Issue: December 2011
San Francisco Symphony’s negotiating committee recently probed the financial arithmetic behind defined contribution pensions. According to Dave Gaudry, negotiating committee chair, management wanted future pension improvements to come from a 403(b) plan while the musicians wished to increase the SFS defined benefit plan. The negotiating committee challenged the assumption that defined contribution … [Read more...]
Issue: November 2011
When the San Francisco Symphony celebrates its centennial this year, it will be a season to remember. An ambitious eleven months of concerts, programs, and events, as well as expanded education programs and media initiatives, will invite the entire region to join in on the festivities. The season will also accentuate the vibrant role of the American orchestra in our communities, in part by … [Read more...]
Issue: June 2010
The New York City Opera, after a year of being homeless, is very much alive and thriving back home in the newly renovated David H. Koch Theater (formerly the NY State Theater). The orchestra committee reports that, most importantly for the orchestra, the renovations include a wonderful, enlarged pit, which can be raised to various heights—including stage level—enabling the theater to be used for … [Read more...]
Issue: April 2009
Late last spring, as the SFS negotiating committee was gearing up to meet with management, it seemed like it would be a straightforward negotiation. The orchestra’s finances were in excellent shape, as confirmed by a Ron Bauers audit (one of the healthiest arts organizations in the country, he reported) and by our board president, John Goldman (at the December 2007 Annual Meeting—six months before … [Read more...]
Issue: October 2008
The North Carolina Symphony began its season with an outdoor Labor Day concert broadcast on local television. The September schedule included a celebration of Raleigh’s new convention center, with the premier of a composition by Robert Ward titled “City of Oaks”. Delegate Beth Lunsford reports that the orchestra will record Medtner’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with Yevgeny Sudbin as soloist in November. … [Read more...]
Issue: August 2008
The San Francisco Symphony has a longstanding commitment to music education, beginning in 1919 when the orchestra performed its first group of children’s concerts. At the start of the 21st century, the orchestra embarked on a multimedia project with ambitious goals and unprecedented scope: to use media in its most public and accessible forms to instill a lifelong love of music and show that … [Read more...]
Issue: July 2006
Minnesota Orchestra’s ICSOM delegate, librarian Paul Gunther, was recently named the administrator of ICSOM’s mailing lists. Paul reports that the Minnesota Orchestra will tour European summer festivals at the end of August. Because of the tour, this may be the first ICSOM Conference that will see no delegate from the Minnesota Orchestra in attendance. Another consequence of the August tour will … [Read more...]
