Members of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus. Photo by Laura Morton/The Chronicle.
In Thursday’s (9/19) San Francisco Chronicle, Aidin Vaziri and Linda Liu report, “San Francisco Symphony Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen’s first orchestral series concert of his final season was canceled just two hours before musicians were set to hit the stage as members of the Chorus decided to go on strike. More than 150 musicians and patrons joined the Symphony Chorus, which formed picket lines at 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 19, in front of Davies Symphony Hall—an hour and a half before the Verdi Requiem concert was scheduled to begin…. ‘We tried to get a deal with them today but (Symphony leadership) just went ahead and canceled the entire weekend,’ said Anna Peabody, senior negotiator for the American Guild of Musical Artists, the labor union representing the 32 paid professional singers of the 152-person Chorus. The Symphony confirmed that due to the strike, the three performances of Verdi’s Requiem through Saturday, Sept. 21, ‘have been canceled and will not be rescheduled.’… Representatives from the American Federation of Musicians—the union for orchestra musicians—and the AFM Local 6, which represents six Bay Area orchestras, also stood in solidarity with the union Chorus members…. On Thursday, the orchestra’s administration proposed a one-year freeze on all contract terms … ‘Our latest contract offer to the AGMA members of the SF Symphony Chorus is fair, equitable and competitive,’ the Symphony’s statement read.”
