16? 17? Full time US orchestras?

[Jay Bertolet]

Hmmm, I'm not sure who told you that figure of 16-17. I went on the ICSOM website and counted 25 that I would call solidly full time. They are:

Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Dallas, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Minnesota, National, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Rochester, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, St. Louis, and Utah.

The above list does not include a bunch of really fine orchestras that pay a good wage but maybe not in the same league as the above. Places like:

Alabama, Buffalo, Chicago Lyric, Colorado, Florida (Tampa), Fort Worth, Jacksonville, Met Opera, Nashville, Oregon, Phoenix, and San Antonio.

The two lists combined still leave off some really solid positions like Grand Rapids, Kennedy Center, and others that could all make a go of full time status with a little bit of teaching thrown in.

It always surprises me to hear such a large number of available jobs when you consider all the negative press regarding the arts, and especially orchestras, and how classical music always seems to be dieing. For something so presumably fragile, there is still quite a good number of jobs for those willing to work hard enough to get them. For me, the funnier number is the total number of tuba performance majors graduating every year from US institutions, most of which don't have a clue what's involved in getting a job nor if they even really want such a career. Unfortunately, education is such big business these days that those numbers are unlikely to change.

[NCSUSousa]

I found the article about the Indianapolis Symphony having disputes last year that resulted in management threatening to cut the year from 52 weeks to 36 weeks. It says they're one of the 17 'full time' orchestras in the US.

Does anyone know the exact list of 17 from last year?
Beyond that, does anyone know how many may have been either added or removed from that list since that time?

[Tom]

I believe there are 16 orchestras that have 52 week contracts, if that's the criteria for "full time" orchestra. Three big orchestras are very busy (Detroit, St. Louis, Indianapolis) but do not currently have 52 week contracts.

Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Los Angeles Philharmonic
San Francisco Symphony
New York Philharmonic
Boston Symphony
National Symphony
Cleveland Orchestra
Minnesota Orchestra
Philadelphia Orchestra
Pittsburgh Symphony
Cincinnati Symphony
Dallas Symphony
Houston Symphony
Atlanta Symphony
Baltimore Symphony
Utah Symphony

[bort]

Is the Minnesota Orchestra still locked out?

[Tom]

Is the Minnesota Orchestra still locked out?

Yes.

However, their most recent contract was 52 weeks, for what that's worth. The other non-52 week orchestras that I mentioned have all actually ratified contracts less than 52 weeks.