Re: Orchestra Salaries


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Posted by Mike Sanders on May 08, 2003 at 18:08:28:

In Reply to: Orchestra Salaries posted by ICSOM on May 08, 2003 at 15:44:28:

First of all, you, whomever you are,(You are not "ICSOM") left out the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra which is a charter member of ICSOM. If you saw the most recent numbers on our salary and benefits you would see that we are presently not a 52 week orchestra. In our last negotiations we gave back weeks and money so our board could (finally) raise the kind of endowement this institution deserves. (In just 2 1/2 years approx. $70 million has been raised here locally.) Yet even after these give-backs I am proud to say this orchestra is among the elite in this country. Our ticket sales, both subsciption renewals and single performance, have risen significantly for several years.

Now that I've stated the above, what are you getting at? I've seen a lot written about our very fine orchestras on this forum lately which quite frankly has me confused. The boards of the orchestras in this country negotiate with our unions and agree to terms that are put into master agreements, including working conditions, salary, retirement, insurance, etc. It's called collective bargaining. Those of us who play in these orchestras also can negogiate our personal contracts. Naturally we expect the boards as well as ourselves to live up to what has been agreed upon. We have families to suport, kids to raise, etc., just like everyone else. It's just that we play music for a living.

So, what's the deal?...

PS- I just want to reiterate, you are not ICSOM!


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