18 months ago Sticks&Drones first broke the news about the labor strife at the Minnesota Orchestra in a blog entitled The Sinking of the Minnesota. Reaction to that post was, to put it mildly, somewhat negative. I was excoriated in the press as being “unhelpful,” for “throwing unnecessary fuel on the fire,” and other things, some of which I would have thought unprintable in this day and age.
In that post I made the following statements:
Many musicians appear convinced that during this round of contract negotiations the M.O. is intent on “getting costs under control.” This is code for slashing salaries some 25-30%, perversely at the very time that the hall will be shut down for a year for a $50 million renovation. Of course, the orchestra’s goal is to raise $110 million, although how that is supposed to be used is very unclear.
This was firmly denied by all and sundry. Yet this is exactly what has happened. I continued:
Worst case scenario is that the Minnesota hits the mine, the contract impasse continues, there is a major “Detroit-like” strike, relations between the musicians and the board somehow manage to reach new lows, and the M.O. never regains the artistic stature it once had and finds itself on the scrap heap of social relevance.
This was scoffed at throughout the business. This “could never happen in Minnesota.” And at the end was this statement:
Or the Minnesota Orchestra could follow in the legacy of another ship that is celebrating an anniversary soon – the RMS Titanic.
And here we are. October 1, 2013, the one year anniversary of the lockout by the Minnesota Orchestra’s Board. The Music Director has resigned, the flagship recording project has been shelved, and the vaunted Carnegie Hall performances cancelled. A hundred years from now people will look back and wonder what happened to cause this wrecking that is now strewn across the bottom of the musical ocean. Like the ancient Egyptians there is precious left but an imposing monument to futility, blunders, and arrogance. Orchestra Hall, built by and for the Minnesota Orchestra by the people of Minnesota, is now nothing more than a tomb, a mausoleum to bury the musical aspirations of this generation, and perhaps generations to come.
Meanwhile, to all those critics out there who dismissed my original post as utter nonsense I have just this to say –
I told you so.
You called it, and you earned that last line.
God, how I wish you were wrong, Bill.
You and me both, brother.
There are no words to describe the hubris and idiocy that led to this point. 100 years from now, people will still remember Vänskä, the Minnesota Orchestra, the heights they reached, and the torsos that remain of the monuments they were building (example: 2/3 of a landmark Sibelius Symphony recording project). Seeds of their greatness will grow and flourish from wherever they land. Great music will be made, maybe even in Minnesota. Davis, Campbell, and Henson will be all but forgotten as parenthetical footnote villains without a vision, soul, clue, or legacy that showed the world how not to run an orchestra.
“… finds itself on the scrap heap of social relevance.”
Powerful. Chilling.
Thanks for speaking up amidst all the secrecy and sabotage that has been going on!