Managers at the national company, whose orchestra performs Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West at the Edinburgh International Festival tonight, want to employ the currently 54-strong full-time orchestra on a part-time basis, paying the musicians for 26 weeks’ work a year.
The Herald understands the music director of Scottish Opera, Francesco Corti, is deeply concerned about the plans, believing that other options could have been considered.
Internal documents seen by The Herald show the level of anger, concern and dismay felt by the members of the orchestra over the plans, as well as the management thinking on the proposals.
The management of the opera company, led by general director Alex Reedijk, believe the expense of a full-time orchestra cannot be sustained. They say that, for the financial health of the company, which has not been immune to crisis in the past, changes have to be made.
It is understood management believe that saving money on salaries will allow more operas to be staged. It is also thought the proposed 26 weeks’ work is seen as a minimum that could be increased.
However, one letter expressing the view of orchestra members, sent to opera board members, says: “Doing something to save money when it destroys the very product that you are trying to create is absolutely self-defeating.”
Terms have been offered to the orchestra which mean that, from next year, they would work for only around half the year. Their pay would be reduced in proportion to that.
Managers believe the move to part-time work for the orchestra “resolves the under-utilisation situation, delivers artistic stability and pays players fairly for the work that is currently available.”
The majority of orchestra members are already said to be looking for jobs elsewhere. But many believe that, if they quit, they will not be replaced easily, given the reduced terms and conditions of employment.
Musicians who stay are worried they will face long searches for scarce freelance work to make up for the sudden pay cut.
Mr Reedijk believes the orchestra is under-utilised, with rehearsals and performances taking up only 40% of the musicians’ time. The orchestra, however, believes that with orchestral concerts, community concerts, children’s concerts and education and outreach work, they perform 70% of the time, roughly the same as other UK orchestras.
Members also feel that, by judging their work purely on rehearsal and performance time rather than factoring in their skills and experience, plus the time they take to practise and prepare, managers are comparing them to office workers. They say that with no full-time orchestra, and no full-time chorus since 2004, the future of Scottish Opera as a designated national company will be open to question.
The internal letter sent to all the opera’s board members says: “We are the last remaining performing artists on full-time contracts, and if we were to continue in the direction that these proposals take us, Scottish Opera would no longer be a performing arts company at all, merely an administration, and indeed would no longer be a ‘national’ company worthy of the name.
“We would be very much a poor cousin to our counterparts in England and Wales, each of whom has a full-time orchestra and chorus.”
The radical changes were first signalled by The Herald in May when we revealed the opening of talks between Scottish Opera and its orchestra.
History of a troubled company
Founded in 1962 by Sir Alexander Gibson, Scottish Opera was inaugurated with a production of Madama Butterfly at the King’s Theatre in Glasgow.
In 1975 it bought the Theatre Royal in Glasgow from Scottish Television, re-opening it in October of that year with Die Fledermaus.
In recent times it has had some notable artistic highs, including completing its Ring Cycle at the 2003 Edinburgh International Festival. This won the 2004 South Bank Show Award for Best Opera Production.
However, the Ring Cycle was followed by financial crisis. In 2004, financial restructuring led to the loss of nearly 100 jobs, including all 34 members of the Opera’s chorus.
Its acclaimed director, Sir Richard Armstrong, resigned at the end of 2004. Its current director, Franceso Corti, took over in 2007.
2005/6 came to be known as the “dark season” as no major operas were performed.
The opera orchestra celebrates its 30th birthday this year.
The Theatre Royal, which is now managed by ATG, is planning to undergo an £8.5 million extension and refurbishment, with Page\Park as lead architects.
Classical music leaves us baffled
THE British may be a nation of music lovers but they are clueless when it comes to classical composers, a survey has found.
One in three people have never listened to classical music and most people were unable to link composers to their masterpieces, the Reader’s Digest survey found.
Three out of four did not know that Elgar wrote Pomp and Circumstance, the music for Land of Hope and Glory, and 27% did not even know he was a composer.
And almost 70% of those polled did not know that Tchaikovsky wrote the 1812 Overture.
