S.O.S.

With contract negotiations on the table and the players looking at the door, the Seattle Symphony finds itself in a tough spot.

Last month, legendary conductor Kurt Masur came to Seattle to lead the Seattle Symphony Orchestra in a program of Mozart and Bruckner. Under Masur’s firm guidance, the orchestra’s refined nobility, keen attention to detail and unanimity of purpose created a revelatory experience, one that, for the audiences gathered in Benaroya Hall throughout the series, put into sharp focus what is at stake as the symphony faces a number of difficult decisions. In addition to the usual task of filling vacancies in the orchestra, the 107-year-old institution is preparing for the arrival of a new music director and is beginning the hunt for a new executive director. Among the challenges facing the orchestra, though, none is more crucial than the current struggle between management and musicians to agree on a new five-year contract. How this struggle plays out will ultimately determine whether the SSO becomes one of the country’s great orchestras or sinks into mediocrity.

Illustration by André Mora

Negotiations began last summer and culminated with management presenting its last, best offer on December 29. Management’s offer cuts musicians’ salaries 10 percent and freezes hiring to fill key vacancies in the orchestra unless management determines the hires are economically feasible. Negotiations have since stalled, and as of press time, musicians are expected to vote down the offer, sources close to the negotiations say.

Despite the uncertain state of negotiations, management is committed to work with the musicians. Rosalie Contreras, a spokesperson for the Seattle Symphony, told City Arts, “We have no intention of locking out our musicians. If our offer is not accepted, we will continue to meet with the musicians’ negotiating committee.”

Management’s proposed cuts aren’t without a purpose. Like similar orchestras (and everyone on your block), SSO is suffering through a historic recession. Unlike similar orchestras, the Seattle Symphony is more dependent on ticket sales, as opposed to private donations, to cover operating costs. This makes it markedly more difficult for the organization, which has an operating budget of $22 million a year and an endowment of $24 million, to make up for a $4.5 million cumulative debt. Robert Levine, president of the Milwaukee Musicians Association and a board member of the League of American Orchestras, says that such a deficit “is significant but not crippling. You can run a deficit if you have a plan to get out of it.”

Unfortunately for the orchestra’s players, that plan calls for pay cuts. But the musicians contend that they have endured enough – giving up a total of $3.2 million in concessions over the last four years. In a widely circulated document comparing musician salaries, the SSO’s musicians make considerably less than their counterparts at comparable orchestras. According to the document, musicians at seven peer orchestras earn an average salary of $108,814 a year while Seattle Symphony musicians lag far behind with an average salary of $78,750 a year, including what they make from performing with Seattle Opera. Eliminate Seattle Opera, and the average annual salary is even lower: $67,512 a year.

Gerard Schwarz leads the Seattle Symphony Orchestra;
photograph by Ben Van Houten.

Tim Hale, current chair of the Seattle Symphony and Opera Players’ Organization, contends that the onus for deficit reduction should be placed on management, pointing to poor fundraising as a key cause of the orchestra’s fiscal problems. “The SSO is troubled by the need for greater unearned revenue,” Hale wrote in a piece posted at the organization’s Web site, ssopo.org. “Unearned revenue remains the steep road to climb in order to reach the current levels of the Seattle Symphony’s peers.”

A survey of publicly available tax documents seems to support Hale’s conclusion. In the fiscal year ending June 30, 2008 – months before the collapse of the country’s financial system – the Seattle Symphony reported $5.4 million in direct public support. The Minnesota Orchestra and Indianapolis Symphony, by contrast, reported $17.1 million and $7.3 million respectively.

Despite differences with its players, orchestra management was hoping that Ralph Craviso, the lawyer it hired to negotiate the contract, would be able to craft an agreement. Craviso, who got his start as a labor relations expert in the airline industry, came with strong recommendations.

In an e-mail to City Arts, Henry Fogel, the former president of the League of American Orchestras, said, “He is very smart, he is a tough but fair negotiator, and he is able to represent the management while being sensitive to the needs of the musicians as well.”

A number of sources familiar with Craviso’s record, all of whom asked not to be identified, disagree with Fogel’s assessment. They contend that Craviso has built a reputation for harming public perceptions of the orchestras he has worked with and debasing orchestra morale.

A look at Craviso’s record appears to support that claim. In 2007, he was involved with negotiations between the musicians and management of the Jacksonville Symphony. Failure to reach an agreement resulted in a long, bitter dispute, a musician lockout and canceled concerts. In the end, a federal mediator had to sort out the whole mess. Craviso’s approach, these sources contend, even resulted in the ouster of the orchestra’s executive director. Other orchestras Craviso has assisted have had similar experiences. In the mid-’90s Craviso advised the Philadelphia Orchestra management in negotiations that resulted in a bitter strike.

While the SSO management and players disagree on the terms of the new contract, they share a commitment to the artistic development of the orchestra. During a press conference on January 14, Leslie Jackson Chihuly, the chair of the symphony’s board, said, “The artistic vision of the symphony is uppermost in our minds at this pivotal time in the history of the organization, as we search for the next music director and a new executive director.”

The Seattle Symphony stands at a critical crossroads with these contract negotiations. Will management and players clash in 2010 over cuts that impact artistic integrity? Or will they come together and forge a future with more stable revenue sources for the symphony and secure artistic growth?

A new executive director and a new music director will bring significant changes to the symphony, but it is these negotiations that will reach far into the future. Whether vacancies are filled permanently or with temporary musicians will affect the consistency of the orchestra’s playing. How much the orchestra can pay players may impact the quality of the musicians available to fill vacancies. Amos Yang, the assistant principal cellist with the San Francisco Symphony, recently turned down the principal spot with the SSO because of its low salary. If the money isn’t there, more Amos Yangs might slip through SSO’s fingers.

Yet the artistic goals of management and musicians are constrained by the fiscal realities facing the orchestra. Good intentions and grand visions are irrelevant without the resources to implement them. Still, there is cause for optimism. As last month’s stirring concerts with Masur proved, if a balance can be found between the competing factors, the SSO could be poised to become the most exciting orchestra in America. •