SAN FRANCISCO 〓 The opening performance of the new season of the San Francisco Symphony was canceled due to a strike by the chorus, and Salonen was unable to open the final season

2024/09/21

The San Francisco Symphony Orchestra has stumbled at the start of the new season. The opening concerts scheduled for September 19, 20 and 21 were canceled due to a strike by the chorus. Music director Esa-Pekka Salonen was scheduled to conduct Verdi’s Requiem.

According to reports from the scene, the orchestra management proposed to the choir that they maintain their current wages for the 2024/2025 season, but that they should accept a 10% pay cut for the 2025/2026 season.

In response, the choir claimed from May that they were the lowest paid choir of any major orchestra, and negotiations were unsuccessful. The choir has 32 members and is affiliated with the American Guild of Musician (AGMA).

In 2020, the orchestra appointed Salonen as its music director to succeed Michael Tilson Thomas, but differences in opinion with the management over issues such as program cuts and the cancellation of tours gradually came to the fore.

In March of this year, Salonen announced that he would not be extending his contract and would be stepping down at the end of the 2024/2025 season, when his five-year term would expire.

Meanwhile, the management team revealed that the number of performances had not fully returned to pre-pandemic levels, and that the company had been operating at a loss for over 10 years, with accumulated losses over the past 10 years reaching 116 million dollars.

Furthermore, it was explained that if things continue as they are, the cumulative loss could increase by a further $80 million over the next five years, and it was explained that the program cuts and tour cancellations were “solely due to a lack of immediate financial resources”.

PHOTO：San Francisco Symphony　/　Stefan Cohen


How about this ?

  1. BERLIN 〓 Merkel administration has announced that concerts and other events will be banned until the end of August

  2. R.I.P 〓 Jessye Norman（74）American Soprano singer

  3. MUNICH 〓 Bavarian State Opera has announced a schedule for on-demand delivery

  4. SALZBURG 〓 Thielemann declared war

  5. R.I.P 〓 Carlisle Floyd（95）American Composer

  6. Bayreuth Festival 〓 Roberto Alagna cancels “Lohengrin”

  7. UTRECHT 〓 Utrecht Early Music Festival announced cancellation, first cancellation at European music festival in September

  8. PHILADELPHIA 〓 Marin Alsop will becom Principal Guest Conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra

  9. CHICAGO 〓 Jay Friedman of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the longest tenured principal player of a top orchestra, will leave the orchestra.

  10. MUNICH 〓 Jurowsky to General Director of Music at the Bavarian State Opera

  11. BERGEN 〓 Edward Gardner extends contract with Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra

  12. LONDON 〓 Gardiner launches a new ensemble and gives a concert a week before the Monteverdi Orchestra at the same venue and with the same program

  13. BERLIN 〓 Berlin Philharmonic creates its first female concertmaster: Vineta Sareika-Völkner takes over

  14. LONDON 〓 Andris Nelsons is the “busiest conductor” in 2023

  15. MADRID 〓 Domingo reveals new coronavirus infection through SNS

  1. No comments yet.

  1. No trackbacks yet.