Institution, CSO Musicians Reach New Contract Agreement

Chautauqua Institution today announced that it has reached an agreement with the musicians of its resident Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra on modifications to and an extension of the musicians’ collective bargaining agreement. The Institution and CSO concurrently announced the ensemble’s 2022 season, which marks a return to a typical Chautauqua Amphitheater performance schedule under the baton of Music Director Rossen Milanov.

The memorandum of understanding extends the musicians’ contract for four years, through the 2025 season, and returns the CSO to its regular schedule of 20 to 24 concerts annually during an eight-week summer season. With musicians’ per-service compensation increases of 3.2% each year, the Institution commits to an investment of approximately $9 million in direct CSO expenses over the life of the contract. In addition to this direct budget, the Institution has committed to additional and continued infrastructure support for the CSO, including production and key positions such as CSO Managing Director Kimberly Schuette and Vice President of Performing and Visual Arts Laura Savia.

“This agreement ensures that the CSO continues to be a vibrant part of artistic life at Chautauqua through and beyond our community’s sesquicentennial celebration in 2024, and we’re elated that our patrons in 2022 will see a triumphant return to full-scale symphonic music in the Amphitheater. The Institution is making a sizeable investment in our symphony, demonstrating our resolute commitment to classical music,” said Michael E. Hill, president of Chautauqua Institution. “I am grateful to the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra musicians for their partnership in reaching a new agreement, and especially in a way that elevates our organization-wide inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility (IDEA) work.”

The updated CBA includes revisions to further advance equitable and fair auditions, with procedures developed in conjunction with CSO musicians in response to new guidelines published by the Sphinx Organization, a social-justice nonprofit that advocates for the power of diversity in the arts. The CBA also permits a short-term expansion of the CSO’s Diversity Fellows program to fill vacancies in a way that works toward the larger goal of having CSO personnel reflect a more diverse representation of musicians. These initiatives are aligned with IDEA imperatives articulated in the Institution’s overall 2019–28 strategic plan, 150 Forward.

“I am incredibly proud of the deep work that musicians and administrators collaborated on last summer as we gathered to consider how we would respond to the new guidelines from the Sphinx Organization. These conversations were part of our shared goal to make our audition process more equitable,” said Deborah Sunya Moore, Institution senior vice president and chief program officer. “I’m grateful to our visionary musicians for recognizing the long-term importance and opportunity represented in these new and improved practices. We are excited for the CSO to model how a professional orchestra can build upon a long history of performance excellence by expanding opportunity and equity.”

The changes to the audition process will have an immediate effect. Like most orchestras, the CSO has seen an increase in retirements during the past two pandemic years, with 16 positions currently open across its ranks. Auditions to fill several of the openings are scheduled for the upcoming summer.

“This is the right time to encourage both long- and short-term strategies that will diversify our orchestra for the future, ensuring that the CSO remains a critical part of Chautauqua’s strategic plan and the international effort for this field to more widely represent the people we hope to engage with,” Milanov said. “I am grateful for the music made by our retiring members and excited for the future of this fine orchestra!” 

CSO member Leslie Linn, trumpet, served as chair of the musicians’ negotiations committee.  

“We are excited to have a solid four-year commitment to keep the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra on the Amphitheater stage and performing for our Chautauqua family,” Linn said. “The orchestra members are among the most welcoming musicians in the industry and are pleased that our audition language will reflect our continued commitment to fairness.”

2022 Season

The CSO will offer 24 performances in 2022, with concerts in Weeks One through Nine of the Chautauqua Summer Assembly. Members will also offer support for Chautauqua Opera Company productions. It will be the first summer since 2019 that a full-size Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra will play a full complement of summer concerts, including the return of a number of popular concert soloists, including violinist Ray Chen, cellist Pablo Ferrández, pianists Sara Davis Buechner, Christopher Taylor and Alexander Gavrylyuk, mezzo-soprano Susan Graham, and popular classical and folk recording artist Rhiannon Giddens.

The 2022 season will also feature the first-ever performance by the orchestra not to take place on the Institution grounds, as the ensemble will perform a special concert on Aug. 12 at the Reg Lenna Center for the Arts in nearby Jamestown. Originally planned for 2020, the initiative is made possible by the Fund for Downtown Programming awarded through the Jamestown Local Development Corporation and made possible by the Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI). The concert, titled “Aretha: A Tribute,” under the baton of Principal Pops Conductor Stuart Chafetz, will feature all-star singer and Broadway favorite Capathia Jenkins and bass Darryl Williams. The program includes iconic Aretha hits such as “Respect,” “Think,” “A Natural Woman,” “Chain of Fools,” “Amazing Grace,” and many more.

The Jamestown performance represents a first-time undertaking for the 93-year-old orchestra, following the Institution’s vision to expand its impact by taking Chautauqua’s celebrated mission and programs beyond the grounds. Tickets to this special performance are available beginning in May and can be purchased online (reglenna.com), by phone (716-484-7070) or in person at the Reg Lenna Center for the Arts Box Office located at 116 East 3rd Street, Jamestown, NY.

Tickets for all Chautauqua Amphitheater performances are available by phone at 716-357-6250. Current walk-up and phone hours for the Chautauqua Ticket Office, located in the Dr. Robert R. Hesse Welcome and Business Center, are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday–Friday (closed weekends and holidays). Online sales at tickets.chq.org begin May 3.