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Regional Orchestra ROPA Players’ Association A conference of the American Federation of Musicians, AFL-CIO A Letter from the ROPA President, Carla Lehmeier Dear Friends of ROPA, One of the biggest questions that comes to mind is how can ROPA support the orchestra musicians who have been As we reflect on the past year of asked to once again subsidize their institu‐ the orchestra world we have witnessed tions? I am confident the design of this a wave of contract re‐openers and con‐ year’s conference will provide our partici‐ cessionary contract settlements. One of pants proactive solutions and tools that the biggest challenges orchestral musi‐ will assist them in their struggles to pre‐ cians face today is discerning if the or‐ serve their orchestras’ artistic and institu‐ ganization is truly in jeopardy or if the tional achievements. With this year’s con‐ economic crisis has been used as an ference marking the 25th Anniversary, the opportunity to cut musicians’ salaries. ROPA Leading Tone Editor and ROPA The template solution we have ob‐ Board compiled this commemorative Lead‐ served has been to reduce the 2009‐ ing Tone edition that highlights the differ‐ 2010 season’s concert productions with ent eras of our past. These articles provide very little focus on the revenue that inspiration from the challenges the past will be lost through ticket sales and ROPA leaderships have confronted and a sponsorships. In the past, the lack of message that we can persevere in these focus on the revenue side of the budget challenging times. The solutions offered in has been proven to lead institutions to these articles involve banding together a path of continued downward spiral and combining resources. It is my desire of product. I have yet to hear accounts Tone that ROPA can lead the ROPA delegates in of orchestras who have taken on their increased networking and to develop pro‐ financial challenges by promoting their active answers to our institutions eco‐ institution to the community, assessing nomic challenges. A special thanks to The their marketing outlets and practices, Leading Tone editor, Amy Morris, for her calculating the productivity of the exceptional work on this and previous board and management, or focusing on Leading Tone editions. the true needs of the community. One of the major flaws in the budget reduc‐ Inside this Issue tion decisions is that they are often From the ROPA President 1 void of direction from innovative long‐ Spokane Premieres Daugherty Work 2 range plans. In the past few years we Shreveport: Report to ROPA 3 have discovered that communities re‐ Leading Minnesota Opera Contract Settlement 3 spond to innovation that reflects the needs of the community, yet we find ROPA Retrospective Issue ourselves going back to the old pro‐ President’s Message: Barb Zmich R1 gramming formats we have spent the Baseball Comparison R2 President’s Message: Andrew Brandt R3 last decade doubting. 1986 in Review R4 REGIONAL ORCHESTRA PLAYERS' ASSOCIATION ASSOCIATION PLAYERS' ORCHESTRA REGIONAL The Page 2 THE LEADING TONE The Leading Tone Spokane Symphony Records World Premiere of Volume 25, Issue 4 Letters from Lincoln July 2009 Greg Youmans, Delegate, Spokane Symphony Editor Amy Morris Letters from Lincoln, a 25‐ scarcely a dry eye in the house. [email protected] minute song cycle by Michael Spokane native son Thomas 6620 Newton Avenue S Richfield, MN 55423 Daugherty was premiered by the Spo‐ Hampson was tapped to premier the Letters to the editor can be sent to the kane Symphony Orchestra and bari‐ solo baritone part. He said of the e‐mail or US Postal address above. tone Thomas Hampson on February piece, “I’m pleased Spokane called it 28, 2009, and recorded for release by into being. It’s a thrill to come back Koch Records. home.” R O P A The piece was commissioned Hampson, along with The Leading Tone is the official by the Symphony in celebration of the Daugherty, participated in a master newsletter of the Regional Lincoln Bicentennial. The perform‐ class with Washington State Univer‐ Orchestra Players’ Associa‐ ance capped five weeks of commemo‐ sity, and the University of Montana, tion, a conference of the rative activities in Spokane and was conducted remotely from the Fox American Federation of Musi‐ cians of the United States and the final project of a Mellon Founda‐ Theater via its new Internet II capac‐ Canada, and is published tion grant. ity. This was largely facilitated by quarterly. Unauthorized Re‐ Daugherty, a University of ROPA co‐founder, Treasurer Emeri‐ production of any part of The Michigan professor known for his de‐ tus, and tuba player Leonard Byrne. Leading Tone is strictly prohib‐ ited. pictions of Superman, Liberace, Elvis Music Director Eckart Prev Copyright © 2009 and Michael Jackson, attended the re‐ chose two early works of Anton We‐ All rights Reserved. hearsals, concerts and recording patch bern – Im Sommerwind and Langsamer sessions, which were conducted ac‐ Satz – to be included on the CD. Subscriptions cording to the AFM media agreement. This is the first commercial $8.00 per year payable to He drew inspiration from researching recording of the Spokane Symphony ROPA the writings of Lincoln. Two of the and is due to be released by Koch Re‐ c/o Dennis Danders movements are entitled Letter to Mrs. cords in October. Treasurer, ROPA Bixby and The Gettysburg Address. At 237 N Rutan the concerts, at times, there was Wichita, KS 67208‐3315 [email protected] 2009 ROPA CONFERENCE INFORMATION Location: INFORMATION CENTER Dayton Crowne Plaza • This newsletter is online at: 33 East 5th Street http://www.ropaweb.org • To subscribe to the ROPA Internet Mailing List, Dayton, Ohio visit http://www.ropaweb.org/forms/elist.php. Dates: The list is open to musicians in ROPA member orchestras, and AFM Local officers for those August 3, 2009: 2:00 p.m.–10:00 p.m.: Negotiations Workshop orchestras. August 4‐6, 2009: ROPA Conference Conference Registration: www.ropaweb.org https://resweb.passkey.com/Resweb.do?mode=welcome_gi_new&groupID=157077 A Retrospective of ROPA from articles published in The Leading Tone President’s Message Barb Zmich Reprinted from April 2003 Let me give you a word of the philosophy of reform. The whole his‐ day. And remember Walter Reuther, who led the workers in the tory of the progress of human liberty shows that all concessions yet auto industry to demand the better basic working conditions that made to her august claims have been born of struggle..If there is no have been continuously refined for all of us ever since. struggle there is no progress…Power concedes nothing without a Does all of this great progress mean we have “arrived” demand. It never did and it never will. and don’t need to work at improving things for ourselves and others? Of course not. Just take a step back and look at the world Who wrote that? Some eloquent writer in 2003? It around us. could apply today, couldn’t it? Maybe the last line tipped you Allow me to remind you of another quotation, this one off. You may have recognized it – Frederick Douglass wrote by George Santayana: Those who cannot remember the past are con‐ those lines in 1857. demned to repeat it. Our past history is as much a part of our lives as Mistakes? We make them all the time. Those leaders I what we did just mentioned made them too, sometimes with grave consequences. Did you know? today. If we don’t Mistakes are another way we learn. Let’s narrow the concept and know where we apply this to an organization like ROPA. Who hasn’t wished Nathan Kahn initiated the formation of came from we are they’d presented a negotiating point differently? Our negotiators ROPA. Thanks to Nathan for this ignoring the vast can’t know everything about our orchestras when they represent wonderful legacy! resources of knowl‐ us. What did you learn that you could pass on to other ROPA edge, education orchestras? and information that our ancestors worked so hard to leave as History gives us perspective in a way that no other kind gifts for their descendants. of education can. You and your orchestra committee may know a Struggle. Power. Progress and Reform. What are the lot and you may have very firm ideas about things, but there is no universal lessons we can learn from the words and accounts of substitute for reaching out to ask for the thoughts and experiences our forefathers and foremothers? How can these monumental of other people. You can take those ideas and use them, or you words filter down into everyday practice? may choose to leave them behind, but give yourself the chance to We are all extremely busy. I know a lot of us don’t make informed decisions. Broaden your view – backwards, for‐ have the time to give priority to seemingly arcane subjects like wards, up, down and to all sides. You will be stronger for it. labor history. But this, like any history, is not obscure at all. It’s part of who we are, both as Americans and as members of a segment of the labor community. Sometime when you’re web browsing type in the names of some of the less well‐known people and groups in American his‐ tory, those not talked about much in textbooks, who did so much to lay the groundwork for the decent lives you and I are able to lead today. Think about the great mineworkers’ and railroad workers’ strikes at the turn of the century. Their efforts remind us that not too long ago, before those brave people spoke out, a workweek of six or seven days, 12‐14 hours a day was common.

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