damning article on seattle symphony

Posted on by

conductor Gerard Schwarz

The New York Times today published an article of not insignificant length dedicated to the Seattle Symphony and its intense level of discord between its musicians and its music director and conductor Gerard Schwarz.

Music

In Seattle, a Fugue for Orchestra and Rancor

By DANIEL J. WAKIN and JAMES R. OESTREICH

Published: December 16, 2007

The Seattle Symphony Orchestra’s recent history serves as a cautionary tale on how, in an artistic hothouse, a tangle of emotion and politics can veer out of control and take on a life of its own.

There is precious little new information brought to light compared to articles that previously appeared in the Seattle Times and the Seattle Weekly, but there are a few details which were either not released by those papers or weren’t available to them at that time.

Violinist Peter Kamen
violinist Peter Kamen

This national, high-profile coverage comes just as a lawsuit is set to begin court proceedings in Seattle in January. Peter Kamen, a violinist in the orchestra since 1981, alleges that Schwarz has been harassing and bullying him due to behavior that is due to an anxiety disorder, and that this is discrimination.

For example, the player survey whose results were quashed by the orchestra management has a couple of key statistics now revealed: by a vote of 61 to 8 the musicians said that new artistic leadership was needed, and a vote of 61 to 12 indicated that a search committee should be formed to search for a new music director. Considering the varied agendas and desires of a symphony orchestra membership, such number indicate as close to unanimity as one can get in situations such as this.

Clearly, something is wrong in Seattle – things should not have gotten to this point. Who is to blame? I’ll leave that for the reader to decide – and will await the coverage of the lawsuit and its fallout.

  • reedroom

    As a long time member of the Seattle symphony, I have to assert that the NY Times article accurately reflects the morale of the orchestra and the musicians’ frustration with the SSO board. That said, what the article omitted was that the allegations of “orchestral terrorism” were investigated by a 3rd party, hired by management and union, and turned up no conclusive evidence. This was never reported in the local press.
    But the article is not about Mr. Cerminaro; that is just a symptom of the greater problem of what can happen when a music director stays too long. Any intelligent person can see from the current atmosphere that the relationship between Gerard Schwarz and the Seattle Symphony is no longer working. Under the current music director, the Seattle Symphony has had many triumphs, but few of them have had anything to do with music; the fact is, in the last decade the symphony has stagnated under this music director because there’s NO “THERE” THERE. Hearing the orchestra under a guest conductor is enough to prove that with fresh, inspired leadership, the Seattle Symphony could be great indeed. With a survey stating 61-8 that new leadership is needed, one can no longer say that it’s just a few disgruntled musicians! Too bad it has come to this.

  • http://www.nobleviola.com Charles Noble

    I have a lot of friends in Seattle, and I’ve heard a lot of stories, and I thought the article presented everything pretty much as I’d heard it (also with the exception of the omission of the findings regarding the “terrorism” incidents).