AZOOMA has a strong and vested interest in Arizona Opera and its future. Our talented and highly-skilled orchestra is an essential contribution to the high-quality productions of Arizona Opera. We are stakeholders invested in performing some of the greatest music ever written.
AZOOMA is working very hard with Opera management to gain long-term commitments and satisfactory employment terms. We are also exploring creative ways to support the Opera.
Through collective bargaining, Arizona Opera and AZOOMA are currently negotiating a master contract (a Collective Bargaining Agreement) that is the foundation for our working relationship.
Among the issues being negotiated are the "services."
The current wages for the Arizona Opera Orchestra fall below the national average. Other opera orchestras pay musicians much higher wages compared to their respective cities’ cost of living indexes for a comparable 3-hour service.
Recent advertisements in the trade newspaper The International Musician illustrate this point. An Arizona Opera advertisement on page 34 announcing orchestra vacancies lists our per-service rate as $98.95.
In the same paper, on page 30, an audition announcement for the Michigan Opera Theatre (MOT) lists the rates as: $137. 18 for a rehearsal, $148.60 for a dress rehearsal and $182.32 for a performance. (This is actually a higher amount than listed in the table above.)
MOT is a company of comparable size and in a city of comparable size (Detroit). Their musicians earn substantially more than an Arizona Opera Orchestra musician.
Another point in our wage negotiations is the number of services and musicians used for each production. Within the past few years, Arizona Opera has cut performances from the Tucson cycle. Some music scores which list a reduced orchestration as a cost-cutting option are being chosen by the Opera to engage fewer musicians to perform.
In 2007 performances of Carlisle Floyd's Susannah for example, this "reduced" option cut the normal orchestra size from about 50 to about 35. Two horns instead of four, no tuba, and two trumpets instead of three as examples.
Over the past fews years, productions like The Three Penny Opera, Sweeney Todd, Handel's Semele, and aria concerts were produced with a smaller number of musicians and/or fewer rehearsals.
While our average service rate has gradually increased over the past few years, our average service count has decreased. While our current wages are frozen under the current "talk and play" situation, and both services and musicians are being cut from Opera productions, these issues (among others) remain on the discussion table.
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