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Arts & Culture

SF Symphony Chorus Authorizes Strike, Jeopardizing Opening Concert

Symphony leadership has proposed cutting choristers' pay by 65%.
Nastia Voynovskaya
The San Francisco Symphony with the San Francisco Symphony Chorus at Davies Symphony Hall. (Brandon Patoc/San Francisco Symphony)

The San Francisco Symphony Chorus has voted to authorize a strike amid contentious negotiations with San Francisco Symphony management, according to the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA), the union representing the choristers.

The announcement comes just days ahead of the 2024–25 season opener on Sept. 19, when outgoing Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen is set to conduct the orchestra in a performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem, which prominently features the chorus.

Although a strike has not officially begun, the AGMA board of governors has granted Interim National Executive Director Allison Beck and the negotiation committee the authority to call a strike as a “last resort,” according to a union statement.

The chorus singers’ union contract expired on July 31. In negotiations, San Francisco Symphony management has proposed to cut their compensation by 65%, and to reduce choral programs by nearly half, from 8-11 per year to just five per year.

Only 32 of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus’ 152 singers currently receive compensation. Choristers voted unanimously to authorize the strike, with 98% of eligible members participating in the vote. Of the unpaid singers scheduled to perform Verdi’s Requiem, 81% said they would not cross the picket line, putting the concert in jeopardy if an agreement is not reached.

“To target the Chorus with these dubious cuts suggests an unconscionable lack of respect, and frankly understanding of the treasure this ensemble is or how to steward it responsibly,” said Elliott Encarnación, an AGMA Governor on the Executive Council and SFSC negotiating committee member, in a statement.

San Francisco Symphony leadership told KQED in a statement that they’ve engaged in good-faith negotiations with the Chorus, and will continue to do so.

“During those meetings, and prior, we’ve been transparent about the challenging financial pressures we face — like many other arts organizations since the pandemic,” reads the statement. “We’re working with union representatives to collectively address those realities. Above all, we’re very optimistic about our future. Out of respect for the negotiating process, we won’t be providing specifics about the details of talks at this time.”

The strike authorization is not the first dispute the San Francisco Symphony has had with musicians this year. This season will be Salonen’s last as music director; Salonen said that he and the board “do not share the same goals for the future of the institution” after the board had decided on budget cuts would significantly affect the organization’s “artistic profile.”

Orchestra musicians protested as a result, handing out flyers after performances that asked patrons to email the board and urge them to do what it takes to keep the maestro, restore musician salaries to “competitive levels” and avoid cuts to overseas touring, children’s programming, the SoundBox concert series and other initiatives.

In a four-page, public statement issued in May, Symphony leadership described the organization’s financial troubles. It said it had incurred a cumulative $116 million operating deficit over the past decade, and that donor restrictions and California law prevent it from covering the shortfall with its endowment. The San Francisco Symphony’s $324.5 million endowment is one of the largest of any orchestra in the nation.

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