Monday (10/22) on the CNN website, Emanuella Grinberg writes, “What do orchestral musicians do when they can’t find work in their hometown? Like other musicians, they look somewhere else. … The musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra worry that the lockout might leave them without jobs, driving them out of the city and diminishing the orchestral organization’s reputation as a world-class ensemble. … The situation in Minneapolis is part of a wider web of clashes this year between professional musicians and orchestra management nationwide as contracts came up for renewal this fall before the start of the 2012-2013 season. … But even if labor disputes make headlines, the bigger picture among the country’s 350 professional orchestras contains more success stories, said Jesse Rosen, president of the League of American Orchestras. … ‘The pattern that we see when we look at the entire community of 350 organizations is that most of them solve those tensions and resolve them without work stoppages,’ he said. ‘There are lots of instances of seeing new audience development and marketing practices come into play and lots of creativity in programming designed to be appealing and attractive to audiences outside the typical pool.’ ”
Posted October 23, 2012
