San Francisco Symphony Requiem

The San Francisco scheduled Verdi's massive Requiem, conducted by departing Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen, for the opening of its 2024-25 season. Concurrently, management had been negotiating for months with the AGMA (American Guild of Musical Artists) union over its demeaning and insulting initial proposal to cut the Chorus budget by 80%.

The result was a management decision to cancel the three Requiem performances altogether, even though the orchestra, vocal soloists, and the chorus had rehearsed with Salonen all week.

On Saturday, which was to have been the final performance, the chorus and its supporters sang, chanted, and walked with signage in front of Davies Hall.

Starting the season with a chorus-heavy work seemed somewhat grotesque after the belligerent manner in which symphony management has been treating the vocal ensemble and its union.

It felt rather like those awful scenes in films where somebody is forced to dig their own grave before being murdered.

There has been some great writing about the self-inflicted mess the Board of Directors under President Priscilla Geeslin has created. Emily Hogstad at the Song of the Lark blog (click here) writes after seeing an ABC-TV interview with Geeslin and CEO Matthew Spivey: "A few things jumped out that I wanted to point out, because it feels like things are really starting to accelerate here. Without a change in course, it’s pretty clear that the S.S. SFS is headed straight toward an iceberg. When it comes to the SFS meltdown, the media seems to smell metaphorical blood in the bay. I continue to be struck by the fact that the current leadership of the San Francisco Symphony really has no defenders in any press: local, national, or international."

Janos Gereben has a detailed, well-researched look at San Francisco Classical Voice (click here). He quotes AGMA President Ned Hanlon: “Nothing has significantly changed in the Symphony’s financial position from previous years besides the attitude of management toward its core artistic labor. I cannot recall the last time AGMA went on strike, but management has repeatedly failed to show how targeting the Symphony’s internationally acclaimed Choristers will solve their alleged financial issues. We urge management to immediately return to the bargaining table and work toward a real solution that honors the work of these dedicated artists and gets everyone back to creating beautiful music.”

It was bad enough that the Board of Directors so alienated their superstar Music Director, Esa-Pekka Salonen, that he refused to extend his contract beyond this year, but how does the organization expect to attract world-class musicians with their ugly disregard for their own artists?

To add ironic insult to injury, social media has been plastered for the last week with the ad above extolling the glories of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus.

Management seems to have forgotten that the reason anybody goes through the Davies Hall doors in the first place is because of the musicians.

A new contract for the orchestra is due by November of this year, and management seems to be more concerned with a cosmetic updating of Davies Hall that will cost tens of millions of dollars rather than keeping their artists content. As chorister Chung-Wai Soong explained to a well-wisher on the picket line: "The chorus is just the canary in the coal mine here."