Ask an Expert: New Leaders and Weekly Paychecks
Two timely questions dropped into our inbox this weekend. One has an easy answer, and the other is more complicated. To start with the easy one, Jean wants to know...
Q: When will we hear who is going to be the new concertmaster? Have there been any try-outs yet? Can the existing violin players apply?
There has, in fact, been an audition, just a few weeks ago, which included both internal candidates and violinists from outside the orchestra. However, unlike with most auditions, concertmasters are almost never hired without first spending a few weeks playing with the orchestra. So at this point, we have two excellent finalists for the job, both of whom will be playing as guest concertmasters in the coming months, after which a final decision will be made. I've been asked not to name the finalists at this time (which is sort of weird, since everyone will see them on stage next fall, but whatever, not my call,) but I can tell you that both of them are dazzling violinists and wonderful individuals besides (I happen to know both of them.) I can also tell you that neither is currently a member of the Minnesota Orchestra. Stay tuned...
Moving on to a question I'm surprised we haven't been asked before, Liz is wondering...
Q: How much does someone in a professional orchestra typically earn in a year?
Liz, you simply would not believe how much it can vary, depending on everything from the prominence of your orchestra to the number of weeks in your season to the fundraising capability of your board, and even to the country you make your living in! (For instance, musicians in the very best orchestras in America, Germany, and Austria can expect to earn a comfortable living, while musicians in orchestras of similar quality in the UK and Holland earn shockingly little money.) Also, orchestras have payment structures for things like recording and broadcasting that can differ wildly, and some orchestras have set salary numbers for principal players while others allow each titled player to negotiate his/her own contract, so even putting a baseline number on a musician's salary can be tricky.
But to give you a general idea, I'm looking at a wage chart put out annually by the International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians, which comprises the 52 largest orchestras (by budget size) in America. The most recent chart I have is from the 2007-08 season, and the base annual salary of a rank-and-file musician that year ranged from $25,162 (Virginia Symphony) to $122,720 (Boston Symphony). And even that's misleading, because only the very largest orchestras pay their musicians year-round. (There are also hundreds of smaller regional orchestras around the country, which pay even less than Virginia. The Shreveport Symphony, in Louisiana, recently slashed the base pay of its musicians to less than $10,000 per season.)
The Minnesota Orchestra's base salary for that season was $93,002. That made us America's 11th-highest paying orchestra at the time, just behind the Detroit Symphony, and just ahead of the Cincinnati Symphony. Those rankings have shuffled a bit since then, because not every orchestra negotiates their contracts at the same time. Also, as you've probably read, a lot of orchestras, battered by the effect of the stock market collapse on their endowments and the overall dismal economy, have been asking musicians to reopen contracts and take pretty hefty pay cuts to stabilize their organizations, and musicians are, by and large, doing just that. So no one is quite sure what the "new normal" will look like when it's all said and done.
All in all, the answer to your question is that music is no way to make a good living, except when it is. If you make it to the very top of the profession, you'll be doing about as well as a college professor at a major school, and that's plenty good for most people - none of us got into this line of work because we wanted to be millionaires. But the vast majority of professional orchestra players will never earn anything like a substantial paycheck, and that's without even considering all the musicians who never manage to win a full-time orchestra job, and cobble together a living on the freelance scene, subbing with an orchestra one night and playing a wedding or two the next. And no one knows coming out of music school where they're going to wind up on that continuum...
Q: When will we hear who is going to be the new concertmaster? Have there been any try-outs yet? Can the existing violin players apply?
There has, in fact, been an audition, just a few weeks ago, which included both internal candidates and violinists from outside the orchestra. However, unlike with most auditions, concertmasters are almost never hired without first spending a few weeks playing with the orchestra. So at this point, we have two excellent finalists for the job, both of whom will be playing as guest concertmasters in the coming months, after which a final decision will be made. I've been asked not to name the finalists at this time (which is sort of weird, since everyone will see them on stage next fall, but whatever, not my call,) but I can tell you that both of them are dazzling violinists and wonderful individuals besides (I happen to know both of them.) I can also tell you that neither is currently a member of the Minnesota Orchestra. Stay tuned...
Moving on to a question I'm surprised we haven't been asked before, Liz is wondering...
Q: How much does someone in a professional orchestra typically earn in a year?
Liz, you simply would not believe how much it can vary, depending on everything from the prominence of your orchestra to the number of weeks in your season to the fundraising capability of your board, and even to the country you make your living in! (For instance, musicians in the very best orchestras in America, Germany, and Austria can expect to earn a comfortable living, while musicians in orchestras of similar quality in the UK and Holland earn shockingly little money.) Also, orchestras have payment structures for things like recording and broadcasting that can differ wildly, and some orchestras have set salary numbers for principal players while others allow each titled player to negotiate his/her own contract, so even putting a baseline number on a musician's salary can be tricky.
But to give you a general idea, I'm looking at a wage chart put out annually by the International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians, which comprises the 52 largest orchestras (by budget size) in America. The most recent chart I have is from the 2007-08 season, and the base annual salary of a rank-and-file musician that year ranged from $25,162 (Virginia Symphony) to $122,720 (Boston Symphony). And even that's misleading, because only the very largest orchestras pay their musicians year-round. (There are also hundreds of smaller regional orchestras around the country, which pay even less than Virginia. The Shreveport Symphony, in Louisiana, recently slashed the base pay of its musicians to less than $10,000 per season.)
The Minnesota Orchestra's base salary for that season was $93,002. That made us America's 11th-highest paying orchestra at the time, just behind the Detroit Symphony, and just ahead of the Cincinnati Symphony. Those rankings have shuffled a bit since then, because not every orchestra negotiates their contracts at the same time. Also, as you've probably read, a lot of orchestras, battered by the effect of the stock market collapse on their endowments and the overall dismal economy, have been asking musicians to reopen contracts and take pretty hefty pay cuts to stabilize their organizations, and musicians are, by and large, doing just that. So no one is quite sure what the "new normal" will look like when it's all said and done.
All in all, the answer to your question is that music is no way to make a good living, except when it is. If you make it to the very top of the profession, you'll be doing about as well as a college professor at a major school, and that's plenty good for most people - none of us got into this line of work because we wanted to be millionaires. But the vast majority of professional orchestra players will never earn anything like a substantial paycheck, and that's without even considering all the musicians who never manage to win a full-time orchestra job, and cobble together a living on the freelance scene, subbing with an orchestra one night and playing a wedding or two the next. And no one knows coming out of music school where they're going to wind up on that continuum...
Labels: all music is local, ask an expert, inside the orchestra
posted by Sam at
9:15 PM
3 Comments:
Hey Sam - I was able to take a look at the concertmaster candidates on one of your previous posts before the powers that be made you take them down. Wow, great candidates to be sure. It'll be interesting to see how they work with the orchestra. It's really hard to replace someone like Jorja...not on a technical level as there are tons of amazingly gifted players out there...but the intangibles that she brings to the table. So it's good to know that they have a couple of great possibilities in the works.
Now that the season has come to an end, a big thanks to all. You guys and gals hit a lot of 'em out of the park this season. Good to know that you can stay so focused on stage even with all the economic turmoil going on and all the budget slashing. More of that to come, but whatever.
I can't tell you how much I will miss Jorja's presence. She was more than just a concertmaster. She had a unique quality of sound that I endeavored our brass section to emulate. It was rich and voluptuous when necessary and always rhythmically precise. A nice combination, that.
I watched her coach the MYS orchestras and it was always the highlight of the visiting MO sectionals. She is a consummate educator... always knowing just the right thing to say that would have an immediate effect on the students. The kids LOVED her!
I once had the opportunity to chat with Jorja about meeting her husband, Michael Steinberg, and you would have been touched by the clear love she has for him as spoke to me about him and their relationship.
I'm sure the next concertmaster will be a great player and fine person, as well. Still, I will miss her smile, presence, seriousness, and love for music that was in evidence no matter what she played or did. They broke the mold when Jorja was made.
Regarding slashed orchestra musicians' salaries, here is an update on the musicians of the Shreveport Symphony in N.W. Louisiana which you mention above. We have been on strike since Oct 2008. Last summer 2008 our 24 full time positions (base salary about $12,000.00) were all reduced to per service positions with a guaranteed salary of less than $4000.00 a season. There was no Collective Bargaining Agreement as has been negotiated since the 1960's with our Musicians' Union Local 116. In short, there was NO collective bargaining, NO negotiation and NO agreement. Management and the Board of the SS(O) after 1 1/2 years of meetings expected all the musicians to sign a non-union per service contract or be replaced. There has been no progress since then and the SS(O) presented three concerts during April and May without the orchestra. They were poorly attended and we did picket the concerts.
If anyone would like to keep updated on the musicians of the SS(O), please, check the following websites.
http://www.shreveportmusicians.org/
http://www.shreveportmusicians4ever.blogspot.com/
Sorry, the news is not more positive from this part of the country. BTW, our concertmaster has retired from the SS(O). We continue to stay busy playing with community orchestras in the area, with other music activities such as opera and ballet, summer festivals and with non-musical employment.
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