Philadelphia Orchestra will play their first performance since the musicians’ contract expired

The Philadelphia Orchestra’s musicians boarded buses bound for a scheduled North Carolina performance tour “under protest” on Tuesday, despite what their Local 77 leaders called stalled contract talks on Monday, according to a union statement.

The orchestra’s planned performances at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on Wednesday and Thursday are the musicians’ first since their contract expired on September 10. They had already taken a strike authorization vote last month.

In their statement, the orchestra members of the Philadelphia Musicians Union said they had given Philadelphia Orchestra - Kimmel Center Inc. management their assurance they would not strike this week’s tour “out of respect for the orchestra’s hosts in North Carolina.”

However, before they got on the buses for the tour that will kick off Carolina Performing Arts’ new season, the union accused their bosses with not bargaining in good faith on the demand for increased pay for full time and substitute musicians, better retirement benefits, and other workplace issues.

They also took a jab at POKC CEO Matias Tarnopolsky, claiming his pay went up by 111% from 2019 to 2022, at the same time they said the musicians took $4.6 million in pay cuts to help the ensemble.

“This contract is about prioritizing the essential musical talent that makes Philadelphia’s orchestra the best in the world,” said Local 77 president Ellen Trainer on Tuesday. “The CEO’s 111% pay bump proves that the money is there to pay Philadelphia’s world-class musicians fairly. Now it’s a question of priorities.”

POKC spokesperson Ashley Berke said orchestra management’s offer of a 13.5% pay increase plus a $10,000 signing bonus, along with other benefits was “a strong offer” in “one of the most affordable big cities in the nation,’ and they are disappointed the musicians rejected it.

“We deeply value the musicians of the Philadelphia Orchestra and remain eager to bring this process to a positive resolution that improves the livelihoods of the musicians of the Philadelphia Orchestra within the economic realities of our organization,” Berke said Tuesday night.

She also said Tarnopolsky took a 30% pay cut during the pandemic years that the musicians took their pay cuts.

In 2021, when he become president and CEO of the newly formed POKC, she said the scope of his job increased, and the partnership “streamlined the size of the executive team while compensating Matias appropriately and accordingly in his new role.”