In Thursday’s (12/1) New York Times, Daniel J. Wakin and Mary Williams Walsh write, “A great orchestra’s glory lies partly in continuity, the passing of musical traditions among generations of longstanding members. And a good pension in the precarious world of the arts is one element that helps keep players ensconced in their chairs, ensuring that handoff of artistic heritage. The storied Philadelphia Orchestra had one of the better pension plans around. But now the orchestra, burdened by tens of millions of dollars in pension obligations it says it cannot afford, is using bankruptcy court to avoid paying for them. That move has elicited concern from other American orchestras, which fear having to take up the slack. … Trustees of one of the Philadelphia Orchestra’s pension funds—which is overseen both by union officials and an outside orchestra manager—have taken the rare step of asking a court to determine if dollars that should be going to musicians’ pensions have been improperly squirreled away in the orchestra’s endowment fund. Orchestra officials say all its funds are correctly classified. … The struggle in the relatively protected orchestra world reflects a trend elsewhere in American life: the gradual disappearance of a guaranteed, set amount of money for retirees every month, often replaced by 401(k)-type investment plans in which employees contribute to their own individual retirement accounts and take whatever the markets dish out, good or bad.” Orchestra officials who express concern in the article include Los Angeles Philharmonic President Deborah Borda and Philharmonia Baroque Executive Director Peter Pastreich.
Posted December 1, 2011
