The entire percussion section of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) has decided to depart. Principal percussionist Jacob Nissly has accepted the principal post with the Cleveland Orchestra. Principal timpanist Brian Jones has joined the Dallas Symphony. Assistant principal percussionist Ian Ding has moved to Minneapolis to pursue a freelance career. Finally, the assistant principal timpani and percussion position has remained vacant since 2009 when Daniel Bauch moved to the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
"Detroit has been my home - and the DSO my musical family - for the past eight years. It's been a real honor and joy to make music here with such amazing and inspiring colleagues. I owe them and this city everything, and I am truly sad to leave. I was positively thrilled to be able to make music with so many talented and passionate people during my time in Detroit. It pains me to see what is happening to the orchestra now. Both the musicians and audiences deserve far better. (...) It’s not hard to envision a scenario in which all four of us would have stayed. Had we been playing on great instruments, had we been playing more contemporary repertoire, had we been recording and touring more, had there been more stability in the work environment, less acrimony with management."
The DSO has gone from having one of the longest intact serving percussion sections in orchestra history (40 plus years) to one of the shortest, in one fell swoop. Loaded with young talent, the percussion section was considered a major strength of the symphony orchestra. Now DSO's percussion section will have to be rebuilt entirely from scratch. Musicians' spokesman Haden McKay says:
"This is a painful thing to talk about. But if the board has no commitment to this orchestra, people have to know the result is going to be that the fine players who have come to the DSO over many decades are going to leave. Many other DSO musicians are actively auditioning for other jobs at the moment."
The DSO musicians have been on strike since october 2010. As the labor dispute continued, accusatory language has been exchanged between the two sides. The parties remain deeply divided over pay cuts and work rules.
Due to the recent rejection of its final offer by the musicians, the DSO has reluctantly released artists and conductors from their contracts and suspended all remaining orchestral concerts through June. James B. Nicholson, past DSO Chairman and Chair of the Negotiating Committee, remarked:
"It’s unfortunate the Union bargaining committee is depriving its members of the careers their professional skills have earned. The DSO Executive Committee has repeatedly studied the short- and long-term finances of the DSO and has concluded that even at a $34 million agreement, the DSO will continue to run multi-million dollar deficits over future years. These deficits must be eliminated over time, and operations managed to breakeven results if the institution is to survive. The strike has decidedly prolonged the timeframe in which this turnaround can take place. An irresponsible contract is simply not in the cards."
The Negotiating Committee said that of "several dozen" issues which remain unresolved, the number of musicians in the ensemble and the approach to spending the $2 million in education, community, and chamber music services emerged as unfortunate contentious issues.
