Anticipating a long road to financial recovery, the orchestra has decided on cuts that will gradually lessen.
The New York Philharmonic, battered by a pandemic that will keep its concert hall dark for at least 15 months, announced on Monday that its musicians had agreed to a four-year contract that includes substantial salary cuts. Under the new contract, the musicians will see 25 percent cuts to their base pay through August 2023. Pay will then gradually increase until the contract ends in September 2024, though at that point the players will still be paid less than they were before the coronavirus pandemic struck. In total, the cuts will amount to more than $20 million in musicians’ wages, the chair of the players’ negotiating committee said in a news release. The deal makes it clear that performing arts institutions expect their financial pain to last, even if the pandemic subsides over the coming months. The Philharmonic projects that the cancellation of its 2020-21 season will result in $21 million of lost ticket revenue, on top of $10 million lost in the final months of its previous season this spring; but even when live performances resume, the box office is not expected to bounce back quickly. The new contract is a continuation of the short-term pay reductions that the Philharmonic’s musicians agreed to earlier in the pandemic.
