Houston Symphony Musicians Get a Raise, New Contract
Mark Yost, writing for Houston Business Journal:
So where does that rank in terms of big-city orchestras? “We’re the 14th highest-paid orchestra,” said Mark Hanson, executive director and CEO of the orchestra in America’s fourth-largest city. “That’s an improvement from No. 16 several years ago.”
Hanson said that in terms both artistic and monetary, the top U.S. orchestras are “the big five:" The Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, and the Philadelphia Orchestra.
“They are in a class by themselves,” Hanson said.
Indeed, the Chicago Symphony ratified a new contract in 2012 that will pay every musician no less than about $148,000.
But not every orchestra musician is seeing their pay go up. The Minnesota Orchestra, comparable to Houston, recently ratified a three-year deal that cuts salaries and benefits by about 15 percent. As such, the average salary for a flutist on the frozen tundra will drop to $118,000 from $135,000, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported.