Orchestras, symbols of civic pride and artistic sophistication, have not been economically sustainable since the early 20th century, and we have reached a point where stormy weather has been replaced by actual climate change. "The field hasn't learned to market positive messages that people will be drawn to." "It's easy to point to a handful of bankruptcies and paint this mosaic of failure, when in reality those are a handful of situations," Ridge said. Similarly, Peter Dobrin, music critic at the Philadelphia Inquirer, wrote last week that taken together, "problems at orchestras ranging in size from Jacksonville to New York are more severe than ever before."īruce Ridge, chairman of the International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians, is less pessimistic. "It's kind of a perfect storm," said Greg Sandow, a critic and composer who writes on the future of classical music. Musicians point to offers such as the one in Minnesota - which would cut their average annual salaries by $46,000 - as impossible choices.
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Management cites a familiar refrain: Shrinking endowments, diminished donations and rising deficits have made it difficult to match expenses. Nowhere is this more apparent than Minnesota, where the outcome of a player lockout that has canceled six weeks of concerts could have the same defining effect as the bitter six-month strike in Detroit in 2011. American concert halls have echoed with more dissonance than harmony. Canceled concerts in Atlanta and Indianapolis. Minnesota has become a lightning rod in the economic upheaval faced by numerous American orchestras recently.īankruptcy in Philadelphia.
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The ensemble again is the center of attention among the nation's cultural cognoscenti, on far less cheery terms. The Twin Cities rejoiced when New Yorker critic Alex Ross planted a wet kiss on the Minnesota Orchestra following a 2010 concert at Carnegie Hall.