Issue: March 2016
Last fall, after months of difficult negotiations and playing without a contract for the first two weeks of the season, the musicians of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) came to an agreement with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association (CSOA) on a new three-year contract. These negotiations were our first with Kevin Case (now ICSOM Counsel) representing us. His depth of knowledge and … [Read more...]
Issue: March 2016
After years of asking to include the music librarians of the Washington National Opera and the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra in the musicians’ bargaining units, the D.C. Federation of Musicians, Local 161-710, and the Orchestra Committee have succeeded: in December the librarians voted in self-determination elections to join the orchestra bargaining units and are now represented by the … [Read more...]
Issue: March 2016
With a keen ear for the sounds and slang of Roaring Twenties’ New York City, the Gershwin brothers sparked a revolution in American music that risked aesthetic heresy. Their art crossed boundaries of black and white, popular and classical. They brought the energy and humor of the Yiddish theatre to Broadway. They put slang in poetry and jazz instruments onto the stage of Carnegie Hall. George as … [Read more...]
Issue: March 2016
In my last column I wrote about the AFM’s pursuit of a new federal law to require AM/FM broadcasters to pay royalties to all musicians. The bill—nicknamed Fair Play, Fair Pay—would level the playing field so that AM/FM radio no longer has an unfair advantage over digital music services, and so musicians could finally be compensated for their artistry. Now I’d like to examine some of the AFM’s … [Read more...]
Issue: March 2016
Each orchestra seems to have something uniquely its own, something recognized locally and especially nationally as a defining characteristic. The St. Louis Symphony’s signature, for many decades, has been contemporary music. At different points in its history, St. Louis has run with this reputation, touring and recording to show off its perceived strength. In the days of “Composers-in-Residence”, … [Read more...]
Issue: March 2016
A Century of Sound Baltimore Symphony oboist Michael Lisicky, also nationally known as a department store historian, author, and lecturer, has written a book about the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s first one hundred years, entitled Baltimore Symphony Orchestra: A Century of Sound. Lisicky has done extensive research through BSO archives, as well as information gathered from other sources, … [Read more...]
Issue: December 2015
A GRS Negotiation Update The musicians of the Grand Rapids Symphony (all members of the AFM Local 56, Grand Rapids) have been negotiating for a new contract since April 27th with the Grand Rapids Symphony Society. The four-year agreement between the musicians and the Society expired August 31, 2015. Since September 1st, the musicians have been working without a successor contract in a “work and … [Read more...]
Issue: December 2015
After months of negotiations and 12 bargaining sessions, the musicians of the Fort Worth Symphony are facing essentially the same proposal from management that we received last summer. We took a 13.5% pay cut in 2010 and lost weeks, and now they want even more. Their current proposal is a cut from 46 full-time paid weeks to 39 full-time paid weeks plus a four-week “Summer Season”. With inflation … [Read more...]
Issue: Chairperson's Reports
As I write at my desk tonight, it is four days before Thanksgiving in the United States. We are about to enter the holiday season, a season that in many ways is defined by music and memories. The musicians of ICSOM will be performing music that is all too familiar to us, with countless Nutcrackers, Messiahs, and holiday arrangements we have performed hundreds if not thousands of times. While we … [Read more...]
Issue: December 2015
Since assuming my new position on the Governing Board, I have been perusing past issues of Senza Sordino from the online archives. The history of ICSOM is a rich one, and much of it is chronicled in Senza’s many articles. One item that fairly jumped out at me was a message that our Chairman, Bruce Ridge, has been touching on for years, going back to his early days on the Governing Board. It’s a … [Read more...]
