Typically, this blog covers issues related to folk music, but I will ask your indulgence on a topic near to my heart – the Columbus Symphony Orchestra. I have sung in the Columbus Symphony Chorus for over 15 years, and the fact that the lockout is over is both good news and bad news.
A little history – the labor talks between the CSO musicians and management have historically been, shall I say diplomatically, contentious. This year’s talks appear to have been doubly so. The Orchestra has been over budget for the last several years and the Board has found it increasingly difficult to go to the same large donors over again to ask for more money.Â
The Board’s negotiating position coming in was that, despite the musicians taking a pay cut in the previous contract, this time they were going to have to take draconian pay cuts and the number of full-time musicians was to be reduced to 33 from 51 and the season drastically reduced in length. The musicians flatly refused, and commissioned a report from an outside auditor that indicated that most of the reason the Symphony was in the red was because of administrative and production and marketing cost overruns, not musician-related expenses.
Meanwhile, negotiations broke down and the Board terminated the musicians’ contract in early summer, before it was scheduled to end (which is why I feel justified in calling this a lockout).  Summer Picnic with the Pops performances covered by the contract were canceled. The musicians then rented out a local hall (Veterans Memorial Auditorium) and conducted several concerts to help the musicians earn some money to pay for expenses. They were helped by sympathetic musicians from other orchestras and several sympathetic conductors, as well as borrowed music (the Symphony locked them out of their music library).
During this period, the Musical Director of the CSO, Junichi Hirokami, came out very strongly in support of the musicians rather than management in a prominent article in the New York Times, a stance which may have put his job at risk.Â
So, now a settlement has been reached. Here are some of the salient details:
The bottom line on this deal is that it most likely marks the beginning of a slow artistic death for the Columbus Symphony Orchestra. Under Hirokami, the orchestra was making world class music, and there had been great hope that he would be able to take the orchestra to the next level. Now, there is some question as to whether Hirokami will fulfill the rest of his contract. Even if he fulfills the rest of his contract, it is possible that his support of the musicians has created such a split with management that he will not be signed to another contract and the orchestra will go on another search for a Musical Director, alienating the community, which has embraced Hirokami, and putting the orchestra in musical limbo, likely for another 2 years.
The other key issue is that the 25% pay cut will likely take its toll on the musicians. Already, it has been reported that several musicians have left Columbus for teaching or playing jobs in other orchestras. Given the reduced salaries under the new contract, it is possible that top-rank musicians may not be as willing to try out for the CSO, thus lowering the quality of the orchestra. In addition, many of the better players, having seen their salaries and benefits reduced so drastically, will likely bolt for orchestras elsewhere who compensate their orchestra more appropriately.
I sincerely hope that I am wrong and that the CSO can turn it around; however, all the actions of this Board leading up to and during the lockout, have left me with little belief that the current administration is capable of doing the job.  The Board has not only continually alienated the musicians and its Music Director, but also longtime contributors and the classical music community in Central Ohio.
