In Friday’s (4/6) Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky), Elizabeth Kramer reports, “The Louisville Orchestra will begin hiring musicians this month to replace those who have been enmeshed in contentious negotiations with the organization for nearly a year, orchestra CEO Robert Birman said Thursday. ‘We declared that negotiations were over a long time ago,’ Birman said. ‘If the players want to make a proposal, they have that option, but we are at an impasse.’ Birman said management will start hiring musicians in April and May, ‘and the goal would be to have an orchestra by September.’ In response, the Louisville Orchestra Musicians’ Association issued an email late Thursday asking supporters to go to its website, www.lomusicians.org, to sign its petition and to contact Mayor Greg Fischer and Metro Council President Jim King to voice their opposition. … Earlier in the day, the [musicians’] association had held a news conference on the steps of the Kentucky Center, calling for both sides to work with an arbitrator who also is an orchestra industry professional to break the impasse. … But the orchestra rejected that proposal Tuesday in a letter from its attorney James U. Smith III, who stated that the board had ‘nothing further to discuss’ with the musicians.”
Posted April 6, 2012
