News in the Indianapolis Star that musicians have reached a new three-year agreement with management, over a year before the expiration of their current contract! Congratulations to the organization for increasing salaries and adding musicians in Indianapolis, as the orchestra bounces back quickly from recession-era cutbacks!

Drew McManus has done a comparison of base salaries of orchestras in the "Big Eight", with Philadelphia at the bottom.

We're looking forward to another collaboration with the great Sir Simon Rattle coming up next month, performing Mahler's Sixth Symphony in Philadelphia October 6 and New York October 10. Read more in this article on BroadwayWorld.com.

There is plenty of discussion going on now on social media and blogs about the unfair treatment the musicians of the Fort Worth Symphony are getting in the local paper there, the Fort Worth Star Telegram.

​Check out this insightful and entertaining blog post by Emily Hogstad: Pneumonia At The Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra! She helps keep the work stoppage in perspective, especially in comparison to other organizational clashes in recent years in Atlanta and Minnesota. Orchestras there are currently thriving, by the way, despite doom and gloom predictions.

Interesting post in Drew McManus' Adaptistration​ blog post arguing that the Philadelphia Orchestra board and management seek to keep industry competitive salaries and benefits for management, while implying the same isn't necessary for the musicians. He also notes that "The Kaiser report is an expensive dust collector."

Story reported in the Philadelphia Inquirer here.

Orchestra management succeeded in getting a "bucket" of free overtime from the musicians during previous negotiations and continue to try to get more for less in current negotiations. Here's an interesting article from the Nonprofit Quarterly about recent changes to nonprofit overtime rules by the Labor Department.

Story reported in the Philadelphia Inquirer here.

​Also check out Norman Lebrecht's blog post and comments referring to the agreement.

Musicians in the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra are on strike in an effort to prevent further cuts to the musicians. Read the article in the New York Times for information.

An earlier article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram :Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra musicians reject proposed contract.