In Wednesday’s (3/25) Plain Dealer (Cleveland), Zachary Lewis reports, “The Cleveland Orchestra said Tuesday it plans a series of ‘broad and deep’ cuts in response to the financial crisis … Music Director Franz Welser-Möst and executive director Gary Hanson volunteered to take pay cuts of 20 percent and 15 percent, respectively, reductions amounting to over $300,000. Other senior management will accept cuts of 10 percent, Hanson said Tuesday. In addition, the orchestra has outlined plans to reduce the number of concerts here and on tour and seek concessions from its musicians and other unionized workers.” Many of the changes were enumerated in a letter from Hanson to musicians, staff, board members, and orchestra patrons. “In the last six months of 2008, Hanson wrote, the ‘extraordinary market decline’ has reduced the orchestra’s cushion to $96 million, down $34 million, or 26 percent. As of last October, the orchestra’s pension fund was also short $20 million.” Lewis writes that, according to Hanson’s letter, the orchestra will also reduce its 2009-10 subscription concerts and touring, and “the ensemble will leave three orchestral seats and three managerial positions unfilled.”
Posted March 25, 2009
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