St. Paul Chamber Orchestra musicians announced Monday a vote of no confidence in Jon Limbacher, the orchestra’s managing director and president, warning that “the community is at risk of losing the SPCO.”
The 28 members of the musicians union at the Chamber Orchestra voted unanimously against Limbacher last week after learning that violinist Kyu-Young Kim was stepping down from his position June 30 as artistic director, citing “recent organizational decisions and shifts in priorities.”
The union is negotiating its contract, which expires this summer.
Musicians said that Limbacher has been cutting concerts and venues without consulting musicians. While they’re working to negotiate better salaries, their concerns are largely artistic, said Daria T. Adams, a violinist with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra since 1987.
They’d been discussing a vote of no confidence since last fall, Adams said. “Kyu was the final straw.”
Adams said that while Kim was on sabbatical last summer, Limbacher proposed slicing the weeks of concerts a season from the typical 35 to 19. (In the end, the season landed at 28 weeks.) Under that proposal, musicians’ pay wouldn’t have been affected, Adams said. A laborer would be pleased: fewer hours for equal pay, she said.
“But there wasn’t a single person in the orchestra that was not completely appalled at the idea. Artists need to perform.”
In a statement Monday, Deborah Palmer, the SPCO’s board chair, said that the board “unequivocally supports Jon Limbacher as he leads the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra into the future.