SPCO and MNOrch: two orchestras at the top of their game

Posted at 9:41 AM on August 28, 2012 by Marianne Combs (3 Comments)
Filed under: Arts management, Funding, Music

As contract negotiations near for both the Minnesota Orchestra and the SPCO, MPR's Euan Kerr asked some pointed questions, including whether the Twin Cities can afford to support both organizations.

Bruce Ridge, president of the International Conference of Symphony Orchestra Musicians, or ICSOM, sees it this way.

"The question is not whether or not the Twin Cities can continue to afford to support both organizations," he said. "I think the question is: how can you afford not to support them?"

The orchestras are part of Minnesota's cultural legacy, Ridge said, and can't be simply cast aside.

Orchestras, like sports teams, bring prestige and people, to a city. They are an integral part of a thriving arts community.

Photo by Greg Helgeson, courtesy Minnesota Orchestra

The sports metaphor continues with Dobson West, the SPCO's interim president, who says the two orchestras don't necessarily compete for the same audience:

"The Minnesota Wild is a professional sports team," he said. "The Vikings are a professional sports team, but the game that they play is entirely different. And so there is nothing that says they steal from each other."

So it is with the orchestras, he said. There is some audience overlap between the two, but not much. Some people prefer the intimacy of the SPCO's 34-member ensemble, others the majesty of the Minnesota Orchestra with three times as many players. And some cynical classical fans might point out that both orchestras have been at the top of their games for a lot longer than any Minnesota sports team.

You can read the entire story here.

(3 Comments)

Adam Mecker's modern big band

Posted at 3:26 PM on August 28, 2012 by David Cazares
Filed under: Music

When jazz trumpeter Adam Meckler is inspired to write a new composition, the tune often emerges from his playing.

"It usually starts on the trumpet for me," Meckler said. "I'm playing or I'm screwing around or I'm just like improvising by myself and I come up with a riff or a melody and I go, 'OK, this needs to be a tune.' And then I go and compose it."

Playing and composing are big parts of Meckler's work as leader of the Adam Meckler Orchestra, an 18-member group that performs tonight at Jazz Central in Minneapolis.

The group of young musicians draws on the big band heritage of days past while infusing the music with modern beats and improvisational spirit. Like Meckler, many of the band's members perform in a variety of groups and settings, an economic necessity that also builds creative energy.

"The bands that I play in are all great and all very unique and that's artistically very satisfying," said Meckler, a St. Paul native who returned to the Twin Cities four years ago. "I can go and play in a polka band one night, go and play in the Adam Meckler Orchestra another night, play in the Good, The Bad and the Funky another night and the Jack Brass Band another night, and the Pete Wittman X-tet and all kinds of bands like that that are all unique and all different and all require a certain amount of artistic input from me."

Listen to my story on the Adam Meckler Orchestra today on MPR's All Things Considered.

SPCO musicians take their case to the Fair

Posted at 6:30 PM on August 28, 2012 by Euan Kerr
Filed under: Music

Cameras surround SPCO musicians playing at the State Fair (All MPR images/Euan Kerr)

People passing the AFL CIO building on the State Fairgrounds in Falcon Heights got a treat today as eight members of the SPCO played a half hour concert.

You had to look closely, but it was also a labor rally of sorts. Supporters passed out leaflets outlining musicians concerns as the music rose above the crowds flowing in from the nearby front gate.

"We are just trying to remind people what we do, that we do sweet music," said Carole Mason Smith. "It would be such a tragedy to lose all of this."

Smith is chair of the musicians contract negotiating committee. She and the others at the fair were also trying to raise awareness of what they feel is an unfair proposal coming from management. The hand-outs claim the latest proposal includes a 57% and 67% salary cut for musicians in the first year of a new contract. Smith says that would cripple the orchestras ability to retain and recruit new players. She said the proposal will ratchet down the number of days musicians would play.

"Everybody who knows orchestras knows the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra," she said. "And the thought of it being dismembered is horrendous."

A small but enthusiastic crowd lapped up the music, and when asked said they supported the musicians.

Christina Clark from White Bear Township says the SPCO offers a musical experience no-one else can offer.

"Because they play together so well, and so seamlessly as a result of playing all the time together, and as a family of musicians together, within their union," Clark said. "What the Chamber Orchestra is proposing to do would eliminate that kind of family sound and high level of performance."

The Fair event represents a ramping up by the SPCO musicians as they approach the September 30th deadline when their current contract runs out. Carole Mason Smith hopes supporters will increase their donations to the SPCO and urge management to reconsider the offer they have on the table.

"I don't know how they arrived at those numbers," said SPCO Interim President Dobson West, "but they are not correct numbers. We have never proposed that kind of a magnitude of a cut."

Sitting in his office in downtown St Paul, West said with the organization facing large deficits in coming years it needs to make some real financial change.

"We have reduced our other expenses as much as we can" he said, "And we need to address the musician contract during these negotiations."

West said musician salaries currently make up 40 percent of the SPCO's budget. He also said that he has contacted the SPCO's major donors and is looking at other ways to fit together the financial puzzle.

"While we still need to bring the expenses in line with our sustainable revenues, there are a variety of ways we can do this," West said, "And we will bring an entirely different form of proposal to the musicians."

The next negotiating session is scheduled for September 10th.

Back at the Fair a new, and very young fan danced to the music, apparently entranced by the sight and sounds he was experiencing. His delight attracted the attention of the owner of many cameras in the area, and produced many smiles.

It was a very genteel labor rally, but as if to underline the seriousness of the situation news arrived from Indiana that the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra management has proposed to its musicians to reduce its number and go part time.