Sweet Music

Smooth sailing at Symphony: Musicians agree to new contract with no drama, minimum salary to hit $97,240

The last time the Houston Symphony and its musicians agreed to a new contract in 2010, it happened only days before the previous one was scheduled to run out and Houston Symphony executive director/CEO Mark Hanson admitted negotiations were contentious at times.

What a difference four years make.

With a more robust financial situation and a sexy new conductor on the way, the Houston Symphony Society announced Thursday afternoon that a new four-year labor agreement had been reached with musicians significantly ahead of schedule. The existing contract is set to expire Oct. 4.

The minimum musician salary will rise from the current level of $86,840 to $97,240 during the 2017-18 season.

Under the terms of the new contract, which was negotiated over a three-month period, the minimum musician salary will rise from the current level of $86,840 to $97,240 during the 2017-18 season, an average of a 2.85 percent increase annually. The musicians' weekly scale will increase from the current level of $1,690 per week to $1,870 per week in 2017 through the end of the new contract.

The new agreement will run from Oct. 5, 2014 through Oct. 5, 2018.

In a press release symphony officials noted that the organization is on budget for a fourth consecutive year, thanks to record setting ticket sales and contributions. The current fiscal year ends on May 31.

“The new agreement represents a further strengthening of the partnership between musicians, staff, and the board as we continue to enhance the performance and profile of our great orchestra,” Hanson said in a statement. “The terms will enable us to grow artistically, expand our engagement with Houston’s growing and diverse population and maintain a sustainable balanced budget.”

The symphony is currently closing out its centennial season and will welcome its first Hispanic music director, the dashing Andrés Orozco-Estrada, to launch the 2014-15 season in September. As music director-designate Orozco-Estrada will conduct the symphony Thursday night (April 17) through Saturday as pianist Yefim Bronfman performs Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4.

symphony

Arts News

Houston arts organization spins up a new record label for creative works

Two CD copies of Tyshawn Sorey's Monochromatic Light (Afterlife)

Photo courtesy of DACAMERA Editions

DACAMERA's unique musical contribution to Houston now comes in LP form.

For more than three decades, Houston arts and music non-profit DaCamera has brought innovative and unique jazz and chamber music performances to the city. Now, they are launching their own record label called DaCamera Editions, starting with TyShawn Sorey's Monochromatic Light (Afterlife) releasing on January 30.

Since 1987, DaCamera has been a nationally-celebrated curator, commissioner, and presenter of modern works that often fly under the mainstream radar. With the establishment of an in-house record label, the music they are known for becomes more widely available to audiences.

"Following the thrilling experience of commissioning, performing, and recording Monochromatic Light (Afterlife), we saw an opportunity to launch our own label," DaCamera artistic director Sarah Rothenberg said in a statement. "DaCamera Editions will enable us to share our distinctive, curated mix of new music, classical repertoire, and jazz in a way that emphasizes connections to art, literature and the world in which we live, all under the DaCamera umbrella."

Monochromatic Light (Afterlife) is the perfect album to herald a new Houston record label. The meditative piece was a joint commission from DaCamera and the Rothko Chapel to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the renowned Houston landmark. Featuring soloists Davóne Tines (bass-baritone), Kim Kashkashian (viola), Sarah Rothenberg (piano/celesta), Steven Schick (percussion), and the Houston Chamber Choir, the 75-minute work was a critical hit when it premiered in 2022. It built on a previous work, Morton Feldman's Rothko Chapel, which debuted at the site in 1972. Sorey composed a bass-baritone part for Tines and expanded the keyboard role by adding piano. As part of the performance, Tines sings lines from the spiritual "I Feel Like a Motherless Child."

Both The New York Times and The New Yorker named the premiere of Monochromatic Light (Afterlife) as a top 10 classical performance of 2022. It was also a Finalist for the 2023 Pulitzer Prize in Music.

The album will be released on both CD and digital formats. Pre-orders are available at DaCameraEditions.com.

Future planned releases include Rothenberg's In Darkness and Light (May 2026), a piano album inspired by the anxiety of COVID and featuring Vijay Iyer’s eloquent personal memorial "For My Father;" and Tyshawn Sorey’s solo piano work For Julius Eastman, a tribute to the minimalist composer and activist whose work has undergone a 21st Century renaissance since his death in relative obscurity in 1990.

"DaCamera Editions will enable us to share our distinctive, curated mix of new music, classical repertoire, and jazz in a way that emphasizes connections to art, literature and the world in which we live,” Rothenberg said.

performing-arts dacamera music