Cleveland Orchestra strike may end soon

The Cleveland Orchestra's musicians, who went on strike yesterday rather than accept a pay cut, have a tentative agreement with orchestra management and will vote on it today, WCPN and others report.

Today's New York Times carries a story (registration required) about the strike, noting it's a sign of tough times for classic music ensembles everywhere. But it also notes the special challenges of maintaining a world-class arts organization in Cleveland's long-contracting economy:

Cleveland presents one of classical music’s great anomalies: a top international orchestra in a shrinking city, an ensemble in a Rust Belt town that plays with the greatest of ease among the Viennese. ... Old-money families are dispersing. Ticket sales have declined, although loyalty remains fierce.

“The orchestra is living off of historic wealth,” said Edward W. Hill, a professor of economic development at Cleveland State University.

Audio pieces on nytimes.com include interviews with orchestra executive director Gary Hanson, two musicians, and a CWRU professor, as well as a clip of an orchestra performance.

We've been following this story for a long time. For some perspective, take a look at Andy Netzel's 2007 Cleveland Magazine article, "Harmony and Discord."

Orchestra to perform in NYC every 2 years; "Cleveland isn’t large enough to maintain... a full season," says exec

The Cleveland Orchestra will perform four concerts at New York City's Lincoln Center Festival every other year. It's part of the world-renowned organization's goal of reaching beyond Cleveland for an audience and donors -- a trend Andy Netzel reported on in-depth in his June 2007 Cleveland Magazine article "Harmony and Discord."

“Cleveland isn’t large enough to maintain on its own a full season of orchestra activity,” the New York Times quotes Gary Hanson, the orchestra’s executive director, as saying. (Read the New York Times story here -- registration required.)

Quotes like that can upset anxious Clevelanders. But out-of-town support is key to the orchestra's plan for future prosperity. Hence the three-week annual Miami residency Netzel reported on and the frequent trips to Austria. One-fifth of the orchestra's financial support now comes from outside of Greater Cleveland, Hanson tells the Times.

Here is the orchestra's announcement on its blog.

How negative was the Plain Dealer to The Cleveland Orchestra music director?

My April piece Critical Sinking — a close look at the conflict between The Cleveland Orchestra, the Plain Dealer and critic Donald Rosenberg which lead to the reassignment of a highly skilled music critic who covered one of the best musical institutions in the world — prompted a letter asking for more details.

I read your recent article "Critical Sinking" with great interest. I thought it was fairly balanced, however, one paragraph left me wanting more.

On page 73 the article states: "For the meeting, Julie Clark, working for the orchestra’s media relations department, assembled a point-by-point critique of all 150 sentences Rosenberg had written about Welser-Möst, from his guest-conducting performance on Feb. 12, 1993, to the latest concert before the meeting. She rated each sentence as “positive,” “mixed” or “negative."

I wonder if other readers had the same reaction as me. I would have liked to know the results of that critique. Did the research show a predominant slant to these sentences or not? Why was the result of that study not revealed? Was the information denied to you, not requested or merely not pursued.

For those interested, I've scanned the chart described in the story. Each X represents an individual sentence. So for each article Rosenberg penned about a Welser-Möst-led performance, there may be several Xs under each category.

Cleveland Orchestra increasing time in Miami?

The Cleveland Orchestra plans to increase its efforts in Miami, and that could eventually result in more time spent in South Florida.

The Musical Arts Association of Miami, the organization that handles the Orchestra's Miami residency, indicated they hope to "materially increase" the amount of time spent in Miami.

Musical Arts Association spokeswoman Ana Papakhian says the short-term goal is to increase the activities of the orchestra members during the three weeks a year already spent in Miami. That can already be evidenced by the Miami City Ballet collaboration and increased outreach programs to schools. (Read our January story about the collaboration with the Miami City Ballet).

The orchestra will consider adding more time in Miami as well, but that would happen, at earliest, two years from now, Papakhian says.

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In the March 2009 issue of Cleveland Magazine, you can also read about a a recent interview that Musical Arts Association of Miami chairman Daniel Lewis did with the national radio show Marketplace. (In it, Lewis recalls asking "if they moved orchestras like they move baseball franchises.") Read our original story about the Cleveland Orchestra's Miami residency here.

Gramophone: Cleveland Orchestra second best U.S. Orchestra

The U.K.'s Gramophone magazine ranked the Cleveland Orchestra as the second best U.S. orchestra behind Chicago, but ranked seventh overall. The orchestra typically ranks in the top five in the world, so this isn't necessarily cheery news as we expect to be near the top of any list of great orchestras, but it's not really bad news, either.

The ranking of orchestras was done by classical music critics worldwide.

While the rankings are based on performance and individuality, there is a major difference between Chicago and Cleveland. The Chicago Symphony is on firm financial ground, actually producing a surplus this year. The Cleveland Orchestra is struggling financially. We reported last year that the plan to expand its donor base with residencies in Miami* and Vienna was not going as well as planned. The last I heard, speaking with someone who keeps a close ear on the financial position of the orchestra, we can expect a deficit again this year.

It's remarkable that the orchestra, through reputation and a devout following and support in this town, has remained one of the premiere orchestras for so long. Cleveland is a much smaller city than any of the top-ranked American symphony orchestras. This latest report says we can still see one of the world's best orchestras playing in University Circle.

*In the above photo, the orchestra is rehearsing in Miami's Adrienne Arsht Center (then called the Carnival Center for the Performing Arts).