Why was the musicians union so unresponsive to orchestra players interests?
Part of it is that it was a small segment of the larger union. And they didn’t know much about orchestra musicians and weren’t all that interested. Which is why the orchestra musicians had to empower themselves. They had no choice. People were leaving the profession. What do you make of Petrillo, who drove around in a bullet-proof limousine? He did good things, but I think he just didn’t want any opposition. He wanted to dictate to everyone, including this rabble-rousing group of militants. What is the relationsip today between ICSOM and the AFM? It’s good. In the early days, before it became a real force and hired its own negotiator, ICSOM was just ignored. Is there any regret about the 52-week season? So many musicians around the country complain about summer-pops programming. No, I think, artistically, that’s up to each orchestra to figure out. But the 52-week season is crucial to our profession, and we have to hang onto it for all it’s worth. It was a big struggle to get there. You
