades since the Cleveland Orchestra (TCO) visited China. In late March, the members of the orchestra set out for a three-week tour of Taiwan, Macao and mainland China, including the cities of Shenzhen, Shanghai, Nanjing, Wuhan, and Beijing. Some of the musicians were eager to revisit the same cities they had seen in the 1990s, meet parents of students they taught at the … [Read more...]
Issue: June 2019
The Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra faces great challenges and difficult times. The fiscal collapse of the government, the stagnation of the economy, the public debt, the loss of the population, and the actuarial deficit of the retirement systems, threaten the stability of the social environment of Puerto Rico. The high cost of energy, the loss of benefits, and the rise in taxes gradually make the … [Read more...]
Issue: June 2019
John C. Merrill Act Baltimore Symphony musicians have been playing without a contract since January 16, 2019. In this context, the passage of Maryland House bill 1404, introduced by the Chair of the Appropriations Committee, Delegate Maggie McIntosh, providing $1.6 million in each of the next two fiscal years, was most welcome. In addition to providing additional funding for two years, the bill … [Read more...]
Issue: March 2019
Two months after our return from what was heralded as an historic and triumphant tour of Scotland, England, and Ireland, the musicians of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra were told by our management and board that we should now accept a pay cut of at least 20% as part of a reduction of the orchestra’s season from 52 to 40 weeks. Welcome home, guys and gals! Fortunately, the Baltimore Symphony … [Read more...]
Issue: March 2019
By the time you read this, my wife Shirley and I will be just past the half-way point of my one year sabbatical from the Utah Symphony. It has been a fascinating adventure to say the least, and thus far, the time has flown by in a blur. This mile marker also seems like a good place to pause and assess some of the impressions taken in from our time here, as well as a few lessons learned along the … [Read more...]
Issue: Chairperson's Reports
As it becomes increasingly clear that diversity in our orchestras must be a priority moving into the future, more opportunities to facilitate that goal are being created within our industry each year. The National Alliance for Audition Support (NAAS) is an unprecedented national initiative created by the Sphinx Organization (which is the program leader and fiscal administrator of NAAS), the New … [Read more...]
Issue: March 2019
As readers of my previous reports will have noted, I believe that ICSOM has an important role to play in communication: between orchestras, within the larger Federation, and with the wider world. That’s why I and the Governing Board have put a lot of our effort into improving ICSOM’s social media presence (Note: see the October 2017 issue), relaunching the conductor evaluation program (Note: see … [Read more...]
