- Michael Henson, president, will resign at the end of August. This potentially clears the way for the orchestra to make overtures to Osmo Vanska. As you may have read, the audiences have been chanting for his return. (They tried offering Vanska the role of "principal guest conductor" with Henson staying on. That did not go over well with Vanska.)
- You'll want to read Bill Eddins' remarks on the subject of governance.
- Principal clarinetist Burt Hara resigned a couple of days ago, just before this announcement. He has been on leave and playing associate principal with the LAPO.
- The orchestra and musicians were able to reach an agreement not only through a 15% cut (better than the 30+ originally demanded) in salaries but by throwing substitute musicians under the bus. There's now a two-tiered pay system; most other major orchestras pay substitutes at the same rate as full-timers.
Friday, March 21, 2014
Minnesota Update
Some big news this week from Minnesota and a recap of something important that I haven't adequately reported on.
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2 comments:
On that last point, it is a concern that substitute musicians got thrown under the bus in Minnesota, but it isn't true that most major orchestras pay subs and core players equally. The data from Adaptistration suggests that while most Canadian ensembles have pay parity, barely over a third of major American groups do the same.
What do you make of the arguments floated by Norman Lebrecht - that the MO isn't what it was given the resignations of a number of key players, that Osmo having done the right thing, should be a more valuable commodity elsewhere. And that an upcoming conductor would be a better choice for the rebuilding phase?
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