The Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Jader Bignamini rehearse Beethoven’s Third Symphony at Orchestra Hall on December 10, 2020. Photo by Ryan Garza.
“During a tumultuous 2020—what music director Jader Bignamini calls ‘this strange year’—the Detroit Symphony Orchestra has managed to make the best of the situation,” writes Brian McCollum in Friday’s (12/18) Detroit Free Press (subscription required). “The DSO’s governing members held their annual meeting, taking stock of a year that excitedly began with the Italian’s appointment in a January that now seems a lifetime ago. Despite the shutdowns and revenue decline that ultimately followed, the governors revealed the DSO finished the year with a $430,000 surplus, in part because of measures adapted early in the pandemic and a $4 million loan from the Paycheck Protection Program…. The DSO has transferred $2 million into reserves to counter expected ongoing revenue loss in the new season…. In April, it instituted the DSO Resilience Fund—ultimately generating $1.58 million—while announcing pay cuts of up to 20% for musicians, staffers and executives. The union agreed to new rules that would allow for a variety of unconventional performance scenarios as the lockdown eased up…. The DSO opened its digital archives for free viewing, launched a series of online watch parties hosted by musicians and … rolled out a series of small outdoor concerts.”
