MDSO, DSO, SOS ANNOUNCE SUMMER PROGRAM FOR METRO DETROIT YOUTH
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO), The Musicians of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (MDSO) and Save Our Symphony (SOS) have announced a six-day intensive summer experience for young musicians ages 14-18, who will have the opportunity to train with DSO musicians. Avanti Summer MusicFest is scheduled for July 16-21, 2012 at Derby Middle School in Birmingham, Mich. and will Continue Reading
A Very Worthwhile Charity
In 2005, as a memorial to Lew Waldeck, long-time musicians’ union activist and 1983-1994 Director of AFofM Symphonic Services, “The Lew Waldeck Fund” was established through the agency of Live Music Awareness, a Honolulu-based musicians’ support organization with AFofM affiliations. With the passing in October, 2011, of Leonard Leibowitz, legendary negotiating attorney and ICSOM Continue Reading
December 8, 2011, MDSO bassoonist Victoria King delivers remarks to DSO’s General Annual Meeting
Good afternoon, Governing Members, Members, Board Members, Staff and Colleagues,
I am Victoria King and am currently musician liaison to the DSO’s Governing Members. I have been a Detroit Symphony Orchestra bassoonist for 28 years. Continue Reading
Let’s Examine Some Numbers
Drew McManus, Adapistration – published October 19, 2011
Among the largest budget orchestras, one of the most competitive issues is the ability to attract and retain the very best talent and perhaps unsurprisingly, one of the primary components in that equation is base wages. So I thought it would be helpful to take a look at what sort of impact the recent Philadelphia Orchestra Continue Reading
Rina Miller, Michigan Radio - originally published July 14, 2011
Never mind the recession or the near collapse of the auto industry just a couple of years ago.
A report in the Wall Street Journal finds that Detroit and its suburbs have plenty of people whose bank accounts are very healthy.
Michigan Economic Development Corporation spokesman Joe Serwach says Michigan is holding its own.
“Detroit came in at No. 9, ahead of San Jose, which surprised me,” Serwach says. “I would have thought Silicon Valley would have had more. But we had 92,100 millionaires.” Continue Reading
Jaclyn Trop / The Detroit News, Originally published September 17, 2011
Spending on luxury items is picking up among certain Michigan companies, underscoring the gap between the rich and poor as uncertainty lingers about the economy here and nationwide.
The purchases, especially on lavish motorcycles, boats and airplanes, reflect a national trend of increased luxury spending by well-to-do consumers this year, even as economists have lowered their estimates about how the overall economy will grow for the rest of the year.
Wealthy consumers in the Great Lakes State and around the country are seeking Michigan-based custom builders Continue Reading
Mark Stryker, Detroit Free Press Writer – Originally published September 18, 2011
Detroit Symphony Orchestra leaders have long said that fixing the organization’s troubled finances for good meant repairing the business model on three fronts — the musicians’ contract, real estate debt and the endowment. But with the start of the 2011-12 season just around the corner, the DSO’s turnaround plan has stalled at step two.
DSO leaders say that the new contract hammered out in April cutting musician salaries by 23% was a critical first step toward a sustainable future, though it came only after a horrific six-month strike that threatened to permanently cripple the orchestra. Continue Reading
GRAND RAPIDS, MI, September 16, 2011 –
The Grand Rapids Symphony and its musicians, members of the Grand Rapids Federation of Musicians Local 56, have agreed to a four-year labor contract.
The Symphony Board of Directors unanimously approved the agreement at its Sept. 15 meeting after the musicians voted for the new contract on Sept. 9. The contract continues a wage freeze Continue Reading
Lawrence B. Johnson/ Special to The Detroit News, Published Sept 07. 2011Bass player Rick Robinson grew up with a love for classical music, and after 22 seasons with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra he’s stepping away to spread that gospel in a personal crusade…
… “I don’t know anyone who doesn’t love music. It’s just a matter of finding what speaks to them,” says Robinson, who plans to take a Continue Reading
Peter Dobrin, Inquirer Music Critic, Originally published August 17, 2011
In a stunning rebuke to the official leadership of the Philadelphia Orchestra, musicians have rejected a strategic plan prepared by president Allison B. Vulgamore and management leaders.
Players “formally reject its recommendations,” states a letter to Vulgamore and Philadelphia Orchestra Association board chairman Richard B. Worley. “The document and its suggestions have serious flaws, Continue Reading
Peter Dorbrin, classical music critic for Philadelphia’s Inquirer reported in his article last week that musicians have begun to leave the venerable Philadelphia Orchestra in the wake of their bankruptcy filing.
An insidious drip has started at the Philadelphia Orchestra, and this one will be hard to stanch. Talent is leaving…
…One or two departures per year can be expected in any ensemble. But there have been more. Principal clarinetist Ricardo Morales is taking the same post with Continue Reading
