If you missed the concert in support of our friends in Pittsburgh, check out highlight videos of the concert below!

"A Brass Spectacular!" will be presented at 6:00 pm Sunday, Oct. 23, at East Liberty Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh. The concert is presented jointly by the Pittsburgh Symphony brass section and members of the Philadelphia Orchestra brass section.  They will be joined by additional colleagues from the Boston Symphony, National Symphony and Cleveland Orchestra brass sections.

​Check out this article by Norman Lebrecht for more information!

Scenes from some of the 20 different concerts Philadelphia Orchestra Musicians played for audiences around our community in our second annual Audience Appreciation Day, October 4, 2016.  This event, as always, was organized and presented by the Musicians of the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Our management has been quoted repeatedly as saying that it is confident that the Philadelphia Orchestra will remain a “destination orchestra”.  I have some thoughts on that phrase, based on my forty years in the profession.
Any music student who hopes to enter the orchestral profession knows that at some point, they will need to “hit the audition trail”. After years of study and practice, one has to start competing for the jobs that interest them.  It can be an expensive, grueling process, and with limited time and funds, how is a musician to decide where to audition? What destination should one choose?
When I first “hit the trail” the answer was simple - “I’ll go anywhere”. I was fortunate enough to win my first audition, (for the North Carolina Symphony) and joined the ranks of professional musicians. I had reached my first destination!
As I learned the business, I soon realized that there were now only about 30 new destinations that would represent a significant step up for me. And, in a few years I made my next move, to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.
In Baltimore, for the first time I was in an orchestra where I felt that even if I never made another move, I could be content. The music making was excellent, I enjoyed my colleagues, and I was making a comfortable living.  And yet.... every musician knew of the famous “Big Five”, those great established, historic orchestras that were the crême de la crême. I still felt the itch to experience music-making at the very top of my profession, and kept hoping for the right job to open up.
Then, an opening in the great Philadelphia Orchestra appeared, and after a very long involved process, they offered me the job.  I knew this was a great orchestra, but really didn’t know it well enough to be prepared for what I experienced here.
My first four weeks in the orchestra fell during the summer season.  In those weeks, we played fifteen different programs. I was absolutely stunned by how quickly the orchestra prepared music to an incredibly high level. Pieces that were major challenges in my previous jobs were just “in the DNA” of this orchestra. It was thrilling to listen to and participate in.
Then came the fall season, and things only got better. With a full amount of rehearsal time, the orchestra sounded even more polished than it did during my first concerts. Now my attitude was not “this is a place where I could spend the rest of my career”, but “this is the place where I want  to spend the rest of my career”.
So, as my career progressed, my potential destinations went from “anywhere” to “maybe 30 somewheres”, to “5 places” to “I’ve arrived, and I’m not even tempted to go anywhere else”.
Now let's fast forward to a very few years from now. I will have retired, and the orchestra will have found my replacement, who in all likelihood will be a young ambitious musician just as I was all those years ago.
Will this orchestra be the destination for that player, or merely a destination? Will he or she be thinking “this is a wonderful orchestra, but I still have the itch to play in one of the really top orchestras”? Will he or she be thinking, “I love the sound here, but in good conscience, should I consider one of the several orchestras that pays considerably more?"
For many many years, the Philadelphia Orchestra has been the kind of orchestra that is the destination for many many great players. Recent events have placed that status in jeopardy. Musicians can no longer assume that a career in Philadelphia will be as rewarding financially as a career in one of the other great American orchestras. Since the bankruptcy of 2011, our salaries have lagged behind our peers to an unprecedented extent. Our new contract does nothing to address that gap, but it does buy us a little time.
What will we do with that time? Will we as an institution come to accept an also-ran status? Or will we redouble our efforts and restore the Philadelphia Orchestra to its accustomed place as a leader in the symphonic world? 
It would be a tragedy if current trends continue and the Philadelphia Orchestra becomes merely a destination along the way. We need to ensure that the very best musicians continue to come here. And, we need to make sure that when they arrive here, they want to stay here. The continuing greatness of the orchestra depends upon it.​

Upcoming Events
October 17, 18, & 23     The Johannes String Quartet in Norfolk VA, Williamsburg VA & Utica NY.

October 23, 3PM     Philadelphia Orchestra Percussion Group at Widener University, Kapelski Hall Music Room

October 23, 6:00PM   Members of the Philadelphia Orchestra and Pittsburgh Symphony brass sections, with guests from the Boston Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra and National Symphony at East Liberty Presbyterian Church, Pittsburgh.
 
October 23, 3:00     Lower Merion Symphony at Harriton High School, Bryn Mawr. Music of Mozart and Sibelius with Music Director, Mark Gigliotti and violin soloist Amy Oshiro

October 28, 1:00 PM     Philip Kates's string quartet, Liebesfreud presents an "Open Rehearsal" from noon - 1pm at the Philadelphia Art Alliance. Admission is free. 

October 28, 7:30 PM     Shelly Showers plays  Mozart's Horn Concerto #3 with Orchestra Concordia at Radnor Middle School

November 4    Philadelphia Orchestra Postlude Concert. Brahms G Major string sextet featuring violin soloist Midori with POA musicians Ying Fu, vln, Che Hung Chen and Burchard Tang, Violas, Yumi Kendall and Priscilla Lee Cellos.

November 7, 7:00 PM     Philadelphia Orchestra Musicians Chamber Music Concert, Mitchel Hall at the College of Physicians of Philadelphia

See our Press Release for more information. Below are links to many other outlets carrying the news:

Philadelphia Inquirer
NBC10
WHYY Newsworks
​New York Times
​

We, the musicians of the Philadelphia Orchestra, have decided to withhold our services and strike. We believe this is the only way we can gain the attention of our entire community and begin in a meaningful way the process of reversing the shameful decline of our treasured institution. 
This strike is not about the musicians' greedy search for ever more money. If it were, we would have gone on strike in 2009, when our salary was reduced by more than 1 percent. We would have gone on strike in 2010, when we absorbed a wage freeze. We would have gone on strike in 2011, when our salary went down by a further 14 percent. We make no apology for wanting to be well compensated when we have devoted countless hours of hard work to achieving a level of musicianship which has placed us at the very top of our profession. To claim otherwise would be disingenuous. But our actions over the past decade clearly demonstrate that we have been willing to continue to play at the very highest level while our salary has greatly declined relative to the pay of other major American orchestras.
 
Over the past nine years, we have endured multiple cuts to our wages, pension, and working conditions in the hopes that our sacrifices would give the Association time to rebuild and restore us to our proper status. We did not strike a year ago, when we reluctantly signed a one-year contract on the condition that the world-renowned consultant, Michael Kaiser, be brought in to lend his expertise to revitalizing the Philadelphia Orchestra. He issued his report in April, 2016. Five months later, the Association has not yet publicly adopted a single one of his recommendations.
 
Just as in any other highly skilled profession, symphony orchestras compete for a small pool of talent, constantly striving to engage the very best in our field.

According to an August 2nd article on Philly.com, “Salaries for first-year lawyers at big firms in Philadelphia are topping out at $180,000 a year to keep pace with New York competitors.” Casey Ryan, a labor and employment partner at the prominent Philadelphia legal firm of Reed Smith, says that "For us it came down to investing in the strongest talent, both from a recruitment and a retainment standpoint.”
Closer to home, Drew McManus points out on his Adaptistration blog that “ According to the [Philadelphia Orchestra Association's Fiscal Year 2013 Federal tax] return, The Philadelphia Orchestra Association undertakes a thorough process to ensure that the executive compensation it pays to its top management officials and all of its officers and key employees of the Association is reasonable given the market in which the Association operates.”
 
Do the rules about attracting top talent apply to attorneys and Philadelphia Orchestra Association management, but not to world-class musicians? Does it matter to us that last season our base salary was more than 18 percent less than the Boston Symphony, and over 24 percent less than that of the San Francisco Symphony? Yes, it does.
 
In order for us to remain a great orchestra, we must be able to attract and retain the best players. If a talented musician has to decide between auditioning for Philadelphia or Boston or San Francisco, which orchestra will they choose?
 
We can no longer remain silent while we continue in a downward spiral. This is no time for business as usual. More than four years after the Philadelphia Orchestra emerged from bankruptcy, we are still waiting for a positive sign, a real indication from the Association that it intends to restore us to our proper position in the symphonic world. This strike is a step we take with the greatest reluctance, only after all other methods have failed us.
 
The City of Philadelphia, the United States, and the world deserve live classical music of the highest artistic standards, a tradition which we have upheld for over a century.

Choon-Jin Chang, Principal Viola of the Philadelphia Orchestra, shares his thoughts about why we have decided to continue with our plans to hold viola auditions despite the strike:
 
"In consultation with our Members Committee, the audition committee and I have decided to continue with the ongoing Viola auditions tomorrow although the members of the orchestra voted to go on strike.  We wish to honor all the candidates who spent their endless energy and time to prepare to audition for our famed Viola section, and hope to welcome one of these wonderful musicians to our Orchestra when we return to the stage."