Maybe there's hope, yet, for orchestras. Â Animosity and acrimony have been replaced by relief after the Milwaukee Symphony and it's musicians agreed to contract extension terms, extending and modifying their collective bargaining agreement through the 2014-2015 season.
Music lovers can now only hope other orchestras use Milwaukee as a template to guide them to similar agreements.
The Minnesota Orchestra and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra seasons have been shut down to date because of management-labor disagreement. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra canceled a performance this season during a short-lived musicians' strike before the two sides reached an agreement. One thing that was most likely a huge help was that Mark Niehaus, MSO president and executive director, was an orchestra member until last September, when he became the orchestra's top business administrator. Â Maybe it's time for our music schools to make certain performance majors are also taking some courses in business management. Â It might make for a more harmonious future for the arts. Read Milwaukee Symphony, extend agreement (Journal Sentinel)