Chicago Symphony Orchestra musicians go on strike

On Sunday evening the musicians of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra walked out of negotiations with the Board of Trustees and announced that they would not return to work until a new contract agreement is reached.

The strike follows almost a year of negotiations for a new labour agreement that, amongst other things, preserved their defined-benefit pension plan.

The orchestra’s management and board have warned that the growing expense of the current pension plan, which guarantees a set benefit for life after retirement, cannot be sustained. Added to this, ticket sales continue to cover a diminishing percentage of the expense of putting on classical music performances, leading orchestras to try to cut costs.

Management’s proposal has called for switching the musicians into a defined-contribution plan, in which the orchestra would put a set amount of money into individual retirement accounts for the players, who could invest it as they chose.

But in a statement Cynthia Yeh, a percussionist on the players’ negotiating committee, said that the defined-benefit plan ‘has been the hallmark of the orchestra’s benefits package (and those of other leading orchestras) for over 50 years,’ and that the board’s proposal ‘strips the membership of that guaranteed benefit and shifts the investment risk to the individual member.’

The players — who are among the best-paid in the industry, earning a minimum annual salary of $159,000 last season, and an average annual salary of $187,000 — began walking a picket line outside Orchestra Hall on Monday morning.

BBC Radio 3 Big Chamber Weekend returns to Saffron Hall

BBC Radio 3 will return to Saffron Hall from 26 – 27 April 2019 with a weekend of chamber music featuring composer and virtuoso clarinettist Mark Simpson.

Former BBC Young Musician of the Year and BBC New Generation Artist, Simpson (pictured) is now established as a major voice on the international stage as both a performer and a composer. In partnership with BBC Radio 3, he takes up residence at Saffron Hall for three major concerts this April, introducing his own music (including a brand-new work) and bringing together a host of friends – some of the brightest rising stars in the classical music world – in the music he loves best.

In the first concert he is joined by leading cellist Leonard Elschenbroich and pianist Richard Uttley for a programme including Beethoven’s Piano Trio Op. 11. The Navarra Quartet and violist Adam Newman join them for a free early-evening concert on the Saturday featuring an all-English programme including music by Ireland, Maxwell Davies and Howells. The weekend culminates with an American-tinged programme which includes an arrangement of Barber’s much-loved Adagio for Strings and Antheil’s Trumpet Sonata, for which Simpson and friends are joined by current BBC New Generation Artist Simon Höfele.

Effi und die Opernsängerin

Er hielt sich selber für unmusikalisch. Theodor Fontane spielte in der Tat kein Instrument, er lehnte das Angebot ab, ein Opernlibretto zu schreiben – und 1889 floh er bei den Bayreuther Festspielen bereits nach 20 Minuten aus einer „Parsifal“-Aufführung, weil ihm Wagners Bühnenweihfestspiel körperliches Unwohlsein bereitete.

Und doch blendet der vor 200 Jahre geborene Schriftsteller und Gesellschaftschronist die Welt der Tonkunst in seinen Romanen nicht aus. Im Gegenteil, er nutzt Nebenfiguren aus dem Bereich des Musiktheaters sogar bewusst zur Charakterisierung seiner Protagonisten. Frau Jenny Treibel beispielsweise schmückt sich gerne mit ihrer Freundschaft zu dem ehemaligen Opernsänger Adolf Krola – weil es in den besseren Kreisen einfach dazugehört, Kultur zu haben. Für Effi Briest wiederum wird die Sängerin Marietta Tripelli zur Identifikationsfigur, weil sie es wagt, ein selbstbestimmtes Leben zu führen und offen ihre Gedanken und Gefühle zu artikulieren.

Die ganzjährig aktiven Musikfestspiele haben ihr Büro im Schloss Ribbeck. Da liegt es natürlich nahe, sich auf diesen Aspekt des gerade überall in Berlin und Brandenburg gefeierten Künstlers zu fokussieren. Zumal es sich um eine echte Forschungslücke handelt. Die im Havelland jetzt ganz praktisch gefüllt wird. Mit Konzerten nämlich.

He thought himself unmusical. Theodor Fontane didn’t play an instrument, and declined an offer to write an opera libretto – and in 1889 he fled the Bayreuth Festival after only 20 minutes from a “Parsifal” performance, because Wagner’s play caused him physical discomfort.

And yet the writer, born 200 years ago, still includes the world of sound art in his novels. He deliberately uses secondary characters from the field of music theatre to characterise his protagonists. For “Effi Briest”, a singer becomes a role model because she dares to lead a self-determined life and openly articulate her thoughts and feelings.

The year-round active music festival has its office in Ribbeck castle, and this year will focus on this aspect of the artist, who is celebrated throughout Berlin and Brandenburg.