Innocents Abroad

Our orchestra has a 52-week schedule. Paid vacation is officially 45 days (6 weeks + 3 “practice days”). The vacation is usually from mid-July until early September although the exact dates or even weeks can fluctuate. Usually the 6 weeks are in one block but management can break it up, which doesn’t happen too often. If they do divide the vacation, one block has to be at least 3 weeks long. In addition there can be other free weeks during the year, and since we rotate, individual musicians have additional time off throughout the year.

The service/week rate averages out to 7. In the contract I believe the stipulation is for “not more than 112 services in a 16-week period”. In practice there are busy times where we play more than the contractual maximum weekly rate of 8 services. This is usually offset by a period of some free time after those weeks. I should point out that in Germany, there is one basic contract which governs all concert and opera orchestras. The radio orchestras have another contract which is slightly different. In general, however, the contract is not as specific or enforced as rigorously as I believe to be the case in America. The Orchestra is sometimes confronted with weighing artistic considerations against contractual obligations which often makes for lively discussions at orchestral meetings. There is no paid overtime and the idea of orchestras striking here is virtually unthinkable.

The Philharmonic did a lot of touring under Sergiu Celibidache, our music director from 1979-1996. Since then our traveling has tapered off but we typically do two tours and a few run-outs a season. There is no limit to travel days and here again the contract leaves the matter rather open. We do a few CDs a year in the form of live concert recordings and there is a national system for distributing royalties from recordings, radio broadcasts, TV dates etc.

The job security here is good. I have a tenured position and have the same contract as the nationals. My work and residence permits are unlimited. When I first came here, for the first few years these were limited and regularly extended, but after a certain number of years I was granted an unlimited work and residence permit. However there is more red tape for the management when a non-European-Community citizen is hired. I would estimate that a third of the orchestra is from foreign countries.