In January, Hartford Symphony Orchestra management and musicians agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement through August 31, 2019. The contract, following extensive negotiations, incorporates salary cuts of 33 percent for core musicians. Music Director Carolyn Kuan agreed to adjust her compensation to match cuts taken by musicians. In March, the orchestra renegotiated a management services contract with the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, which since March 2014 has been managing the HSO. The renegotiated contract returns overall management responsibilities to HSO administrative staff, retaining some support services with the Bushnell. Steve Collins, the orchestra’s director of artistic operations and administration, is the HSO’s new executive director, succeeding David Fay, who continues as president and CEO of the Bushnell.
The Cleveland Orchestra has a new musicians contract through 2017-18 that includes annual increases in compensation and retirement benefits, plus higher shared healthcare premiums. For fiscal 2015, the orchestra reported a surplus of $72,000 and a 12 percent increase in audience members through its “Under 18s Free” and Student Advantage programs. Musicians of the Fort Worth Symphony in Texas agreed to a temporary contract extension through July; at press time negotiations for a new contract were ongoing. The Las Vegas Philharmonic has a new musicians contract through June 30, 2018; included are increases in base pay and fringe benefits. For its most recent fiscal year, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra reported a surplus of $900,000, on a budget of $22.9 million. The ISO also reported a 24 percent increase in subscriptions; fundraising income dipped to $9.25 million from $9.73 million the previous year. Musicians and management of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra have signed a new one-year contract through August 31; the orchestra ended its 2015 fiscal year ended with a surplus of $41,000 and an increase of $340,000 in 2014-15 ticket sales. At the San Antonio Symphony in Texas, musicians and Music Director Sebastian Lang-Lessing agreed in March to a three-week furlough for the 2016-17 season to balance the orchestra’s budget. The furlough would cut the season from 30 weeks to 27 and does not reopen the musicians’ contract. If fundraising can make up the budget gap of $314,000, the three weeks might be reinstated. The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra reported a balanced budget for its 2015 fiscal year, with a surplus of $17,155. The Toronto Symphony Orchestra ended its 2015 fiscal year with a surplus of $135,781, with fundraising revenues increasing by $1.5 million versus the previous season.
Boston Classical Orchestra, a chamber orchestra founded in 1980 that performs at Faneuil Hall, has filed for bankruptcy and canceled its April and May concerts. BCO Music Director Steven Lipsitt has announced a successor group called the Bach, Beethoven and Brahms Society, which will perform BCO’s remaining 2016 concerts, with most of BCO’s musicians. Also planned for the new group is a five-concert season in 2016-17. In February, New York’s Long Island Philharmonic announced it was ceasing operations immediately, after it was unable to renegotiate terms of a bank loan. The Long Island Philharmonic was founded in 1979 by conductor Christopher Keene and singer Harry Chapin.
