Orchestra Troubles

For classical music lovers, some disturbing news headlines:

• Minnesota Orchestra's Fall Performances Wiped Out with Lockout
• St Paul Chamber Orchestra Managers Reject Union Contract Offer
• Indianapolis Symphony Cancels Season's First Performances
• Striking Musicians Walk Out on Chicago Symphony Orchestra
• Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Stops Paying Musicians, Locks Them Out of Facility

Many major orchestras around the country are in the middle of serious labor disputes. Management claims ticket sales are down and donations have dried up and they need to cut salaries. Musicians just want to play, and to pay their bills. What the hell is going on here?

Every situation is different, but there appear to be some commonalities. First, the economy; it's affecting everyone, and is pinching both discretionary income and charitable donations, on which many municipal orchestras rely. Second, the management of many of these orchestras appears to be more interested in the bottom line than in the music; I suppose this is to be expected, but you'd also expect those in the music business to be at least a little bit interested in the music. And third, it's possible, just possible, that classical music is a declining (dying?) art form that has little or no mass appeal in today's uneducated, of-the-moment society, and those few that continue to have interest are literally dying off, leaving their empty seats behind.

I don't know all the details of all these situations, although I do know musicians in both the Minneapolis and Indianapolis organizations. These are all good folks, talented musicians, earning decent but not exceptional salaries commensurate with their years of training and standing in their industry. We're not talking about the money-grubbing 1% here; these are your neighbors down the street who just happen to bow a string or bang a timpani instead of sitting behind a desk or punching a time clock.

I'm most familiar with the Minnesota Orchestra situation. First, some background. The Minnesota Orchestra is one of the top symphonic orchestras in the country, if not the world. If this were a sport, this would be a top-tier NFL team, staffed with the top players in their positions. The Orchestra has a stellar history, dating back to 1903, and continues to lead the way artistically in the 21st century, both at home and abroad. This isn't your normal community orchestra, folks; this is truly a world-class organization, and one that's uniquely supported by an arts-loving community.

Orchestra management is in the process of renovating Orchestra Hall, where the Orchestra plays. It's a truly beautiful building, but could stand a little sprucing up. Management has raised more than $97 million in its current Building for the Future campaign, including $14 million in taxpayer funding for the $50 million Orchestra Hall renovation. So there's some money there.

Under the Orchestra's previous contract, which just expired, salaries grew by 3% - 4% per year. That's not a lot but it's not nothing; at least it kept up with inflation, more or less. Going into the current contract negotiations, however, Orchestra management didn't propose similar small increases; instead, it proposed to cut the average musician's salary by $46,000 a year. That's a 30% to 50% pay cut, depending.

Think about that. How would you react to having your salary cut by a third? How would that affect your household budget? Would you still be able to pay the bills? Or would you be dusting off your resume, looking for something better?

Yeah, that's a huge pay cut. Huge. And it's not as if these world-class musicians are earning a fortune, either. The average Minnesota Orchestra musician earns $135,000 (many less than that, of course), so the pay cut would bring that average down to $89,000. Again, we're talking world-class musicians, the very best in the world at what they do. These are not NFL-level salaries, folks; at the current salary level, a Minnesota Orchestra musician makes less than a typical dentist, or about as much as a captain at a regional airline. Good wages, yes, but not anywhere near excessive.

What happens if management gets their way and salaries get cut almost in half? Well, a lot of these world-class musicians will simply leave. Other orchestras will pay them what they're worth, even if the Minnesota Orchestra management won't. And that means that the Minnesota Orchestra will no longer be a world-class orchestra. Yes, there are lots of talented folks graduating every year from way too many quality music schools, but filling a chair vacated by a player with decades of experience with one just out of music school will not result in the same level of performance. The quality of the music will suffer -- and the audience will suffer for it.

This is not a situation we would tolerate in the world of sports. We're building a new football stadium up here, just as they did back in my old home town of Indianapolis. That stadium, of course, will be financed with taxpayer money. (And don't get me started on why overburdened taxpayers have to pay for new stadiums so that multi-million dollar team owners can make a little bit more money than they were previously; that's inexcusable, in my book, but a different subject for a different day.) The Vikings will not be asking their players to take a 30% - 50% salary cut to move into the new stadium. The public would go absolutely apeshit if their beloved team were to cut salaries and lose players. Just wouldn't happen.

But that's exactly what's happening here in Minneapolis. We're plowing $50 million into a revamped concert hall and then driving away the musicians that helped build that support by forcing them to cut their salaries almost in half. The result will be the classical music equivalent of turning an NFL quality team into a semi-pro team. Instead of having the Vikings play in the stadium, we'll be hosting the Minnesota Sting instead. Sports fans wouldn't settle for that, and neither should music lovers.

I don't know all the finances of the Minnesota Orchestra; few people do, as they haven't been made public. But what Orchestra management is proposing is tantamount to professional suicide. If management wins in these contract negotiations, the Minnesota Orchestra as we know it will cease to exist. We'll be left with a semi-pro pops orchestra, which is maybe what management wants; maybe they'll still sell enough tickets to cover the new lower payroll. I don't know, but it's something that our arts-loving community cannot and must not accept.

Me, I'd rather have the old Orchestra Hall and a top-flight roster of musicians than a pretty new hall filled with sub-par players. It's all about the music, folks. Asking the current musicians to live on half their current wages is insulting. The community needs to get involved and get this problem solved, pronto. (As do all the other communities affected by similar orchestra problems -- including the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, just across the river.)

If you want to learn more about what's happening in Minneapolis, from the musician's viewpoint, visit the Musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra website. For some interesting viewpoints on orchestra problems across the U.S., check out the Sticks and Drones blog, filled with insight and opinions from two professional conductors. And do whatever you can to support your local musicians; they need all the support they can get.