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SPRINGFIELD – Musicians of the Springfield Symphony Orchestra (MOSSO), an independent group of musicians from the city orchestra, will perform a free concert on Friday, October 15 at Symphony Hall – their first sold out concert since early 2020.
The concert, which starts at 7:30 p.m., is already sold out. But the response from the orchestra’s patrons has been so good, say MOSSO members, that they will now be streaming the concert online at the same time. A free link to the performance, as well as to the music and staff involved, is available at springfieldsymphonymusicians.com.
This is an exciting time for the musicians, as they will reunite with their longtime conductor, Kevin Rhodes, who came from another job in Europe to lead a program including music by Dvorak, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven and more. .
Rhodes, who had been conductor of the Springfield Symphony Orchestra (SSO) for 20 years, is currently not affiliated with the organization; his contract was not renewed this spring, and SSO does not currently have a music director.
SSO’s absence of a musical director, and the fact that the musicians formed an independent group to host their October 15 concert (and earlier, more modest performances), reflect a prolonged contractual conflict between the orchestra’s management and the union. musicians ; the previous contract expired in August 2020.
The stake of a new agreement is, among others, the call of SSO for a short season 2021-2022. Orchestra officials say the financial losses of recent years, especially during the pandemic, mean the SSO must take things slow this year.
No new concerts have been announced and management says they cannot be scheduled until a new contract is in place.
Thomas Bergeron, principal trumpet of the SSO, and other members of MOSSO dispute this reasoning, saying that the conductor shows little commitment to the orchestra. The members of MOSSO requested a new season of 10 concerts, like the previous seasons, while the management offered only five.
Additionally, SSO officials said last month that if no new contracts were signed by October 1, the entire 2021-2022 season would likely be canceled.
In a recent phone interview, Bergeron said this had not happened: “We think it was basically a scare tactic to try and force us to sit down. “
The union and SSO leadership had a recent meeting, Bergeron noted, “but unfortunately nothing really happened. There wasn’t a lot of movement. We hope that the discussions will continue. “
In the meantime, he says MOSSO is focusing on the October 15 concert, as is Kevin Rhodes.
As Rhodes recently told MassLive.com, “The point of this concert is to focus on what really matters, which is music and art … all of our wonderful listeners, and let’s remember what it is.
Steve Pfarrer can be reached at [email protected].
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