In Wednesday’s (9/7) Montreal Gazette, Arthur Kaptainis writes, “A cloud has cleared for the opening on Wednesday of the new concert hall: The [Montreal Symphony Orchestra] and their musicians, who have been playing without a contract for a year, have reached an agreement. The musicians will get a 10.5-percent increase, a notch more than the 10 per cent they originally asked for, but over four years rather than two. There will also be an unspecified boost to the pension plan and payments for broadcasts based on digital platforms. ‘Management and the union both made compromises and demonstrated the open-mindedness needed to come to an agreement,’ MSO chairman Lucien Bouchard said in an MSO statement. The MSO minimum salary before the agreement was $72,128. Titled players make more than the minimum. There was no statement from the musician negotiators. They had an excellent alibi: rehearsals for the opening concert on Wednesday night. The last-minute agreement, Bouchard predicts, will permit everyone ‘to play to their full talent.’ … If there are new provisions related to recordings, these will be applied in short order: One MSO musician has confirmed that the opening concerts under Kent Nagano, featuring Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, will form the basis of a recording.”
Posted September 7, 2011
