The news from Columbus seems to be getting more dire by the day, and those with the power to change the situation seem unwilling to do so (or to be charitable, unable to do so). Here’s a collection of posts from around the classical blogosphere concerning the situation in Columbus as of late.<\/p>\n
What bothers me the most about this situation is that the responsibility for the plight of the orchestra is being placed squarely on the shoulders of the musicians. According to the board, management, and the editorial board of the Columbus Dispatch<\/em>, the musicians are selfish and greedy for being unwilling to accept the cuts which are being proposed.<\/p>\n In an orchestra with a multi-year CBA, the costs of the musicians’ salaries are the one factor which can be budgeted for in advance – the numbers are agreed to and known in advance. Certainly, compensation package items such as health care expenses can take sudden up or (ha!) down turns, and those can cause some cash flow problems.<\/p>\n If there were ever a clear cut case of mis-management on the part of both the administration and board of an orchestra, this is a text book example. I just hope that the 08-09 season doesn’t consist of the Cleveland Orchestra and the Cincinnati Symphony playing run-out concerts in Columbus – it’s a fear expressed by some CSO musicians, and given the Cleveland Orchestra’s expansion into South Florida (after the demise of the similarly mis-managed Philharmonic Orchestra of Florida) to supplement it’s income, it’s not out of the realm of possibility…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The news from Columbus seems to be getting more dire by the day, and those with the power to change the situation seem unwilling to do so (or to be charitable, unable to do so). Here’s a collection of posts from around the classical blogosphere concerning the situation in Columbus as of late. Drew McManus […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[186,115,2],"tags":[463],"class_list":["post-965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-labor-issues","category-music","category-the-orchestra-world","tag-columbus-symphony-orchestra"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-fz","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":677,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/01\/21\/columbus-conductor-takes-a-stand\/","url_meta":{"origin":965,"position":0},"title":"columbus’ conductor takes a stand","author":"Charles Noble","date":"January 21, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Photo credit: Koichi Miura Photo courtesy of Frank Salomon Associates Junichi Hirokami, the music director of the Columbus Symphony (who I hear is fantastic), has been interviewed by the Columbus Dispatch and made some telling remarks about the situation there. Any downsizing of the orchestra would be \"catastrophic,\" Junichi Hirokami\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "conducting"","block_context":{"text":"conducting","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/conducting\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"jh_head_color.jpg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/01\/jh_head_color.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":689,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/01\/23\/columbus-symphony-supporters-unite\/","url_meta":{"origin":965,"position":1},"title":"columbus symphony supporters unite","author":"Charles Noble","date":"January 23, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"A group of enterprising Columbus Symphony boosters have started both a blog\/website.\u00c2\u00a0 Check them out for updates and ideas for how you can help make a difference for the Columbus Symphony. They have a great editorial cartoon by Jeff Stahler from the Columbus Dispatch posted:","rel":"","context":"In "labor issues"","block_context":{"text":"labor issues","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/labor-issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/01\/20.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":853,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/03\/15\/columbus-situation-dire\/","url_meta":{"origin":965,"position":2},"title":"columbus situation dire","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 15, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This was posted on the CSO facebook group yesterday: Friends, things are not going well. I beg your attention for a few minutes while I report the \"unreported\" events surrounding the arts crisis in Columbus. These are my opinions and not the official view of our committee representatives. I am\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "labor issues"","block_context":{"text":"labor issues","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/labor-issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":725,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/01\/30\/columbus-symphony-musicians-respond\/","url_meta":{"origin":965,"position":3},"title":"columbus symphony musicians respond","author":"Charles Noble","date":"January 30, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The Columbus Symphony musicians have issued a formal response to the planned cuts of both season and personnel by the Columbus Symphony Association. Central Ohio Federation of Musicians Local 103, AFM 1585 Bethel Road, Suite 100 Columbus, Ohio 43220 614-457-6371 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 29, 2008 HUNDREDS FROM AROUND THE\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":815,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/02\/27\/columbus-recording-its-own-memorial\/","url_meta":{"origin":965,"position":4},"title":"columbus recording its own memorial","author":"Charles Noble","date":"February 27, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Sad, but true: Douglas Fisher Member, Columbus Symphony Orchestra President, Local 103, AFM FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 26, 2008 Columbus Symphony Musicians Vote To Allow Live Recording Next week\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Columbus Symphony Orchestra program will be recorded live for the international recording company Denon, which will release it on compact disc.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "labor issues"","block_context":{"text":"labor issues","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/labor-issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":734,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/02\/04\/columbus-a-personal-view\/","url_meta":{"origin":965,"position":5},"title":"columbus – a personal view","author":"Charles Noble","date":"February 4, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This past Sunday's Columbus Dispatch profiles three musicians from the troubled Columbus Symphony: principal trumpeter Justin Bartels, violinist Joyce Fishman, and principal flutist Randy Hester. Here's the set up from the article, the complete version of which you can read here: If the Columbus Symphony -- facing a $1.5 million\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "labor issues"","block_context":{"text":"labor issues","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/labor-issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/303"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/965\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}