Scott Chamberlain stares disbelievingly at yet another abyss threatening classical music – this one opening up in Fort Worth, TX.
I was a close observer for many of these battles, and I’ve been horrified that many of the same arguments that animated these disputes are being used in Ft. Worth, too. Horrified not just because these ideas were wrong, but that they were strategically so ineffective. For example, Michael Henson of the Minnesota Orchestra and Stanley Romanstein of the ASO tried to impose punitive labor contracts on the orchestra musicians and impose a new business model on their respective organizations, but the community ultimately rebelled against these ham-fisted negotiation techniques, and both Henson and Romanstein were forced out. Peter Gelb of the Met nearly faced a similar fate; he still holds his job, but is clearly in a weaker position.
Given this record of failure, I’m curious that anyone else would want to try this same approach.
