When skimming the internet in the past months, some orchestras over the world, have gotten the unfortunate honour to be in the news because of drastic cost-cutting plans, even with complete dismantling. Classical music lovers and all those involved in this business, whether directly or indirectly, are aware which orchestras I am referring to. Equally, I have mentioned some of them in my previous postings. Canada's Vancouver based CBC Orchestra seems already to be a signed-and-sealed deal, while the Columbus Symphony Orchestra (Ohio, USA) initially was only presented a scale-down of its size, the conflict between management and orchestra players has gotten in such a stage, that management finally threatened to pull the plug out completely. Fortunately, they resumed negotiations again. On his Adaptistration site, musician and orchestra management consultant Drew McManus is closely following the whole discussion.
Though I am not living in the near vicinity of Columbus Ohio, yet this orchestra's developments and its future is nevertheless interesting for me to follow. Especially, since I remember the times, when in the early 1980s, the then Dutch minister of culture André van der Louw proposed a plan to "merge" a number of provincial orchestras in the Netherlands. Merging was just a nicer word than dumping: If you merge, let's say a software-company, you add the 2 organisations together, dealing perhaps with a handfull of redundancies, but you end up with a bigger organisation, more production, more business.... In the case of 2 orchestras, there is a problem. An average symphony orchestra has perhaps 72 musicians plus admin staff. Merging 2 orchestra will form then 144 musicians (plus staff), and I cannot imagine (except of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, but due to its opera playing and stage concerts, their huge number of musicians is justified and workable in their case) such a big orchestra in a province in the Netherlands. Obviously, you then cut the numbers down to a regular size orchestra, and there is your result: you sack a complete orchestra after all. But of course: never call it that way in public! A shrewd idea which almost seems to come from Sir Humphrey from the series "Yes, (Prime)-Minister". The negative impact of these plans on the individual musicians was immense, and until today, Dutch orchestra- and cultural life seemingly hasn't recovered from these cost cutting plans.
Just freshly arrived in Slovakia, a few months after that, the Symphony Orchestra of the Slovak Radio (SOSR) hit the very same fate. While 2006 looked promising, with a pay-rise prospect for the musicians, suddenly at a press conference in February 2007, it was announced that the number of musicians would be reduced to improve quality and more money for salaries. Although I can agree, that a quality issue was indeed there, the plan presented was far from adequate. Despite many protests, even from abroad, the orchestra was nevertheless harshly reduced. Not that the salaries were increased as promised. The orchestra's manager Matej Drlička resigned soon after, since he could not agree to the changes as forced upon him from the general management, not being able to keep the promises, leaving the orchestra only in the hands of conductor Mário Košík, who is regarded highly controversial (to say the least) by the orchestra musicians. (see also my earlier posts). Despite that the orchestra in a confidence-ballot voted 91% against him.
The status as of today is as such - just highlighting a few:
Though I am not living in the near vicinity of Columbus Ohio, yet this orchestra's developments and its future is nevertheless interesting for me to follow. Especially, since I remember the times, when in the early 1980s, the then Dutch minister of culture André van der Louw proposed a plan to "merge" a number of provincial orchestras in the Netherlands. Merging was just a nicer word than dumping: If you merge, let's say a software-company, you add the 2 organisations together, dealing perhaps with a handfull of redundancies, but you end up with a bigger organisation, more production, more business.... In the case of 2 orchestras, there is a problem. An average symphony orchestra has perhaps 72 musicians plus admin staff. Merging 2 orchestra will form then 144 musicians (plus staff), and I cannot imagine (except of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, but due to its opera playing and stage concerts, their huge number of musicians is justified and workable in their case) such a big orchestra in a province in the Netherlands. Obviously, you then cut the numbers down to a regular size orchestra, and there is your result: you sack a complete orchestra after all. But of course: never call it that way in public! A shrewd idea which almost seems to come from Sir Humphrey from the series "Yes, (Prime)-Minister". The negative impact of these plans on the individual musicians was immense, and until today, Dutch orchestra- and cultural life seemingly hasn't recovered from these cost cutting plans.
Just freshly arrived in Slovakia, a few months after that, the Symphony Orchestra of the Slovak Radio (SOSR) hit the very same fate. While 2006 looked promising, with a pay-rise prospect for the musicians, suddenly at a press conference in February 2007, it was announced that the number of musicians would be reduced to improve quality and more money for salaries. Although I can agree, that a quality issue was indeed there, the plan presented was far from adequate. Despite many protests, even from abroad, the orchestra was nevertheless harshly reduced. Not that the salaries were increased as promised. The orchestra's manager Matej Drlička resigned soon after, since he could not agree to the changes as forced upon him from the general management, not being able to keep the promises, leaving the orchestra only in the hands of conductor Mário Košík, who is regarded highly controversial (to say the least) by the orchestra musicians. (see also my earlier posts). Despite that the orchestra in a confidence-ballot voted 91% against him.
The status as of today is as such - just highlighting a few:
- The orchestra is working only 50% (yes, two weeks of the month the musicians sit at home),
- the orchestra is losing revenues because losing projects as the orchestra is no longer interesting for organisers,
- no official chef-conductor, prominent and renowned musicians have left, the salaries are at the lowest level of the salary scale for most of the musicians (compared to e.g. the Bratislava State Opera sometimes a dramatic difference),
- even though maestro Košík tries to convince everyone, that everything is tightly under control, plans change every other day.
Yet, the blame is constantly put on the musicians as being the culprits and the fact that there's no money (who caused it in the first place, when the orchestra has gotten extra funding, but management refuses to use it for the purpose it was officially inteded?)
I can but agree with Mr Drlička, who has wisely decided to draw the right conclusion as a manager, at least showing managerial courage to resign, instead of twisting and turning and at all cost stick to a comfortable manager's desk. What is maybe a very odd but interesting detail: Mr Drlička was having a classical programme time on Radio-FM. After openly criticising the current SOSR management, the radio's programme manager sacked him immediately, literaly stating that "we have some difficulties with Mr Drlička's expressed criticism". So it's not just hearsay, but openly admitted by the Radio-FM management! Perhaps I missed the news lately, that freedom of speech was completely abolished here, but this is strongly showing a very very ugly trend, of how things are run at the Slovak Radio. As far as I can remember the totalitarian regime was toppled in 1989, but do we still work with mutual intimidation and sacking, if we don't agree with someone's (justified) criticism? Am I having just a bad dream or a real déjà-vu? It's not a dream, as the fact was published in the newspaper on 12th May.
Andrej Šuba, one of the editors of the Slovak Hudobný život-magazine, in his excellent article has written extensively on the aforementioned developments in the latest issue of this periodical. Sometimes, you hear a lot of information from people, where you hardly believe your ears, or you think "this must be a misunderstanding, they exaggerate!" ... until you find out, that it is indeed a fact. I was very much hoping, that Mr Šuba would have written an article, where things would have fortunately looked much sunnier, where some of my info seemed wrong, only to see, that his article is only confirming - if not worse - of what I had gathered myself.
When looking back at the long suffering of Dutch orchestras in the 1980s and 1990s, what is happening in Columbus Ohio, then we should have learned a lot from that. Taken into consideration, how things evolve around the SOSR, I can hardly express my disbelieve. Being a pessimist is often regarded as a bad characteristic. I like to refer to the saying that a "pessimist is an optimist with experience" or in Slovakia the saying goes like "a pessimist is a well-informed optimist". Whichever way you like it, unless the SOSR management would be finally willing to openly discuss and address true and relevant issues, the orchestra is a very sick patient already dying. And aspirins will not keep him alive, even more if you insist on buying the cheapest tablets you can get.
What the Slovak Radio's management - especially the General Director Ms Zemková and to a certain degree maestro Košík as well - should be fully aware of is this: As a public organisation, your salary (and therefore your responsibility for your daily functioning for the past months) is paid with my money which I paid as income-tax, including my radio-and-tv license which I have to pay, and so paid by others as well - ironically: even by all those tax-paying musicians, who became a victim of this mismanagement. We definitively have the right to insist on accountability from your side. Hopefully, nobody will again try to make me believe that this is normally to be expected in a country like Slovakia, where these managers are not managers but just musicians, teachers, and whatever. No, these are people who are paid to be a manager, and in our age and even according to their laws they are fully accountable. What time do you think we live? This is supposed to be a 21st century EU-member state and not being back in the 1950s Stalinist era.
sad regards,
MS
I can but agree with Mr Drlička, who has wisely decided to draw the right conclusion as a manager, at least showing managerial courage to resign, instead of twisting and turning and at all cost stick to a comfortable manager's desk. What is maybe a very odd but interesting detail: Mr Drlička was having a classical programme time on Radio-FM. After openly criticising the current SOSR management, the radio's programme manager sacked him immediately, literaly stating that "we have some difficulties with Mr Drlička's expressed criticism". So it's not just hearsay, but openly admitted by the Radio-FM management! Perhaps I missed the news lately, that freedom of speech was completely abolished here, but this is strongly showing a very very ugly trend, of how things are run at the Slovak Radio. As far as I can remember the totalitarian regime was toppled in 1989, but do we still work with mutual intimidation and sacking, if we don't agree with someone's (justified) criticism? Am I having just a bad dream or a real déjà-vu? It's not a dream, as the fact was published in the newspaper on 12th May.
Andrej Šuba, one of the editors of the Slovak Hudobný život-magazine, in his excellent article has written extensively on the aforementioned developments in the latest issue of this periodical. Sometimes, you hear a lot of information from people, where you hardly believe your ears, or you think "this must be a misunderstanding, they exaggerate!" ... until you find out, that it is indeed a fact. I was very much hoping, that Mr Šuba would have written an article, where things would have fortunately looked much sunnier, where some of my info seemed wrong, only to see, that his article is only confirming - if not worse - of what I had gathered myself.
When looking back at the long suffering of Dutch orchestras in the 1980s and 1990s, what is happening in Columbus Ohio, then we should have learned a lot from that. Taken into consideration, how things evolve around the SOSR, I can hardly express my disbelieve. Being a pessimist is often regarded as a bad characteristic. I like to refer to the saying that a "pessimist is an optimist with experience" or in Slovakia the saying goes like "a pessimist is a well-informed optimist". Whichever way you like it, unless the SOSR management would be finally willing to openly discuss and address true and relevant issues, the orchestra is a very sick patient already dying. And aspirins will not keep him alive, even more if you insist on buying the cheapest tablets you can get.
What the Slovak Radio's management - especially the General Director Ms Zemková and to a certain degree maestro Košík as well - should be fully aware of is this: As a public organisation, your salary (and therefore your responsibility for your daily functioning for the past months) is paid with my money which I paid as income-tax, including my radio-and-tv license which I have to pay, and so paid by others as well - ironically: even by all those tax-paying musicians, who became a victim of this mismanagement. We definitively have the right to insist on accountability from your side. Hopefully, nobody will again try to make me believe that this is normally to be expected in a country like Slovakia, where these managers are not managers but just musicians, teachers, and whatever. No, these are people who are paid to be a manager, and in our age and even according to their laws they are fully accountable. What time do you think we live? This is supposed to be a 21st century EU-member state and not being back in the 1950s Stalinist era.
sad regards,
MS
PS - in the event, it is really impossible to some people concerned to face criticism ; perhaps in Pyongyang there's is an opening for a director or two. No criticism guaranteed there!
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