The Toronto Symphony Orchestra is announcing this morning that it has successfully negotiated a new three-year contract with its musicians, effective July 1. The announcement lacks specifics, but the implications are significant. Also, getting this done without a musicians’ strike or a lock-out is an accomplishment in and of itself.
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The orchestral world is tempest-toss’d in Europe, where state funding cuts are forcing companies to look for private and corporate support. Several B-list municipal and radio ensembles have shut down, or soon will.
In the United States, the storied Philadelphia Orchestra — an A list group, if there is one — has just emerged from bankruptcy protection, while strikes recently crippled concert seasons in Detroit and Minneapolis. Atlanta came perilously close to losing its season opening last fall.
Except for a few major organizations with broad community support and deep endowments — like the big symphony orchestras in New York, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and, one would have thought, Philadelphia — North American orchestras have been stampeding madly towards a fiscal and programming cliff.
The Toronto Symphony, like every other major orchestra, needs to plan its seasons years in advance in order to secure great artists. But audiences are less and less likely to buy subscriptions, on which long-term planning is built.
Younger audiences may also be less primed to expect and support a steady diet of the Overture – Concerto – Symphony formula that represents the bulk of symphony programming menus around the world.
Any orchestral manager not living under a bust of Tchaikovsky knows that a broader programming mix, a more flexible number of players on stage for any given concert programme, and more concerts in alternative venues are a must in order to foster new audiences.
So, although the wording in today’s Toronto Symphony announcement is vague, what I’m reading into it is that this sort of flexibility is exactly what the organization is finally aiming to have.
This is the full text of the press release:
On Thursday, June 20, 2013 the musicians of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra reached closure on a new three-year Master Agreement effective July 1, 2013.
Andrew McCandless, co-chair of the musicians’ negotiating committee remarked, “The musicians of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra are pleased that we have reached a contract agreement. This contract was the product of hard work and cooperation on the part of the players and management of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. While we recognize that having reached an agreement is an important step, we must all work together to succeed at the highest levels in every aspect of the organization in these challenging times for the arts.”
“Everyone at the Toronto Symphony Orchestra shares an understanding of the difficult economic environment in which we operate. The new Master Agreement reflects this understanding with prudent cost constraint, and enhanced opportunities to increase revenue,” said Andrew R. Shaw, President & C.E.O. “With the highest ticket sales ever recorded last season, and with the Orchestra widely noted as playing better than ever, we know the Toronto Symphony Orchestra is on the right path as we seek the necessary philanthropic support to continue the work of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in enriching the lives of our enthusiastic community.”
The new contract demonstrates the desire of the musicians, management, and the Board of Directors to continue to create exciting concerts, leverage digital media, and better connect the TSO to its audience locally and internationally.
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra launches its 2013/14 season, and Peter Oundjian’s tenth season as Music Director, on Saturday, September 21 with an opening night Gala featuring renowned pianist Lang Lang performing Mozart and Wagner, conducted by Peter Oundjian.
The Toronto Symphony is going through a tough patch right now, and its managers have circled the wagons, not talking about finances or future artistic direction.
The organization’s musicians are worried not only about their personal futures but about the quality of an ensemble that is playing phenomenally well right now.
The new contract is a hopeful sign. We’ll see what it actually means not next season, which has long been laid out in glossy brochures, but in subsequent seasons. And we won’t know anything about the current financial picture until early in the new year, when the Toronto Symphony officially releases its annual report.
John Terauds
- Classical Music 101: What Does A Conductor Do? - June 17, 2019
- Classical Music 101 | What Does Period Instrument Mean? - May 6, 2019
- CLASSICAL MUSIC 101 | What Does It Mean To Be In Tune? - April 23, 2019
