Knoxville Symphony Orchestra musicians file grievance following furlough announcement.

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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra is facing a grievance from its members after furloughing musicians for five months.

The Knoxville Symphony Society announced Monday it was canceling the remainder of the 2020 season amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The orchestra is also furloughing most of its administrative staff starting Sept. 14.

KSO Executive Director Rachel Ford said it was a “heart-wrenching decision” but one that had to be made to make a viable path going forward for the orchestra. 

The musicians say the decision is “cruel and unconscionable” and violates the collective bargaining agreement between them and the KSO.

“We’ve been working with the KSO for several months to offer extra flexibility and innovative ideas for putting on safe performances that bring music into our community and schools at a time when everyone needs it most,” Steve Benne, chair of the musicians’ orchestra committee, said. 

“In return, and without any advance warning, the KSO furloughed us a week before our season was about to begin.” 

The cancellation covers 24 shows and other educational concerts. 

Benne said other orchestras have developed creative and safe plans to perform and keep musicians compensated and covered under their health plans. 

“We are ready, willing, and able to work,” he said. “That management would take this route during a national health crisis, especially without communicating with us, is a huge blow to Knoxville.”

On Wednesday, the KSO released the following statement:

As the Knoxville Symphony stated to the Orchestra Committee, we remain open to continue bargaining with Local 546 of the American Federation of Musicians. We remain committed to reaching a viable solution for the KSO, musicians and staff.

KNOXVILLE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

In the meantime, ticket holders have the option to donate the value of canceled concerts to help support the KSO or request a refund. For ticket assistance, visit the KSO’s website to access an online form or email boxoffice@knoxvillesymphony.com.

For Immediate Release:

The Knoxville Symphony Society’s notice on August 24, 2020 to furlough orchestra musicians without pay for five months violates the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra (KSO) and the American Federation of Musicians, Local 546. Musicians have filed grievances to fight the decision and secure contractually guaranteed pay.

“This decision by the KSO to strip away our livelihood and healthcare in the middle of a pandemic is cruel and unconscionable,” says Steve Benne, chair of the musicians’ orchestra committee. “We’ve been working with the KSO for several months to offer extra flexibility and innovative ideas for putting on safe performances that bring music into our community and schools at a time when everyone needs it most. In return, and without any advance warning, the KSO furloughed us a week before our season was about to begin.”

KSO is one of only a handful of symphony managements in the country who have chosen to furlough their musicians without pay. Many other orchestras have developed creative and safe plans to perform and keep musicians compensated and covered under their health plans. “We are ready, willing, and able to work,” says Benne. “That management would take this route during a national health crisis, especially withoutcommunicating with us, is a huge blow to Knoxville.”

In the wake of the global news and covid-19, after many discussions with KSO management over the course of the last year, we are pleased to announce we have reached an agreement with the KSO on a new contract!

The contract terms, which include modest raises for musicians, cover the current 2019-2020 season and last though August 31, 2023. Thank you for your continued support. We are excited about this development, and look forward to seeing you at a concert soon.

Stay Healthy and Safe!

Please join us this Monday to celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. And lets not forget that the reason he was so often in Memphis staying at the Lorraine Motel was to support the strike of the Memphis sanitation workers. Racial equality and civil rights were important causes that he is remembered for, but let us not forget his work to end economic injustice and to support the workers who went on strike to secure their physical safety and livelihoods.

As the Musicians of the Knoxville Symphony continue and AFM Local 546 continue our ongoing contract negotiations this week, we support the right of labor unions to organize and fight for workers’ rights and a decent livelihood.

#GrowingOrchestraForAGrowingKnoxville

The performance is free to the public and will take place on Monday, January 15 at 6:00 p.m. at the Tennessee Theatre. For more information about this celebration:

https://www.knoxvillesymphony.com/event/322/night-with-the-arts-mlk-celebration-concert/

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We enjoyed a two days off to spend with friends and family. Now we are back and digging into our many holiday offerings: Classical Christmas, Nutcracker performances in Knoxville and Maryville, Clayton Holiday Concerts, and runout holiday performances at Lincoln Memorial University and in Dandridge, TN.

In addition to the KSO holiday offering, you will likely see Musicians of the KSO around town in churches and other venues, helping to spread holiday cheer through beautiful music. We hope to see you at a concert soon, and please say hello when you see us out and about.

During this busy holiday season, we will also be continuing our contract negotiation with KSO management. We have been performing since August 1st on an expired contract, in order to continue providing the highest quality music to our community. Members of the negotiating committee will be meeting with management again this month in order to hopefully secure a contract soon. We all want a Growing Orchestra for a Growing Knoxville If you’d like to join our other supporters and make a small donation to help us spread the message of how important professional musicians are to our community, please click this link: www.ksomusicians.org/donate

For more information about our musicians, click this link.

If you have already made a donation to the Musicians of the Knoxville Symphony, thank you so much. If you would like to make a donation, you may do so at www.ksomusicians.org/donate. Any gift, no matter its size, will help us greatly as we work to increase public engagement and awareness of the value of professional musicians in great community. Thank you in advance.

Congratulations to our very own Eunsoon Corliss for being awarded the Ford Musician Award by the League of American Orchestras! We are very proud of the work the Music and Wellness Quartet does in area hospitals as well as the impact all of our musicians have on our community.

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If you were at this week’s masterworks performance, you received a little extra information about the Musicians of the Knoxville Symphony. If not, here it is. Helps us spread the word by sharing and commenting on our posts. Don’t forget to find us on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/KSOMusicians

 

 

Welcome!

 

Thank you for coming to hear us play tonight. We are really looking forward to performing this fantastic program for you. As we are currently in negotiation with KSO management, we wanted to let you know a little bit about ourselves and what we do in the Knoxville Community. We deeply appreciate the audience and the community who support the KSO.

Again, thank you! We wouldn’t be doing this without you! ~ KSO Musicians

 

We are members of the Knoxville community! We are from all over the USA and the world — our KSO musicians have relocated an average of 1122 miles to play with the KSO. We don’t just play music here—we participate actively in the community through teaching, hobbies, causes, and churches. We also volunteer throughout the community in organizations like Boy Scouts of America, Clarinets for Conservations, Justice Knox, Meals on Wheels, Bridge Refugee Services, and various animal rescue organizations, and as foster parents, just to name a few!

Did you know the average KSO musician has been playing their instrument for 34 years?! KSO Musicians hold an average of 2.3 degrees from many of the finest music schools around such as Yale, Juilliard, Cleveland Institute of Music, Cincinnati Conservatory, Eastman School of Music, Curtis Institute of Music, and Oberlin Conservatory among many others.

KSO Musicians have an average of $47,000 dollars invested in instruments, music, and equipment. These investments are required to win and hold a professional job with the KSO. Their combined costs far exceed $2,000,000!

KSO is a fully professional orchestra that contracts both full- time and part time musicians. Our 24 full-time players make about $30,000 per year while most of our part-time players make less than $7000 per year working for the KSO. During the symphony season we only have Mondays off, and we routinely work nights, weekends, and some holidays.

WE LOVE CATS! 61% of KSO Musicians are pet owners and our cats outnumber our dogs 4 to 1!

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