SPRINGFIELD — Springfield Symphony Orchestra musicians, who have not played at Symphony Hall for 18 months because of COVID-19 and an ongoing labor dispute, will perform there next month under the direction of longtime conductor Kevin Rhodes.
Although the contract dispute and pandemic drag on, Rhodes will return to the downtown stage on Friday, Oct. 15, at 7:30 p.m. to lead the musicians in a free concert organized by the union.
“I’ve missed my colleagues. Since the pandemic silenced our concerts, and after isolating at my family’s home in Michigan, I’ve been conducting opera and ballet in Milan, Rome, Slovenia, and Slovakia,” Rhodes said in a statement on Friday. “I’m glad that my colleagues are working together to bring live classical music back to Western Massachusetts, and I’m honored to be on stage with them.”
In response, the SSO management said it appeared the musicians union was “intent on forming its own orchestral organization and competing with the SSO, which will result in splintering the already limited symphonic orchestra audience and donor base.”
“The plan announced by the Musicians of the Springfield Symphony Orchestra (MOSSO) to host a free concert at Symphony Hall with some of the musicians from the SSO will further muddy the waters and appears designed to create confusion among the concert-going public,” the SSO Board of Directors said in a statement. “Failure of the musicians union to reach a labor agreement with the SSO by October 1, 2021 will likely result in the cancellation of a partial 2021-22 season.”
Union members have been without a contract since August 2020 with a dispute over the length of the agreement and the number of performances as a stumbling block. However, management said a recent offer addressed some of those concerns.
Musicians of the Springfield Symphony Orchestra, who are members of Local 171 of the American Federation of Musicians, reached out to the city to rehearse and perform at Symphony Hall, according to Bob Lawrence, first violinist and a MOSSO spokesman.
The upcoming performance was made possible through a grant from the Music Performance Trust Fund, established in 1948 by the American Federation of Musicians and the major recording companies of the day, Lawrence said. The union also thanked Mayor Domenic J. Sarno, the Symphony Hall management staff and local philanthropist Lyman Wood for making the concert possible.
Symphonic works by Beethoven, Dvorak, Tchaikovsky, and others will be performed at “Coming Home: A Symphonic Reunion.”
“The musicians of the SSO have not performed together on the stage of Springfield Symphony Hall since March of 2020,” noted Marsha Harbison, who has been assistant concertmaster of the SSO since 1977. “The professional musicians of the symphony are eager to perform exciting and healing music in our great Symphony Hall, under our world class maestro Kevin Rhodes.”
Rhodes, who has been with the SSO for 20 years, recently signed a 10-year extension of a separate contract he has had with the Traverse Symphony Orchestra in Michigan. He recently sold his Westfield home and moved to Michigan.
The SSO had not inked a new deal with Rhodes.
In the past year, union members have taken part in performances at the Black Lives Matter rally in front of City Hall in September 2020, a free concert on the steps of Symphony Hall in June 2021, the Springfield Jazz and Roots Festival with the Kevin Sharpe Band last month, and at the Mattoon Street Arts Festival two weeks ago.
Tickets for the Oct. 15 performance are free, but must be reserved in advance at SpringfieldSymphonyMusicians.com. No tickets will be sold at the door, and ticket holders must be masked and have proof of full vaccination against COVID-19. All performers will also be fully vaccinated and masked.
Seating will be general admission, but Symphony Hall capacity will be reduced to allow for social distancing.
“Finally a live concert and one that is free and open to all,” said timpanist Martin Kluger, who has played with the symphony for more than 40 years. “On Oct. 15, with conditions made as safe as possible by observing strict precautions designed to prevent the spread of COVID, we will embrace this unique opportunity to again share our music.”
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