Forging ahead with its plan to upgrade the prestigious Jalisco Philharmonic Orchestra (JPO) — or start over from scratch, as critics might say — the orchestra administration has announced auditions for between 20 and 30 wind and string instrumental positions ranging from co-concertmaster and violinist to flute and trombone.
The auditions will take place at Guadalajara’s Foro de Arte y Cultura from September 9 to 25, with the final date for registration set at August 17.
The tryouts are happening just as the orchestra (Orquesta Filarmónica de Jalisco), whose home base is the world-renowned Teatro Degollado, slogs through a sea of controversy and just after the group, at the moment comprised of about 50 longtime players and 30 temporarily contracted musicians, who replace laid-off or “resting” and recently retired staff musicians, returns from participating in a music festival. (That event takes place in Busan, South Korea, and is the crown jewel in the JPO’s celebration of 100 years of orchestral tradition in Jalisco.)
Two momentous changes in the newly announced openings are their startlingly higher pay and their migration from regular staff or plantilla positions to five-year contract positions.
For example, one new position for a section player (French horn) n the JPO is advertised at 417,600 pesos a year, which is 2.7 times higher than what a recently retired musician reported earning annually for playing the same instrument for 25 years with the JPO (156,000 pesos or US$9,555).
The new JPO figure converts to US$25,579, which, according to the British newspaper The Guardian, is considerably less than what some other musicians earned on average in 2014: US$42,880 at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, US$50,900 or 30,000 pounds at an average British orchestra, or a whopping US$148,720 at the Los Angeles Philharmonic (which comes with a whopping Los Angeles cost of living).
However, the new JPO salary of US$25,579 is closer to some other salaries worldwide. Checking section musician positions currently advertised online at musicalchairs.info, one sees lower offers — US$13,948 in Culiacan, Sinaloa and US$19,324 in Guiyang, China) — and slightly higher offers — US$28,236 in Oulu, Finland. (Notably, internationally posted job openings for orchestras in many countries of the world are scarce and many that do advertise omit mention of salaries, including some European countries.)
The new JPO salaries, however, despite the appearance of being skimpy when compared to top-drawer orchestras, are still raising eyebrows among local musicians.
“The gossip is that the new salaries are double the old ones!” one reported.
JPO General Manager Arturo Gomez said the increases are not as big as they might seem.
“Everybody is getting a 20-percent raise,” he told the Reporter. “This includes the plantilla musicians who remain. They will receive the same pay as the new musicians and will keep on getting medical insurance, Christmas bonuses, some paid vacations and other benefits. The main difference between them and the new musicians is the form of the contract.”Further accounting for the apparent difference, the newly hired musicians will have deductions taken from their pay for private medical insurance coverage, which presumably is costly.
“From Maestro [Marco] Parisotto’s first day, his objective was to increase the musicians’ pay,” said Gomez, adding that, in addition to the efforts of the Canadian-born director, Jalisco Secretary of Culture Myriam Vachez also worked hard, negotiating with the Jalisco Secretary of Finance, to raise musicians’ salaries.
“They believe that no high-level musicians will be attracted to the jobs without higher pay,” Gomez said.
He added that the five-year contracts may be renewed for additional five-year periods. “With the new system, they can be here for 30 years,” Gomez emphasized.
He said that many former musicians are staying and that the vacant positions of the “resting” musicians will not be filled by the winners of the auditions. “They still have their jobs. The matter has to be resolved by the judiciary,” Gomez noted, referring to ongoing labor and human rights disputes.
Problems that have in recent months stolen the limelight from the orchestra and Parisotto include the pressured retirements of older players and “rests” forced upon regular musicians who were deemed artistically deficient or uncooperative with the director. Next came labor lawsuits, the formation of a union, complaints lodged by musicians before the state Human Rights Commission, catcalling during orchestra performances, the sealing of Teatro Degollado on weekdays, the cancellation of the final concert of the group’s second season and the appearance of Parisotto and Vachez at the Human Rights Commission headquarters.
The fact that the JPO is offering a respectable pay raise and that the positions and their salaries are being openly and competitively announced online apparently reflects the stated desire of local cultural leaders to upgrade and “internationalize” the orchestra, said to have been a primary reason for the retirements and layoffs.