Jimi Michiel

cleveland.com: Everything Cleveland

Discuss.

MrClean

Not at all dumb. She'll have little trouble finding other work, as she can obviously play. She would have been miserable if she stayed, so I commend her for having the guts to do it.

J

Tooter Tutor

I'm not sure I understand the point of the thread...

Is the orchestra management ballsy for advertising this new position, or is the female violinist, "ballsy" for resigning in principle?

Where's the rub? (no pun intended)

Jimi Michiel

The rub is that for most of us the idea of winning an orchestral gig often seems so impossibly remote that in many ways its unfathomable to imagine quitting a job as prestigious as one in the front row or two of the Cleveland Orchestra.

I personally think it's great for a number of reasons, the main one being that I've seen too many people, in both music school and professional ensembles, who are unhappy with what they are doing and where they are at. It's always good to see someone choose happiness over money/prestige, which is what it looks like in this case.

-Jimi

tpter1

Playing the scenario out further, though... would she also have the chance to audition for this newly established position? What is in the contract about new positions? In a NY schools at least, positions usually have to be advertised internally before they are offered to the general public. For the positions I've seen advertised in orchestras, there is usually a stipulation that if the seat is filled internally, the opened seat would be offered to the winning candidate (or something similar to that).

I'm not sure we have all the information to really understand 100% of what's going on; no less pass judgement.

Alex Yates

Yeah, I am with J on this one. It took a lot of guts, and I commend her.

Alex Yates

I agree with you Jimi, but I just wanted to point out that the odds of getting work being a violinist are much greater with there being so many more positions to fill in orchestras. I have a couple of trumpet playing colleagues that pushed their children to play string instruments rather than follow in their fathers' footsteps. There are simply more string jobs than brass jobs in the orchestra world.

Manny Laureano

I understand the sentiments but let me offer this: if you leave a situation, you leave the opportunity to effect change. I don't know ANY of the particulars of her situation, so, talk is cheap. It's interesting, that's for sure.

ML

ROGERIO

Manny, I'm not disagreeing with you... but I would imagine there are still a few musicians left that just want to make music and not play politics.

I commend her... but I'm sure there is a lot more to this story.

Derek Reaban

I happened to click on this thread at TH in the orchestral forum several weeks ago and ended up reading the story in the first post. It sound’s like there are certainly issues that go beyond what is mentioned in this story that Jimi posted.