Author - Robert Levine

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When’s it OK to ask musicians to work for free?
2
That was quick
3
Norman doesn’t get negotiations
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On the fungibility of musicians
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Musicians as managers
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On governance
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Who bears the risk?
8
That was quick
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Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
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Settlement in Louisville – at least for now

When’s it OK to ask musicians to work for free?

For sure it’s not when the person asking has raised $1.2 million for her new album but doesn’t want to pay back-up musicians on the road. Fortunately for all concerned, she (very grudgingly) changed her mind after considerable public outcry. Many AFM locals had a prohibition in their bylaws about members working for free, at[…]

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That was quick

Maybe not the shortest orchestral strike on record, but likely close to it: They entered the negotiating room in the Chicago Symphony Association’s lawyer’s office at 2 p.m. Monday, and by about 6:45 p.m. a tentative agreement had been reached in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s first musicians strike in 21 years. The orchestra announced shortly[…]

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Norman doesn’t get negotiations

It’s not surprising that Norman Lebrecht was right on top of the Chicago Symphony strike. It’s also not surprising that much of what he wrote missed the point or was simply wrong: Chicago is where the present inflationary cycle started when Henry Fogel, the former manager, caved in to a union demand for a $104,000[…]

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On the fungibility of musicians

One of the uglier memes being spread by the proponents of the Great Attempted Orchestral Downsizing of 2012 is that cutting the pay of musicians won’t damage the quality of the orchestra because everyone is replaceable. A recent post by Chicago lawyer Kevin Moen summarizes it perfectly: Perhaps most disturbing, however, is the response from[…]

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Musicians as managers

My orchestra managed to startle a fair number of people the other day: In a surprising development, principal trumpeter Mark Niehaus has been named the new president and executive director of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the MSO announced Wednesday. Niehaus succeeds MaryEllen Gleason, who has resigned after two seasons as the MSO’s executive to pursue[…]

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On governance

Recent news about the negotiations in Atlanta, St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Indianapolis have caused a great deal of discussion amongst orchestra musicians. Some online discussion got me to thinking about the role of governance in all of this, and how at least three of these situations are directly related to governance issues and misconceptions.

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Who bears the risk?

Deep in the weeds of yesterday’s NY Times story on the Philadelphia Orchestra’s reorganization plan was this little tidbit: The reorganization plan would call for unfunded pension liabilities to be transferred to the federally backed Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, which has assumed responsibility for two of the orchestra’s defined-benefit pension plans. The corporation puts the[…]

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That was quick

Chalk it up to the speed of light – or the speed of bits over the Internet. On Monday: Opera News, 76 years old and one of the leading classical music magazines in the country, said on Monday that it would stop reviewing the Metropolitan Opera, a policy prompted by the Met’s dissatisfaction over negative[…]

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Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

Alex Ross may have said it best: A monumental, vastly influential figure is gone. I can’t help feeling shock at the news — a world without Fischer-Dieskau seems foreign and unnerving. He links to several other appreciations, as well as a fascinating – and sad – interview Fischer-Dieskau gave in 2005. Fischer-Dieskau was an artist[…]

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Settlement in Louisville – at least for now

Finally some good news from Louisville: After 20 months of contentious negotiations, the Louisville Orchestra’s musicians and its management have reached a one-year labor agreement that will allow for a 30-week season beginning this fall, and both sides are optimistic that a long-term deal will be reached by next spring. The deal, announced Wednesday onstage[…]

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