CSO silenced again; for how long?
And what about summer at Ravinia?
For the second time in as many years, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra has fallen silent.
Last year, a musicians’ strike over pension and salary stretched seven weeks, ending in late April.
And on March 12, Gov. J.B. Pritzker banned gatherings of larger than 1,000 in the wake of the coronavirus, darkening Symphony Center once again for at least 30 days. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association, which manages the institution, subsequently canceled all its concerts through May 10.
Though musicians and management hasten to point out that the causes for the two closures are different, in each instance one of the world’s most revered ensembles was out of work.
“When it started, that’s what we all were saying: I can’t believe this is happening,’” said CSO assistant concertmaster YuanQing Yu.
“I don’t even know how to describe it. The strike was extremely difficult, and this is difficult, but it’s also a different situation.”
For CSO musicians, there’s at least one significant distinction: They’re still being paid and have kept their health benefits, which were cut off during the strike (the contract that musicians and management ratified last April has yet to be signed and executed, as both sides deal with various technical issues).
“We’re extremely appreciative for how the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association has made the commitment to pay the salary and benefits of the musicians during this time,” said CSO second horn James Smelser, chair of the members’ committee (representing the musicians).
“We wish for that to continue.” All parties realize that for now there’s no earned revenue to support the institution.
The situation was different during the strike, for though revenue was gone, so were the costs of staging rehearsals and concerts. So when the CSOA issued its annual report in October, it posted a modest deficit increase of $200,000 over the previous fiscal year, bringing the total deficit to $1.1 million. At the same time, the institution’s endowment increased to $314 million, from $303 million in 2018. The endowment plus other investments, including beneficial interest in trusts, increased to $385 million in 2019 from $379 million in 2018.
A key question now is how long can the orchestra and staff be paid under these circumstances. Many arts organizations across the country have stopped paychecks. The Metropolitan Opera in New York has canceled its season and announced that its orchestra, chorus and stagehands will not be paid after March, but they’ll keep their health benefits. The Oregon Symphony laid off musicians (and some staff ), who will continue to receive health benefits.
How long can the CSOA keep paying everyone?
“That’s what we’re contemplating and figuring out — how to answer that question,” said CSOA President Jeff Alexander. “I don’t have an answer now.”
Alexander and colleagues have been drafting financial projections, contingent on when the music-making might resume.
“We’re putting thoughts and plans in place as to what our activities will be, what our decisions have to be,” said Alexander.
“If concerts can resume in mid-May, that’s one set of plans that we’re working on. The other is: What would happen if the ban is extended through the balance of the season?” which concludes at the end of June.
In that case, “It would really have a significant impact on the finances of the organization,” added Alexander. “We don’t know how significant, but we know they’ll be very significant.”
Part of the unpredictability owes to the degree of philanthropy the institution will receive in coming months. Orchestra donors — there are more than 10,000 of them — tend to write their checks between March and June, said Alexander. So no one yet knows the scale of giving yet to come.
Alexander declined to specify numbers that projections have yielded.
Alexander is hoping that ticket holders either will donate the value of tickets to concerts that have been canceled or put it on account for future events. If ticket holders take no action, the value automatically becomes a credit toward a future concert.
Alexander estimates that 95-96 percent of ticket holders have not contacted the organization, meaning they have not asked for their money back.
“It’s a very good thing, and we’re very appreciative of that,” he said.
This crisis also carries a certain poignancy, in that “we were headed toward a record year on ticket sales,” said Alexander.
Everyone involved is wrestling with how to stay connected to the CSO audience during this adversity. The CSOA’s marketing department “is working closely with the musicians to create new video content” to post online, said Alexander, adding that “we will soon start putting out on our social platforms some archival videos, some archival radio broadcasts and some new videos made by individual members of the orchestra.”
Some musicians have been trying to harness technology to create chamber performances online.
“I spent some time watching a YouTube tutorial to see if there’s a good app out there,” said violinist Yu.
Like many of her CSO colleagues, she’ll continue her teaching via FaceTime and Skype.
Another looming question is what will happen with the CSO season at Ravinia, which is scheduled to begin July 10.
“I don’t have a date by which I say I’m going to close the CSO (at Ravinia), nothing like that at all,” says festival president and CEO Welz Kauffman, who will be stepping down from the post at the end of the season.
“I would rather think we can be mobile — both the orchestra and orchestra management, and Ravinia, to make the season happen. We’re on sale. That’s what we’re thinking, that we don’t have a crystal ball, but this could all end.”
So Kauffman said he plans to follow the model that the CSOA took during last year’s strike, canceling concerts in short blocks of time if need be, in hope of keeping as much of the season as possible.
With the first CSO rehearsal not scheduled until July 9, he has some breathing room.
But Ravinia’s pop acts will commence much sooner, with Jesse & Joy on June 12, Sheryl Crow on June 13 and Jill Scott with special guest Musiq Soulchild on June 14.
Each will entail a different timeline for possible cancellation, said Kauffman, and “there isn’t much we can do about that.”
So beyond contacting colleagues across the country, all Kauffman and Ravinia can do at this point, he said, is “hurry up and wait, think about how one can up one’s game, think creatively, reach out to artists.”
This should make for an interesting season for Marin Alsop, recently appointed Ravinia’s first chief conductor and curator.
“Marin said: ‘We’ll watch what happens, hold hands and make it work,’” said Kauffman.
“In all the questions about what (the title) chief conductor and curator means, this is kind of it, to have somebody feel that kind of responsibility.”