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Pity the Chicago symphony, forced to work for scraps

BY NEIL STEINBERG
SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST
September 1, 2004


Opening shot

Contract talks resume today between the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and its musicians, and while I am a former union man myself, I'm having a hard time finding sympathy for the downtrodden workers.

Aw heck, let's give it a try. Cue the union violins: CSO musicians get paid a starting minimum of $2,000 a week -- that's only $104,000 a year! -- though many earn two or three times that. Between the concert season and Ravinia, they're lucky to get 10 weeks a year paid vacation, and don't even talk about health insurance, which has skyrocketed so that
CSO musicians pay 10 times as much as they did four years ago -- but since it cost them nothing then, it costs them nothing now.

Who could create under these conditions? Insulting, really. And I've saved the worst for last. Management actually tried to pay CSO musicians to let their concerts be broadcast on the radio. The union promptly saw through that scam -- they were being offered more money for no additional work! -- and rejected it. That's why we hear the New York Philharmonic on WFMT. (Well, maybe you hear it. Who listens to classical music? Except of course Wynne Delacoma, and God bless her for it.)

In today's Chicago Tribune it was reported that they agreed to play on the old contract thru October 31 while negotiations continue.

I really don't think that we should begrudge the CSO musicians their salary/working conditions.

Instead, I believe that ALL musicians should be paid well!!!

Rather than tearing down the CSO players for what they get, we should expend that same energy to build up everyone else's salaries!

the only way to build up salaries is to build an audience. the federal government is less and less likely to help, though maybe local funding is possible in isolated incidents. don't have any soloutions, but i think i know the real problem...

MikeMason wrote:the only way to build up salaries is to build an audience.

Them's the facts. The way many orchestras do this is through lots of pops concerts. This draws in the money, but it also has its drawbacks.

I have always thought that education is the key. If you could get more young people active in the arts then they will likely grow up to appreciate good music. Ravinia type outdoor events give people a taste of what their local orchestra has to offer. These outdoor events generally draw younger audiences than the indoor concert series type. The real key here is to go after the younger demographic for future audiences and go after the older demographic for the current fundraising.

One may say, that Sean is one of the rather few tubists, who has secured himself a quite stable audience. Even military personnel is made up of mere mortals, who take their exits at statistically foreseeable rates.

But then as the band book reportedly only has 15 or so pages, the US government may rename one or two local high schools into cadet academies and then let their band kids kick the horse droppings. Or will cheaper times let that be: inhale the tractor exhausts?

Will such times make us see marching bass guitars playing through their Pignoses?

Klaus

PS: Nothing defaming about the term Pignose, which is the brand name of a well known battery powered and portable guitar amplifier.

TubeNet wrote:

MikeMason wrote:the only way to build up salaries is to build an audience.

.........Ravinia type outdoor events give people a taste of what their local orchestra has to offer. These outdoor events generally draw younger audiences than the....

I have noticed thjat too.

I have seen the NY Philharmonic indoors, and outdoors at Central Park. It is quite true that there are more young faces at the outdoor venue. My lady friend, who was at both performances, suggested something that I had never thought of before: The indoor concerts are fairly expensive, and many people who are young, are not yet at their peak of lifetime earnings. Perhaps that is why you see more "graying heads" at the indoor concert.

The fact that there are a lot of young people at the free outdoor concert gives me hope that there really is a bigger audience than I thought before, it's just that they can't afford the ticket price at this point in their lives. It is possible that these same people will be buying tickets later in their lives.

Actually, I think newspaper people should make more money; we might have better reporting.

YES!

Z-Tuba Dude wrote:The fact that there are a lot of young people at the free outdoor concert gives me hope that there really is a bigger audience than I thought before, it's just that they can't afford the ticket price at this point in their lives. It is possible that these same people will be buying tickets later in their lives.

If only that logic had no loopholes. Those same young people are spending as much, or more, for tickets to see top rock bands as they would for a symphony orchestra.

One possible difference is that rock concerts are more of a social activity during, not just before and after, the concert itself than symphony concerts. Could you imagine a noisy mosh pit at Orchestra Hall?

Steve Marcus wrote:

Z-Tuba Dude wrote:The fact that there are a lot of young people at the free outdoor concert gives me hope that there really is a bigger audience than I thought before, it's just that they can't afford the ticket price at this point in their lives. It is possible that these same people will be buying tickets later in their lives.

If only that logic had no loopholes. Those same young people are spending as much, or more, for tickets to see top rock bands as they would for a symphony orchestra.

One possible difference is that rock concerts are more of a social activity during, not just before and after, the concert itself than symphony concerts. Could you imagine a noisy mosh pit at Orchestra Hall?

Agreed, there are many young people who are able to shell out bucks for rock concerts, but whether they are the same people who show up to outdoor orchestra concerts, is a matter of some debate.

I think that your point of the rock concerts being a social event, is very important. I believe that the allure of orchestra ("classical") music is that it facilitates a personal experience (almost like a "religious experience"), and as such, is less likely to have appeal as a "group" activity for young people, as a rock concert might. That dampens orchestral attendance as a group activity.

Speaking from my own personal experience, I find that I am MUCH more able to attend orchestra concerts now that I have more disposable income, than I could have in my 20's and 30's.

I would be interested to find out how many of the same young people who go to rock concerts in their teens and 20's, will still be attending rock concerts when they get into their 30's and 40's (and 50's?). Anybody have some insights to share?

Steve Marcus wrote:One possible difference is that rock concerts are more of a social activity during, not just before and after, the concert itself than symphony concerts. Could you imagine a noisy mosh pit at Orchestra Hall?

I happen to disagree with you, Steve!

Classical music is far too much about being social events for the self alleged well-to-do's.

Dinners before, champagne in the intermission, cocktail parties after.

This strong smell of blue-hair-permed elderly ladies sporting their terrible perfumes so full of formaldehyde, that one would believe, that they came right from a free tryout with their embalmers to be. Small wonder that their enslaved husbands have taken off via the funeral homes long ago.

I never made it a secret, that I live in the diasphora of almost anything except for fresh air, which is a must for my survival, literally.

But even my little provincial town is from time to time bestoved a visit by the regional orchestra, which in the summer doubles as the Tivoli Symphony.

Last they were here, they performed Dvorak's Te Deum, which is not worthwhile music, when it comes to playing and listening.

But it accomodates amateur choirs, several of which had been joined from all over the island for this purpose.

I tell you hundreds and hundreds of black clad sopranos and altos, but then they had fought hard to obtain their widow statuses. A very few still surviving tenors and basses.

The public filled with the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the black widows.

On top of this put a reputed conductor of amateur choirs.

The fine musicians were on the stage, but mentally they were on strike. The bassboner didn't even bring his instrument.

When I went home, I told the reporter from the local paper: "Det her er terapi for gamle kællinger!" (This is therapy for old cows!")

Which of course was the headline in the next day's paper. Wauh for a heated debate (in which I didn't take part). Despite their opposite agenda, all posters de facto endorsed my point of view.

If the classical orchestras adapt too much to Sean's clientele, then they are bound to put off their future.

I just watched the last half of a concert recorded at the Herodes Atticus Odeon in Athens. The BPO played Brahms under their chief conductor Raymon Saddle.

Somehow the best of two worlds (even if I saw it on NRK1).

Klaus

PS: Isn't it so that at least one conductor has refused to renew a contract forcing him into the cocktail party circuit) (Bärenbaum?)

Steve Marcus, you may remember this. . .

During the mid 1970s, the CSO sponsored a "University Night" series of concerts. I attended many of these. The program was the same program played by the CSO during that week's subscripton series. The concerts were often preceded by lectures from conductors or soloists (I recall listening to Leinsdorf, Jacobs, and Dale Clevenger) who would comment about the works to be heard that night. The series was offered at substantially reduced prices (college ID required) and Orchestra Hall was normally full for each performance. I recall these events warmly not only for the high quality of performance but also because they allowed me to experience for the first time such composers as Bartok and Martinu. The musicians loved these concerts because they played before an engaged and appreciative audience.

Several years later, these concerts were eliminated. I have heard that too many regular subscribers were complaining to orchestra management that students were getting an unfair discount. A poor decision IMHO.

CSO has lost significant contributions from United Airlines and American Airlines, two of its major contributors. Current management and the CFM players need to get together to work on the high school/college folks most of whom have no exposure to classical music. These are the future CSO subscribers.

From personal experience, I heartily endorse the idea of "University Night" for orchestras. The Minnesota Orchestra had a similar thing going in the early 70's when I was in college. We used to car pool monthly for the 90 mile drive to hear their concerts. I listened to concert music on recordings intermittantly before that, but this really got me going. There is nothing like hearing a live performance by a good orchestra.

I started buying more recordings (often in advance of the concerts so I could better understand what I was going to hear). After college, I continued to attend concerts (paying a little more money now) and buying recordings. It made a huge difference in my musical tastes going forward.