Back a couple years ago I posted a series called Orchestra 101, on professional orchestral playing. Following some of the comments I see online relating to the ongoing Louisville Orchestra situation it is obvious that a lot of people have a very fuzzy idea of what a professional orchestra is and what they do. For those with this thought, especially if you are a student and aspire to perform, feel free to read that series as background on a variety of issues.
The central question I would pose as a follow up article to that series is this: is an orchestra a group of musicians who play music for appreciative audiences, or is it a management that hires people to produce an entertainment product for appreciative audiences?
Memes?
For benefit of anyone unsure of our intentions, the memes recently posted are humor also meant to educate more than anything else. And personally I think this educational/mentoring side of the Louisville Orchestra topic is well worth exploring. Undoubtedly in the future people will view this as year for them as a case study in orchestra/management relations.
To briefly review, I don’t know how many Horn Matters readers are up on the current situation in Louisville, but at present the administration of the Louisville Orchestra is advertising to hire new musicians to replace all the members of the orchestra. The existing (former?) members all would have been vetted initially though open and fair auditions, and those in the orchestral long enough also have been vetted through a tenure process as well. Those processes and a variety of work condition and salary items are now out the window. And as to replacement musicians, as Drew McManus noted in his article in Adaptistration yesterday,
…you can expect to see the bulk of applicants from musicians who would otherwise never make out of the preliminary audition round at any existing ICSOM or ROPA (Regional Orchestra Player Association) level ensemble, assuming they made it past the application screening to begin with.
And stepping back for a moment, seriously, how is it possible that a management would even think to replace all the musicians who are the heart of their arts organization? I think this is what is the hardest for the average person to get their mind around.
But what is an orchestra?
Back to the original topic of this article, most people would generally define an orchestra as a group of musicians — strings, brass, woodwind, and percussion — which performs orchestral music by masters such as Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, and Bruckner. There is a conductor that conducts the musicians who perform, and at a professional level a management that runs the logistics and financial side (donors/grants/etc.) so that a busy schedule can be maintained for the musicians, presenting a variety of concerts for a variety of audiences. Classics, pops, educational concerts, etc.
Management exists to run an orchestra so that musicians can perform music for audiences that want to hear music. Where things seem crazy is that in Louisville the management is looking to replace all the existing musicians of the orchestra with different musicians who will work for less, advertising on Craigslist and Facebook for non-union players. This tactic preserves the orchestra somehow? Or does it preserve the management? It definitely is based on the “management as concert presenter” model and has terribly disrupted the lives of all the musicians of the Louisville Orchestra.
Of course, anyone treated like a pawn in a game by their management is not going to be very happy about where they are. And is the sad state of where things seem to be at present in Louisville. Hopefully the memes shed some light on the situation but in the big picture, again, they are just humor.
Two guys in Arizona
And of course here at Horn Matters, we are just a couple guys in Arizona. We both know people in the Louisville Orchestra from school and prior work experiences — lots of people in music do — but we have no direct stake. We at Horn Matters really don’t want to wade deeply into controversy, and we wish all involved well.
But what if I want to try to audition? I saw the ads on Facebook and want a job!
To conclude with a bit of mentoring aimed again at students out there, now is the time to wait and watch. If you do apply now be aware that you may always be seen, right or wrong, for the rest of your career as someone who tried to take a job away from someone else. No matter what you think of unions and such, it is just not the right thing to do and a bad career move. And be sure to talk it over with mentors you work with, likely they will have some strong thoughts on the topic.
With that, we will give the topic a rest. If you are new to the site and were visiting based on the Louisville posts, we have content posted on a wide variety of topics, do feel free to dig around and be further encouraged, inspired, informed, and challenged.
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