A Saga in Chicago, 1976
To Play or Not to Play
by Ed Yadzinski, BPO Archivist
“The Play’s the Thing” wrote William Shakespeare in his epic theater piece, Hamlet, in 1600 – a metaphor to reveal a truth. Indeed “To Play or Not to Play” became the truth-tale for the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra in Chicago in September of 1976.
Since the 1940s the BPO has performed hundreds of tour concerts across the USA, Canada and Europe, conducted by the Orchestra’s music directors and celebrated maestros like Aaron Copland and Arthur Fiedler. Among those many tour concerts were festival appearances, community celebrations and gala fundraisers, including a stellar night in Chicago in the early autumn of 1976 with Michael Tilson Thomas on the podium. The concert became a saga in the history of the BPO. The story in sum:
For major orchestras in the United States, in particular during the 1960s and 70s, limited financial support led to player strikes in several cities across the country. In 1976, union negotiations with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra Society for a new contract with the musicians finally broke down during the late summer with an agreement to “talk and play.” The temporary accord enabled the 1976-77 season to begin in September with a tour of 17 performances in 16 cities, including a concert at Orchestra Hall in Chicago. Largely because the BPO players believed it was the only way to exert pressure for a fair contract with the Board, a strike target was set for the Chicago concert, given it was the best-known venue on the tour and would attract the most attention. Moreover, in part because Michael Tilson Thomas was a rising star in the concert world, the players believed the Chicago strike would attract nationwide attention to the need for a major increase in government support of the arts. Indeed, the dedicated BPO musicians truly believed the threatened strike would rally the BPO Board to pursue the needed funding. At the same time, the dedicated Board of Directors was committed to contractual gains for the musicians, provided the BPO did not add to the orchestra’s long-standing operating deficit. Doubtless, the resolute pressures on both sides were acute.
Late in the afternoon of Friday, September 17, the BPO Board of Directors presented a ‘final’ offer that was far short of the players’ goal. In turn the musicians union and the players’ negotiating committee called an emergency meeting in the ballroom of Chicago’s Palmer House Hotel late that evening. By a substantial majority the musicians voted to strike just after 11:30 pm, which meant the rehearsal scheduled for the next morning (Saturday) at Orchestra Hall and the concert that evening would be cancelled, in addition to the 12 remaining concerts on the tour. Likewise the opening of the 1976-77 season in Buffalo on October 17 was in jeopardy. To be sure, it was a major crisis in all quarters.
At the time, yours truly served as the press spokesman for the players, which meant that I provided status reports to the Buffalo news media about the course of the negotiations as they evolved along the way. Given the late hour, I had to wait until Saturday morning to report the breakdown in the negotiations.
As the players returned to their hotel rooms, I had a brief chat with our principal oboist, Rodney Pierce, who had headed the orchestra committee during financial crises in the past. Always circumspect about such matters, Rod asked “Ed, does anybody know if there is a sponsor behind tomorrow night’s concert in Orchestra Hall?” I had no idea, in that the question was never raised by anyone.
It seemed to me that if there were something special about the concert the BPO Board certainly would have been alerted by CAMI (Columbia Artists Management Inc.) in New York City, who had scheduled the tour. So I thought it would not be an issue and returned to the hotel room and began my usual night-bird reading.
For some reason, Rodney’s remark lingered in the air, so I decided to take a quick stroll to Orchestra Hall which was about a half block from the Palmer House. Upon arriving – POOF..!! – the big events poster on display in front of Orchestra Hall was alarming: the concert we had just voted to strike was a benefit gala event for the Illinois Masonic Medical Center, sponsored by the Symphony Benefit Committee. Good grief.
It was an awful feeling that we had unknowingly targeted an important public service event that had to be year or more in planning. Chicago of course already enjoyed its own fine orchestra – the Chicago Symphony. But the Symphony Benefit Committee had decided to go with the Buffalo Philharmonic and its wunderkind music director, Michael Tilson Thomas.
Obviously – a colossal mistake was upon us – but what to do..? The strike would take effect in less than 8 hours, beginning at the 10:00 am dress rehearsal for the scheduled concert that night. I knew only that the vote to strike must somehow be rescinded, so I scampered back to the hotel to get on the phones at once. It was now 2:45 or so. I got the BPO’s room list from the front desk and immediately began calling everyone on the players’ committee to deliver the news and plead for help to call all the musicians to alert them to show up an hour before the scheduled rehearsal because a new strike vote was needed. There were about 90 players on the tour and every player was notified in time to attend the 9:00 am meeting on the stage of Orchestra Hall.
The urgent wakeup calls between 5:00 and 6:00 am became ‘shake-up’ calls among the bleary-eyed players, as everyone speculated about what was happening. The ad hoc phone committee agreed to tell the players simply to show up an hour early to meet and be ready to play. Most everyone presumed that the Board had proffered a midnight proposal that was enough to reconsider the imminent strike. One can imagine the furor when the truth was told at 9:00 am. The truth teller had to be yours truly. I made a very brief statement of facts after which the committee chair, violinist Marylouise Nanna, ran the meeting.
The mood among the players was apprehensive to say the least. While I did not detect bitterness, there were many players who were disappointed that progress had not been made, given the BPO player contracts had not kept pace with the contractual advancements in other orchestras across the nation. Moreover, there were some who felt betrayed just at the moment the players had got up the courage to take a strong stand with an eye on a long and hopeful future. In any case, when it was understood that the Chicago concert supported a humanitarian effort for public health, after a feisty debate the BPO players voted substantially to recant the decision to strike and the rehearsal began about 20 minutes later than scheduled. But as one might expect from a contractual labor dispute, feelings remained high. A small group of union loyalists were quite annoyed with your devoted reporter, and one or two players would not speak to me for months.
As an aside, we later learned that Columbia Artists Management had caught wind of the possible strike and directed that the featured piano soloist, John Browning, would have to play a solo piano recital to fulfill CAMI’s contract with the Illinois Masonic Medical Center. Mr. Browning was altogether nonplussed if not bewildered about the impromptu moment which came without warning. He was scheduled to perform Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.17, but surely not a formal piano recital. Fortunately it all played out as scheduled.
By some stroke of reason (rare in labor disputes) a subsequent vote to strike never happened. While the tour continued, the BPO Board managed to find the resources to make an offer that was acceptable to the players – thus the tour and the 1976-77 concert season were saved in the nick of time by a few extra nickels. We note the benefits of the settlement were clear and tangible. But the negative effects of the strike would have been severe, to say the least.
For one, the Illinois Masonic Medical Center would have lost a chance to publicly thank hundreds of donors in addition to enduring the embarrassment of a failed event. For the gala concert the Medical Center had published an elegant program book with pertinent information (reproduced below) including the extensive lists of donors. The concert book does not include a single commecial advertisement. Beyond the Chicago concert, all of the remaining tour venues would have had to refund thousands of ticket holders. Apart from financial losses, the reputation of the BPO would have been stained for years to come, in addition to the embarrassment of CAMI, which would certainly have held the BPO Board and musicians accountable, and would have likely withheld or reduced their BPO services for the immediate future, if not for years.
In sum, we may be sure the BPO players would NEVER have voted to strike in the first place if the details about the sponsorship by the Illinois Masonic Medical Center were made known during the negotiations. Ignorance is dangerous. Fortunately the BPO musicians and the Board got it right – albeit at the very last moment. Amen.