Contemporary Classical

CSO R.I.P.?

The Columbus Symphony Orchestra (OH) is in dire straits. It is possible the orchestra could fold in the very near future. The problems are financial and organizational, and management and labor are not seeing eye-to-eye at all. According to principal clarinetist, and Sequenza21 friend, David Thomas, the press coverage has been terribly one-sided, and the musicians’ point of view is not getting out. Here’s a website where you can show your support, and here’s another where news is always coming in. David has kindly forwarded me his version of events, and I am posting it in the comments section.

Growing up in central Ohio, I have some important musical memories because of the CSO: hearing Respighi for the first time, taking lessons from their second-chair clarinetist, and, more recently, having had a terrific performance led by Peter Stafford Wilson, their assistant conductor. Central Ohio without the CSO is hard for me to imagine, but all too easy, one supposes, for most people who live there.