On a recent night at Lincoln Center, a group of New York Philharmonic musicians, dressed in matching black shirts and carrying union leaflets, fanned out and began to evangelize.
“Support the musicians!” Thomas Smith, a trumpet player, told a crowd of concertgoers.
It was one of the New York Philharmonic’s first concerts of the fall, and the musicians, in the middle of high-stake labor talks, were alerting their audience to what they hoped would be embraced as startling facts.
The orchestra’s players have not had a raise since 2019, and they are paid substantially less than colleagues in Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles.
“We need your help,” Alina Kobialka, a violinist, said as she handed out leaflets.
The scene was a reminder of the stark challenges this season for the Philharmonic, which not so long ago seemed to be beginning a vibrant new chapter.
The labor agreement between management and the musicians expires on Friday, only a few days before the orchestra’s opening gala, a major fund-raising event.
The Philharmonic lacks a permanent president and chief executive, after the sudden resignation in July of its leader, Gary Ginstling. An investigation into sexual harassment and misconduct at the Philharmonic has dragged on. And the ensemble, which is awaiting the arrival in 2026 of the star conductor Gustavo Dudamel, has no full-time music director this season or next.
“Under the best of circumstances, orchestras have some pretty incredible challenges,” said Thomas W. Morris, a longtime orchestra administrator. “Those challenges clearly multiply when you don’t have a permanent executive or artistic leader.”
The veteran arts manager Deborah Borda, who led the Philharmonic from 2017 to 2023, has been brought back on an interim basis after Ginstling’s resignation. She acknowledges she has never led an institution facing so many challenges at the same time. She compared the problems to a “ring of fire.”
“Of course we feel under pressure,” she said. “But pressure is an opportunity.”
As it emerged from the pandemic, the Philharmonic was in a relatively strong position. The orchestra completed a long-delayed $550 million renovation of its home, David Geffen Hall, in 2022. And last year, in a major coup, the Philharmonic announced it had poached Dudamel, one of the world’s most in-demand conductors, from the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
But in spring, that sense of stability began to erode. An article in New York magazine in April revived accusations of misconduct against two players, the associate principal trumpet, Matthew Muckey, and the principal oboist, Liang Wang, whom the administration had tried to fire in 2018. The ensemble was forced to reinstate the players in 2020 after the musicians’ union challenged their dismissal.
Many players had been unaware of the details of the case and pushed the administration to take action. Muckey and Wang were suspended with pay, and the orchestra commissioned investigations into workplace culture and sexual harassment and misconduct.
The examination of the Philharmonic’s culture, overseen by outside counsel, Katya Jestin, received input from roughly a third of the Philharmonic’s 200 employees. It has been completed and the Philharmonic said it would soon publicize the report’s recommendations.
Still continuing is the inquiry into sexual harassment and misconduct by Philharmonic players and employees, led by Tracey Levy, a lawyer who specializes in employment law. Borda said the administration would wait for that investigation to conclude before deciding the fate of Muckey and Wang.
“We’re trying to do the right thing,” she said, “and I think the orchestra understands that.”
Borda said she planned to meet this week with Cara Kizer, a former Philharmonic horn player, who was interviewed by New York magazine about an encounter she said occurred while she was on tour with the Philharmonic in Vail, Colo., in 2010. Kizer told the Vail Police Department at the time that she had been sexually assaulted after spending the evening with Muckey and Wang and was given a drink she came to believe was drugged, according to police records.
No charges were filed against the men and both have denied wrongdoing. They have sued the Philharmonic and the players’ union, Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians.
Steven J. Hyman, a lawyer for Muckey, called his client’s suspension “unjustified and unfair,” and said he looked forward to a “swift resolution, allowing him to return to the orchestra for the 2024-25 season.”
Borda, who tried to dismiss Muckey and Wang in 2018, said there was still a possibility that they would return to the stage, depending on the investigator’s findings.
“I cannot say it’s impossible,” she said.
With the 2024-25 season officially beginning this week, a top concern for the Philharmonic is reaching a labor agreement with the musicians. Backstage at Geffen Hall, the players have posted fliers outlining plans for a strike, though both sides say such a move is unlikely. (The last time the orchestra went on strike was in 1973.)
The musicians have not disclosed their wage increase proposal but are seeking more than 30 percent, which would put them on par with other elite ensembles. Their base salary is $153,504; orchestras in Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles have secured increases that will bring their base salaries to about $200,000 over the next several years. The New York players say on their website that the pay disparity “threatens our ability to attract and retain the world’s finest musicians.”
The players walked away from negotiations in April, balking at an offer by Ginstling for a more modest pay raise. But they returned to the negotiating table earlier this month.
While the Philharmonic, with an endowment of about $237 million and a budget of about $90 million, has largely bounced back from the pandemic, it still faces pressures, including rising costs and a cash deficit of about $8 million.
The two sides are also discussing pensions, scheduling, hiring procedures and the audition process, but salaries are the top priority, given the high cost of living in New York.
“Our members are having trouble just making ends meet,” Sara Cutler, the president and executive director of Local 802, said, “and that shouldn’t be for one of the top orchestras in the country.”
The orchestra says it hopes to have a new president and chief executive in place by the new year to replace Ginstling, who resigned after just a year on the job. He left amid rising tensions with the Philharmonic’s board, staff and musicians, a person familiar with the situation said at the time. That person said Ginstling also had disagreements with Dudamel. Ginstling has not detailed his reasons for departing. In a statement at the time, he said, “It has become clear to me that the institution needs a different type of leadership.”
Morris, the orchestra administrator, said that while the Philharmonic would benefit from Borda’s experience in the short term, it needed to move swiftly to name a permanent leader. Morris, the author of “Always the Music,” a coming book about his time in arts management, noted classical music’s glacial planning cycles, in which seasons are often finalized years in advance.
“The longer they go without having a chief executive, the more troublesome the future becomes,” he said. “The planning opportunities for Dudamel’s arrival are already upon us.”
Dudamel, who will conduct four weeks this season and at least six weeks in the 2025-26 season, is already weighing in on programming, soloists, guest conductors, tours and other matters.
In April, just as the musicians were in an uproar over the misconduct accusations, Dudamel appeared in New York for a series of concerts, telling the players that he understood their concerns and hoped to help change the orchestra’s culture. And last week, he made an appearance by video at a board retreat.
“I’m really looking forward to making New York a home,” he told board members. “We are creating a family.”
Amid the uncertainty, the Philharmonic’s players have tried to stay focused on the music.
Carter Brey, the Philharmonic’s principal cellist, was at home on Monday practicing Hindemith’s “Symphonic Metamorphosis on Themes by Carl Maria von Weber,” which the orchestra will perform this week. He said his first thought was “Jesus Christ, that’s a lot of notes.”
“We’re taking things week by week,” he said of the broader issues. “There’s music to be made. I don’t waste a lot of time thinking, ‘Oh my God, I feel rudderless.’”
“The mood of the orchestra is very upbeat and positive,” he added, “and very unified.”
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