“The Minnesota Orchestra standoff has grown even more intractable in the six weeks since music director Osmo Vänskä resigned after contract talks collapsed” in October, writes Graydon Royce in Friday’s (11/8) Star Tribune (Minneapolis). “Former Gov. Arne Carlson … wants Gov. Mark Dayton to impanel a task force to deal with the issue. ‘What do you say we try some new paths?’ [Carlson asked]. After a brief flurry of talks failed to produce a deal at the end of September, two representatives from each side agreed to meet informally…. That effort ended after a Nov. 4 meeting between board members Doug Kelley and Nicky Carpenter and ¬musicians Tim Zavadil and Doug Wright…. For nearly a year, Laurie Greeno and Paula DeCosse have led Orchestrate Excellence. The citizens’ group continues to meet with both sides, pushing for an accord. ‘We are profoundly discouraged,’ Greeno said this week…. ‘Musicians had said emphatically that there is not a common vision,’ … Greeno added. ‘If we could get some conversations going around that vision, it might produce an opening.’… Even with Vänskä’s future hanging in the balance in late September, negotiators couldn’t settle.” The article notes that the musicians “continue to produce their own concerts, including two next weekend and two more in December.”
Posted November 12, 2013
