Musicians work on stage and off

Hartford Symphony Executive Director Steve Collins remarked [Sept. 16, courant.com, “Hartford Symphony Orchestra furloughs 86 musicians, three staff members”] that musicians work an average of six hours a week for the HSO. This statement is misleading.

This figure is reasonable only if you count the clock hours that a symphony musician is in rehearsal or on stage and average that out over an entire season. It does not reflect how we experience that schedule.

More importantly, the work involved in preparation is formidable. Anyone who knows a musician knows all about this. We produce awesome performances with very few rehearsals. No one questions the cost of an attorney’s billable hours. No one is surprised that doctors, mechanics, pipefitters or electricians charge what they do, given their decades of education, experience and performance ability. The same is true for professional musicians.

Some symphony musicians have “other jobs,” but much of that work has been dramatically impacted by the pandemic. To imply that we’re going to be fine because we have other work is disingenuous.

We are all facing tough times. Clock hours in no way reflect how life really works for gig economy workers.

I’m proud of my orchestra, proud of the fact that we can walk on stage and produce great performances of great music, proud that we can give something special to our city. “Six hours a week” is something you say to minimize the importance of the musicians in an orchestra. “Six hours a week” doesn’t begin to tell our story.

Steve Wade, Ledyard

The writer is the assistant principal oboe, Hartford Symphony Orchestra, and a member of the Regional Orchestra Players’ Association executive board.