ELLA ABBOTT / WBOI
Fort Wayne Philharmonic Musicians held a rally with supporters to ‘restore the music’ on the Allen County Courthouse Green on Saturday, another protest of management’s treatment of musicians over the past year.
Several speakers from both around the community and the country came to show support for the musicians, decrying management’s use of the pandemic to furlough musicians.
Ray Hair is the International President of the American Federation of Musicians. He pointed to orchestras in Columbus, Ohio and Chicago where management worked with musicians to keep working during the pandemic.
“The majority of American symphonic institutions saw their obligations to their communities to sustain their orchestras and continue to care for musicians while the pandemic raged and ravaged all of our lives,” Hair said.
Photos by Michelle Davies | The Journal Gazette
Musicians with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic play at Saturday s “May Day Rally to Restore Music.” The musicians fear the Philharmonic will shrink the season when a new contract is negotiated with the Philharmonic Players Association, the musicians labor union.
Michelle Davies | The Journal Gazette
Andrew Lott, a musician with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, played his trumpet at Saturday s May Day Rally to Restore Music held by Musicians of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic.
Michelle Davies | The Journal Gazette
Ray Hair, International President of the American Federation of Musicians, was the Keynote Speaker at Saturday s May Day Rally to Restore Music held by Musicians of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic.
Verbatim: Philharmonic musicians plan May 1 rally
Musicians of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic issued the following Thursday, April 29, 2021 –
Musicians of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic have announced the lineup of guest speakers for their May Day Rally to Restore Music scheduled for 1 PM Saturday, May 1, 2021 at the Allen County Courthouse Green in downtown Fort Wayne.
Ray Hair, International President of the American Federation of Musicians, will be the Keynote Speaker.
Additional guest speakers include Christopher Guerin, Fort Wayne Philharmonic CEO, 1985-2005; The Reverend Dr. Fred Hasecke, Pastor Emeritus, Trinity English Lutheran Church; Fort Wayne City Councilwoman Sharon Tucker; John Michael Smith, President, Regional Orchestra Players Association (ROPA); and Paul Austin, President, International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians (ICSOM).
The Met Operaâs Musicians, Unpaid Since April, Are Struggling
About 40 percent of the players have left the New York area, and a tenth have retired. Now the Met is seeking long-term pay cuts, and offering them partial pay if they come to the bargaining table.
The musicians in the Metropolitan Operaâs orchestra, seen here at a rehearsal in 2017, have not been paid for nearly a year. Credit.Karsten Moran for The New York Times
Published March 15, 2021Updated March 17, 2021
As the months without a paycheck wore on, Joel Noyes, a 41-year-old cellist with the Metropolitan Opera, realized that in order to keep making his mortgage payments he would have to sell one of his most valuable possessions: his 19th-century Russian bow. He reluctantly switched back to the inferior one he had used as a child.