Still lots of bad orchestra news...

The Philadelphia Orchestra seems to have found its way into a bigger mess as it tries to drag itself out of bankruptcy proceedings.  Peter Dobrin of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes of the organization's attempts to further renege on its pension obligations and a newly filed suit blaming the AFM for "harassing" the orchestra and its donors.  It just appears to be another never-ending tale of poor management making bad decisions and then blaming the musicians (or their duly-negotiated contracts) for the financial mess.

All fall concerts of the Louisville Orchestra have been cancelled as the musicians of that ensemble rejected the management's latest offer and have filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board "claiming that orchestra officials have refused to bargain in good faith."  Executive Director Rob Birman (who actually cut his organizational teeth in Dubuque, IA) has even stated that the orchestra is considering hiring replacement musicians, a difficult task as the organization is now on the AFM "unfair list."  The Louisville Orchestra is also under a Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan approved in August.

The Syracuse Symphony has been dissolved, having filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy in April.  The assets of that organization, including musical instruments, a large library of printed music, and its historical archives, have been divided up among three area educational and cultural organizations.  The New Mexico Symphony was also struck by Chapter 7 in the past spring.

There are signs of the possibility of a resurgent Honolulu Symphony, but thus far, nothing has come to fruition.  As has been my experience in academia, it takes a long time to build a stable ensemble or musical organization.  Unfortunately, such ensembles can be undone in the blink of an eye.