oboeinsight

I don’t write about politics on oboeinsight, and I will continue with that policy. It’s just not somewhere I want to go here. But this is a cool thing the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra is doing:

Furloughed federal workers, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra feels your pain and wants to put the power of music to work in assuaging it. Accordingly, the SLSO is offering free tickets to this week’s performances (Saturday night at 8, Sunday afternoon at 3) to the furloughed federal folks in the St. Louis community.

RTWT

Now let me tell you why, even if Ivan Hewett is right, he is wrong.

A quote from Hewett: “none of the commentary in the US points to a single overwhelming fact that to an outsider appears blinding obvious: the top tier of American orchestras overpays its players.”

It does not matter if it’s true. It just doesn’t. We’ve created a culture in America where musicians have the potential to be rewarded well for their tens of thousands of hours in a practice room. And at that, it’s a small, hand-picked number of musicians who are rewarded as such, in a small number of orchestras in the country.

These players are the best of the best. And all most of us want is to be paid, or compensated, for our skills and talents. Yet we never miss a chance to freak out whenever someone gets paid a lot of money.

There are plenty of job fields where people are rewarded more for less. Executives and managers all around the world are grossly overpaid, probably in your own place of work. And what, exactly, does the public receive from their over-compensation? Not much. Yet, when I hear the Minnesota Orchestra, I’m treated to aural magic.

I used to be, anyway.

RTWT