UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Santa Barbara Breakdown on the Freeway Philharmonic: Understanding the Causes and EFFects oF Regional Orchestra Bankruptcies in the San Francisco Bay Area A dissertation submitted in partial satisFaction oF the requirements for the degree Doctor oF Philosophy in Music by Alicia Garden Mastromonaco Committee in charge: ProFessor Derek Katz, Chair ProFessor SteFanie Tcharos ProFessor Martha Sprigge December 2020 The dissertation oF Alicia Garden Mastromonaco is approved. _____________________________________________ Martha Sprigge _____________________________________________ SteFanie Tcharos _____________________________________________ Derek Katz, Committee Chair December 2020 Breakdown on the Freeway Philharmonic: Understanding the Causes and EFFects oF Regional Orchestra Bankruptcies in the San Francisco Bay Area Copyright © 2020 by Alicia Garden Mastromonaco iii DEDICATION I dedicate this dissertation to my Friends and colleagues in the Bay Area orchestral world, the Freeway Philharmonic musicians. I hope that this project might help us keep our beloved musical spaces for a long time to come. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I must first acknowledge my advisor Derek, without whose mentorship this project likely would not have existed. He encouraged me to write about small regional orchestras in the Bay Area and saw the kernel oF what this project would become even beFore I did. His consistent support and endless knowledge on closely related topics shaped nearly every page oF this dissertation. I am also grateFul to SteFanie Tcharos and Martha Sprigge, who have inspired me in their rigorous approach in writing, and who have shaped this dissertation in many ways. This project was borne out oF my own experiences as a musician in the Bay Area orchestral world over the last fourteen years. I am grateFul to my many colleagues and friends who have shown interest and excitement about this project and inspired it in the first place. I am particularly indebted to Darby Hinshaw, who gave me my first gig when I was still an undergraduate, and who has remained a steadfast friend for almost two decades. I am also grateFul to Alex Camphouse, who has helped me work through many oF my ideas in phone conversations, oFten on our long drives to various gigs throughout the state. Meredith Brown and Cory TifFin have provided a wonderFul sounding board to discuss the state oF the (musicians’) union and have been an important support system during the pandemic. I am also grateFul to my many other colleagues and friends who have had conversations with me about the orchestra industry, have challenged me when necessary, and inspired me constantly, both musically and intellectually. I am writing this work for each oF my friends and colleagues in the Freeway Philharmonic. I owe an enormous debt oF gratitude to two colleagues who not only spoke candidly with me about their experiences going through the Oakland and San José bankruptcies, but also shared with me their robust collections oF archival material from the period. Thank you, Debbie Spangler and Mimi Carlson. During most oF 2020, when we have all lived in isolation, I am thankFul to two writing groups for providing me with the structure and community that I so desperately craved. I am grateFul to the Mötley Zööm, a group oF academics from a wide range oF disciplines who got together every day to write together (over Zoom). I am also grateFul to my morning group oF my peers Liza Munk, Sunaina Kale, and Marc Bolin, who have been a crucial support system, and make for great company over video (and in person). Finally, I want to thank my family. I am grateFul for the support oF my parents, for encouraging me to pursue a path in music, and for my siblings, particularly my sister Amy, who is a tireless cheerleader for her highly self-critical older sister. I am also grateFul to my grandparents, particularly my grandmother Nancy, who was my very first (and continual) musical inspiration. I love you all. And to Braad: thank you for workshopping this project with me during our neighborhood walks, for loving me, and for being my most ardent supporter when I most needed it. This project would not have been completed without you. v VITA OF ALICIA GARDEN MASTROMONACO December 2020 EDUCATION Bachelor oF Music in Horn PerFormance, Boston University, May 2008 Bachelor oF Music in Music History, Boston University, May 2008 Graduate Study in Horn PerFormance, Universität der Künste, Berlin, 2009-2010 Master oF Music in Horn PerFormance, University oF California Los Angeles, June 2012 Master oF Arts in Musicology, University oF California, Santa Barbara, June 2017 Doctor oF Philosophy in Music, University oF California, Santa Barbara, December 2020 (expected) PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYMENT UNIVERSITY TEACHING 2011-2012: Teaching Assistant, University oF California, Los Angeles 2014-2018: Teaching Assistant, University oF California, Santa Barbara 2017-2018: Teaching Associate, University oF California, Santa Barbara ORCHESTRAL PERFORMANCE Permanent Orchestra Positions 2012-Present: Carmel Bach Festival, Modern and Historic Horns 2015-Present: Marin Symphony, 4th Horn 2016-Present: California Symphony, acting 4th Horn 2017-Present: Monterey Symphony, Assistant Principal/Utility Horn Selected Substitute Musician Roles 2007-Present: Santa Rosa Symphony 2007-Present: Monterey Symphony 2010-Present: Fresno Philharmonic 2012-Present: San Diego Symphony 2015-Present: California Symphony 2015-Present: Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera 2015-Present: Symphony Silicon Valley 2016-Present: Modesto Symphony 2016-2018: Pacific Symphony 2017-Present: Oakland Symphony 2017-Present: Berkeley Symphony 2018-Present: Opera San José 2019-Present: San Francisco Symphony PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT AND SERVICE 2019-Present: Pre-Concert Lecturer, Monterey Symphony 2018-Present: Education Coordinator, Monterey Symphony 2018-Present: Program Note Annotator, Monterey Symphony vi AMERICAN FEDERATION OF MUSICIANS Member oF AFM Local 6, past member oF Local 7, Local 325 2017-Present, Orchestra Committee Member, Marin Symphony 2017-Present, Regional Orchestra Players Association Delegate, Marin Symphony 2018-Present, Union Steward, Carmel Bach Festival PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS 2008-Present, International Horn Society 2010-Present, American Federation oF Musicians 2014-2018, UAW 2865, University oF California Student Worker Union 2014-Present, American Musicological Society 2020, Union oF Musicians and Allied Workers (UMAW) FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Musicology vii ABSTRACT Breakdown on the Freeway Philharmonic: Understanding the Causes and EFFects oF Regional Orchestra Bankruptcies in the San Francisco Bay Area by Alicia Garden Mastromonaco This dissertation traces the history oF two regional orchestras in the San Francisco Bay Area, the Oakland and San José Symphonies, from their inceptions through their Chapter 7 Bankruptcy filings in 1986 and 2002, respectively. I pay special attention to the decades preceding the orchestras’ bankruptcy filings in order to understand the socio-economic shifts that exacerbated the orchestras’ financial problems. The 1960s and 1970s were a time oF expansion for many symphony orchestras across the United States. This was due in part to philanthropic organizations such as the Ford Foundation, and government agencies such as the National Endowment for the Arts, which augmented orchestras’ budgets and endowments. A rapidly-expanding cohort oF college music graduates arrived into the workForce, looking for a proFessional orchestra to play in. Orchestras were in their heyday, and their budgets reFlected their optimism for the future. However, this led some orchestras to expand beyond their means. In the final quarter oF the twentieth century, some orchestras were able to grow into the large nonproFit institutions they are today, while others were forced to file for bankruptcy by the end oF the century, when philanthropic eFForts changed, neoliberal ideologies became naturalized economic expectations, and orchestra managements found themselves unable to meet their budget requirements and sank further and further into debt. For every major symphony orchestra in the United States there are multiple proFessional regional orchestras, with smaller budgets, Fewer perFormances, and an inability to pay their musicians a living wage. Nonetheless, by piecing together multiple orchestra jobs, teaching, and viii other work, musicians in a few specific regions in the US can earn a nearly-livable wage. The Bay Area has around thirty regional orchestras with collective bargaining agreements on file with the Local 6 branch oF the American Federation oF Musicians, which makes it a unique place for Freelance orchestra musicians to earn a living by cobbling together jobs in the Bay Area and surrounding regions. The same musicians oFten drive thousands oF miles a month to get to their gigs, garnering the freelance gig economy the nickname, “Freeway Philharmonic.” This project is rooted in multiple disciplines. As well as musicological scholarship, I draw From archival resources, journalism from the time period, anthropology, sociology, economics, communications, philanthropic studies, and draw from the research oF the foundations who granted millions oF dollars to the Oakland and San José Symphonies. By using the bankruptcies oF these two orchestras as case studies, I uncover the many missteps the orchestras made, and suggest possible alternate suggestion For the future. In a time oF overwhelming uncertainty in the music world as