When the coronavirus pandemic hit the cultural sector in 2020 and forced the New York Philharmonic to cancel the season, the orchestra worked to cut costs and cut musicians’ payments by 25%.
Philharmonic then promised to cancel these savings, which had saved more than $ 20 million, when the financial outlook became brighter. And on Monday, the orchestra announced that it would do so in September, much earlier than expected.
The decision to recover wages was a milestone in the recovery of the Philharmonic Orchestra, giving hope that the worst of the pandemic, which brought more than $ 27 million in expected ticket revenue to the orchestra, has passed.
“Nothing is more important than our musicians,” Deborah Borda, President and Chief Executive Officer of Philharmonic, said in an interview. “It was a very important act.”
Bolda said government grants and loans, increased donations, and more than expected ticket sales during the 2021-22 season made the decision possible. The orchestra is on track to finish the season without missing a performance, and has just finished a series of concerts in Europe when many ensembles were unable to attend the tour.
“We are now at another stage in our lives,” she said.
Philharmonic is at a crucial moment. The $ 550 million refurbishment of its home, David Geffen Hall, is expected to be completed in the fall. And the orchestra is looking for a music director to replace former leader Jaap van Zweden, who resigned in 2024.
Wage cuts were a headache among players while Philharmonic was preparing for a new chapter.
In December 2020, the Philharmonic Orchestra and its musicians signed a four-year contract, including a 25% reduction in base salary until August 2023. In the September 2024 contract, musicians would have paid less at the end than before the pandemic.
However, the financial outlook for Philharmonic has brightened as the number of cases of coronavirus decreased last year and the audience returned. Ticket sales for the 2021-22 season exceeded expectations. The orchestra was performed in a small hall refurbished by Geffen, but 90% of the participants attended the subscription concert. Donations were strong, rising 11% to $ 31.5 million in 2020, when data is available. The Philharmonic Orchestra has also received more than $ 16 million in grants and loans from the federal government.
In October, the Philharmonic Orchestra began paying musicians to offset the reduction. However, it wasn’t until Monday that the orchestra vowed to fully recover the musician’s payments for the rest of the contract.
Trombonist Colin Williams, head of the player’s negotiation committee, said the decision would help reassure musicians who have been working on pandemic uncertainty.
“We are once again more confident in our institution — our location and the location of the city,” he said in an interview. “We somehow got over this incredibly traumatic time and now it’s stronger and more cohesive than before.”
Bolda said Philharmonic is still facing financial risks, including the possibility of the emergence of new variants of the coronavirus. The orchestra calls it “a state of liquidity cessation,” but it is important to continue to focus on the future, including the opening of the Geffen Hall, which she described as “the light at the end of the tunnel.” Stated.
“We improvise and move forward,” she said. “We are spending money on the fact that we are moving forward.”
