Posted by Rick Denney on May 29, 2001 at 07:51:25:
In Reply to: Re: A nice symphony story posted by in-the-know on May 27, 2001 at 20:55:22:
There's a lot of innuendo at work here, and I feel compelled to debate it a little.
If Richmond wants a superior symphony, then they will audition nationally. If 100 people show up to an audition, and 97 of them are white, then should we be surprised that the organization is mostly white? The real question is--why are African-American kids not going into professional orchestral music as a career choice? Maybe they are smarter than you think. I'm sure the answer is far too complex for me to figure out. In any case, however, a Symphony has little control over that, and can't be held accountable for processes over which they have no control.
I might also be tempted to comment on the composition of the audience, and of the people who donate their money to keep the symphony going, but your imagination can probably fill in those blanks without my help. The point is that the symphony reflects its constituency, not the composition of the community at large. The fact that the symphony's constituency isn't the community at large is a bigger, but wholly separate problem.
Secondly, if I were building a symphony--I'd want the best talent available for the least cost. If I can get too really fine 25-year-old trumpeters for the cost of one really fine 55-year-old trumpeter, then why wouldn't I? I put the salary out there that I can afford, and the people apply who are interested in that salary. On the other hand, if I'm trying to maintain a first-tier orchestra like New York, Chicago, or Boston, then I want the best of the best, and won't care about age. But I also have the financial backing to make that sort of decision.
As for the ulterior motives in providing an early-out incentive program, it might be exactly what Mr. Anon says--a mechanism to ease out older players who have not maintained the same standards that younger players can achieve for less money. But they are doing it in an honorable way, it seems to me, by incentivising retirement-age players to retire without financial hardship, rather than by brow-beating them into leaving. I don't see the harm in this, but I also don't think it shines with the glow of magnanimity.
Rick "who will himself be eased out someday" Denney