On Tuesday (10/1) at the Classicalite website, Hallam Fulcher reports, “More than 100 orchestras across Germany went on a 24-hour strike on Monday. They are protesting the recent closure of a number of orchestras across Germany, most recently the shuttering of radio orchestras in the southwest. The Berlin Philharmonic was the first ensemble to strike, followed by orchestras in other major German cities including Hamburg, Munich, Leipzig and Dresden…. According to the [German Orchestra Union], salaries for other public servants have risen by 8 percent since 2010, while orchestral musicians’ salaries have stagnated.… Since 1992, 37 professional orchestras have been closed down or forced to merge. This has resulted in the loss of about 2,500 jobs for professional musicians in Germany. The number of German professional orchestras now stands at 131—down from a high of 168 in 1991. These developments are very unusual for Germany, a country with a long tradition of government support for symphony orchestras…. The coordinated concert protested against cuts in arts budgets that have brought several orchestras in Spain to the brink of shutting down. The musicians also protested a cultural value-added tax that has risen from 8 percent to 21 percent over the past year.”
Posted October 3, 2013
