Musicians in the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra have agreed to a two-year contract extension that — unlike other orchestra agreements inked during the pandemic — does not include a pay cut.
The pact, announced this week, was passed unanimously by the musicians, the SPCO board and the board of the American Federation of Musicians Local 30-73 some 15 months before the current contract was set to expire. It will maintain musicians' pay, benefits and work rules from July 2022 until July 2024.
Reaching an agreement so far ahead of a contract's end is "extraordinary," said Jon Limbacher, the SPCO's managing director and president.
"It's a function of us looking forward and anticipating that there are going to be some really hard recovery years," he said. "We went to the orchestra and said ... an extension would be a helpful and critical piece to the recovery plan.
"The orchestra responded immediately and decisively."
Some orchestras across the country have responded to the pandemic — which has wiped months of in-person concerts from their calendars — with furloughs and other compensation cuts.
In September, the Minnesota Orchestra announced that its musicians agreed to a two-year contract extension and a 25% pay cut. The nonprofit later posted a $11.7 million deficit for fiscal year 2020, the largest in its history.
But the SPCO, a smaller organization, has maintained its 23 musicians' pay. In December, the chamber orchestra announced that it had recorded a surplus of $74,000 on operating expenses of $9.7 million for fiscal year 2020, which ended June 30, months into the pandemic.
