Blog Posts - ATL SYMPHONY MUSICIANS

October 8, 2014 by Robbie Clark @ SOSArobbie.wordpress.com

1/30/2015

Interest in Conflicts of Interest

In a previous article, I wrote about some possible conflicts of interest related to the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre. The land was purchased from Cousins Properties and Duke Realty and, I’ve since discovered, Duke Realty also was contracted to build it (see note). It is worrisome when the leaders of a non-profit benefit financially from the non-profit organization that they are charged to lead. Donors and grantors do not like to think that they are paying to line a private individual’s pockets when they are trying to support the mission of an organization. That’s why I was so disappointed in what I found when I took a closer look at the Woodruff Arts Center’s (WAC) Forms 990.

Since 2008, non-profits have been required to disclose any business transactions involving interested persons (i.e. people in the organization that may face a conflict of interest in performing their duties). This would include any of the trustees and would absolutely include anyone on the Board of Governors. The WAC’s 2012 Form 990 lists four such business transactions with trustees.

Robbie Reports is a blog set up by Robbie Clark, a man who loves music and is an avid fan of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Concerned about the Woodruff Arts Center’s lockout of the ATL Symphony Musicians, Robbie began looking into the business practices of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and its parent organization, the Woodruff Arts Center, and did not like what he found. Robbie Reports hopes to bring attention to some of the many things that Robbie has found that need to be addressed to assure that the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra — and the rest of the divisions of the Woodruff Arts Center — have the kind of effective management that they need to continue providing the highest caliber art to the Atlanta area.

Robbie Clark’s investigative work is independent of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Players Association. While he does partner with Save Our Symphony Atlanta to get these stories distributed, the choice in subject matter, research, and decision to publish are all his own. Because this work deals with issues that go beyond the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra lockout, Robbie will continue his work during the negotiations.

October 6, 2014 by Drew McManus @ Adaptistration.com

1/30/2015

Things Get Crazy In Atlanta | October 6, 2014 | Adaptistration by Drew McManus

A Lawyer’s Worst Nightmare It isn’t surprising that Hertz has stayed out of the public limelight. His comments project an image of profound ignorance on core issues related to successful nonprofit performing arts governance alongside a simmering contempt for artistic employees (conductors and instrumentalists alike).

At the same time, it isn’t surprising to learn that a board chair maintains these positions, having said that, it is highly unusual for one to offer them up as rationale for strategic decision making.

A similar situation transpired in the Metropolitan Opera labor dispute where the institution’s General Manager, Peter Gelb, issued a string of quotes to the press that depicted a hardline approach toward employer-employee relations. Gelb’s defining moment that contributed to the Met emerging from its zero-sum bargaining strategy occurred when he told the Associated Press that “we need to impose a lockout because otherwise we have no ability to make [the artist unions] take [negotiations] seriously.”

Comments such as this make it extraordinarily difficult for an attorney representing either side in a labor dispute to implement a successful strategy, which includes carefully crafted sound bites and talking points. There’s a saying in that field, “don’t let them see how you make the sausage” and a key element in that approach is to stay on script.

In Hertz’s case, his unfiltered remarks were akin to wearing a bloody apron to the interview. It was the sort of thing that makes labor lawyers develop substance abuse problems and in the words of labor lawyer Michael G. Dzialo of Pitta & Giblin LLP, “If he were my client, I’d take him backstage and slap him around a bit, because he’s gone off-script. You do not say that.”

October 2, 2014 by Michelle Eloy on WABE 90.1 FM

1/30/2015

The Economics Of The Symphony: Why Do So Many Struggle?
October 2, 2014
Tom Smith, an economist at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School, says to think of an orchestra player like a professional athlete.

“You have these uniquely talented people, and they deserve more money,” he says.

Smith says just like sports teams, orchestras depend in part on ticket sales to pay their players.

But whereas pro-sports teams usually have packed stadiums, orchestras are struggling because of aging audiences and lagging ticket sales.

So that’s the problem, right?

Well, sure, says Smith, but it’s more complicated than that.

“A team like the Chicago Bulls, or the Atlanta Hawks or whoever else, maybe 35 percent of their revenue comes from ticket sales,” he says, “so just filling the seats doesn’t help the Hawks pay for their salaries on their players.”

The Atlanta Symphony Lockout Continues, Musicians Picket On Peachtree Street | September 28, 2014 7:35 AM ET by Adam Ragusea

A stingy market, unsupportive politicians — to the musicians on the picket line, these sound like the excuses of a symphony management that just hasn't tried hard enough. Principal flutist Christina Smith is on the union's negotiating committee.

"The musicians refuse to accept the premise that everything has been done to excellently fundraise for this institution," Smith says. "When you look at Atlanta, the size of this city — drive around this city, there is money everywhere."

Smith points out that, despite the deficits, Romanstein has been awarded bonuses by the Woodruff Arts Center. The symphony's parent nonprofit also includes an art museum and a theater company. Smith thinks the Woodruff's real goal is to shrink the Atlanta Symphony from an international powerhouse to a less expensive regional orchestra, like it was before legendary conductor Robert Shaw took over in 1967.

Downsizing could cause musicians to leave for better-paying, more prestigious gigs, as could the lockout itself, says Drew McManus, an orchestra consultant in Chicago.

"Some of the other labor disputes in the country have demonstrated that, yes, musicians can and will leave to get different jobs," McManus says. "And [the orchestras] do have a harder time attracting and maintaining quality musicians of the level they had previously established."

That may explain why the ASO's current conductor, Robert Spano, and its principal guest conductor, Donald Runnicles, wrote a letter urging management not to balance the books on the backs of players. Conductors traditionally stay out of labor fights, but the maestros felt they had to, they write, "speak out lest we fail in our duty to preserve the extraordinary legacy that has passed into our hands."

October 3, 2014 by Howard Pousner @ The AJC

1/30/2015

AJC EXCLUSIVE
Woodruff board leader discusses Atlanta Symphony crisis
Posted: 1:43 p.m. Friday, Oct. 3, 2014

By Howard Pousner - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Instead of making soul-stirring music to start its 70th anniversary season, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra has produced mostly sour notes for the last four weeks.

The musicians were locked out by management for the second time in two years on Sept. 7 when the two sides could not reach accord on a new collective bargaining agreement, and a war of words commenced.

Management may control the purse strings, but the musicians have commandeered the social media. Constant posts and comments by the players and their supporters on their Facebook page and Tweets on their Twitter account have pushed management back on its heels. The barbs got so brutal on the ASO’s own Facebook page that management turned off commenting.

The ASO Players’ Association has issued multiple strongly worded statements to the media — accusing leaders of the ASO and its parent non-profit, the Woodruff Arts Center, of poor fund-raising, weak management and even malfeasance. Classical music blogs, some more opinion-oriented than journalistic in nature, have spread the accusations across the virtual universe. The ASO has released scattered statements of its own, usually with figures the other side immediately disputes.

A target of some of the harshest musician critiques, ASO president and CEO Stanley Romanstein, resigned on Monday, saying in a statement that he didn’t want to be an “impediment” when the sides restart negotiations.

The musicians considered Romanstein, who served as lead negotiator, a figurehead to start with, and have said in statements and posts that the real power resides with the Woodruff’s Governing Board.

Douglas Hertz, that board’s chairman, has not actively participated in the negotiations and was content to stay out of the media glare. But the steady stream of Players’ Association accusations, including that Woodruff leaders have engineered ASO deficits so as to extract more concessions from the locked-out musicians, have sparked him to speak publicly about the debacle for the first time.

In an exclusive interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Hertz firmly denied allegations that the Governing Board is willing to permanently damage the ASO for the sole purpose of halting its losses.

He said he was anxious for both sides to return to the business of music, and that one reason he was coming forward was to push the Players’ Association to accept federal mediation. In fact, an announcement that a mediator will restart negotiations is expected imminently.

Hertz, an Atlanta native and president and CEO of United Distributors, a beverage distribution company, grew up in a family grounded in philanthropy and arts patronage. The Alliance Theatre’s Hertz Stage was named for Hertz’s father, Jennings Hertz Jr. With a gift of $1 million, Doug Hertz endowed the ASO’s Jill Hertz Chair, named for his mother, who herself was an orchestra volunteer.

But while saying he believes the musicians and ASO and Woodruff leaders can forge a harmonious agreement with the mediator’s help, he also took some hard stands in the recent AJC interview.

On public support of the musicians and rebukes of ASO and Woodruff leaders in media coverage and blogs: “I disagree that the public has sided with the musicians. I think the artists’ friends have sided with the artists. But I think the corporate community and the philanthropic community understands, like any businessperson would, we’re not going to make an investment in a business that keeps losing money.”

On charges that Woodruff leaders want to turn the ASO into a minor-league ensemble to save money: “It’s frustrating, because the whole allegation, whether it’s by musicians or supporters of musicians, or journalists who want to take the musicians’ side — I’m using ‘journalists’ pretty loosely … for them to allege that the WAC doesn’t want a fantastic symphony orchestra, or the governing board doesn’t want to take care of the musicians, is so far off base if they looked at the facts.”

As evidence, Hertz mentioned the work of other Woodruff governing board members including retired BellSouth executive Jere Drummond, “whose raised millions of dollars for the ASO’s endowment” and Paul Garcia, the recently retired Global Payments chairman and CEO, who along with Delta Air Lines CEO Richard Anderson raised nearly $1.5 million over the last two years to reduce the orchestra’s deficit.

“It makes you wonder, you know,” Hertz said, “are we supporting a bunch of crazy people.”

On a major point he feels is lost in the contract issues: “The sad part of it is … there are not enough people that care. If the public cared maybe we wouldn’t be in this situation. When you’ve got less than 5,000 donors in a metropolitan area of 5 million, that’s my concern. We (board, administration and musicians) need to be getting together and figuring out together how do we grow support for the symphony.”

On the musicians’ response that management’s “last, best and final” offer before the lockout left them no room to negotiate: “Well, we are very interested in exploring alternatives. We are not, cannot and will not move from ending up with a balanced budget moving forward. But there are a lot of ways to get there, and if we were to do it together, we may be able to find a way.”

On if that means that leadership would reconsider its position ongiving management power over filling positions — essentially ultimate control of the size of the orchestra: “Sure. We’re not stuck on anything other than a balanced budget. We would love to protect the integrity of the art, and we want to do it in a financially responsible way.”

(The ASO Players’ Association issued a statement Friday afternoon charging that Hertz is more interested in cutting positions than he is “in securing financial stability or in preserving the high artistic standards of the institution he has a duty as a steward to serve and protect.”)

On feedback from the musicians, seconded by Spano and Runnicles, that management controlling the number of full-time players would destroy the ASO’s sound: “Well, it’s my impression that our symphony orchestra got the same artistic reviews over this past year as they have had in previous years. We had 116 separate musicians that played with our orchestra (who were) not part of our (88-musician) complement — 116 additional musicians who sat in just last year. Yet no one’s told me that artistically that we were any better or worse.”

On music director Robert Spano showing support for the musicians when maestros are typically neutral in labor disputes:“Again, we’re criticized for not wanting a great symphony, right? But we signed Robert to a five-year contract (that’s just beginning) with a raise. And Robert’s getting paid. And we signed (principal guest conductor) Donald Runnicles to a three-year contract. He’s getting paid. So don’t criticize WAC management or the WAC governing board for not wanting to put our money where our mouth is. Maybe Robert’s feeling a little bit guilty because he’s getting paid and the musicians aren’t. But he could be a big help in solving this.”

On how Spano could help: “Ideas (for developing a more sustainable model for the ASO). Encouragement of the musicians to come back and talk. But he hasn’t been particularly constructive to this point.”

On the governing board’s fiduciary responsibility to all four Woodruff divisions: “We’ve got a division of the arts center that threatens the ability of the other divisions (the Alliance Theatre, High Museum of Art and Arts for Learning) to produce the great work that they’re doing. We owe it to everybody to make sure that everybody is pulling their weight.”

On if he’s concerned that negative coverage of the lockout will set back fund-raising in the long run: “Sure, I mean if it lasts too long it will. (But) a contract ended. We lost over $2 million (in fiscal 2014). Don’t forget, when you have earned ticket revenues of only $5 million and have salaries and benefits just for the musicians of $10 million to $11 million, you’re losing money from the very beginning. …

“Every day, we lose money.”

The story so far

· The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra has racked up deficits for 12 consecutive years, but the push toward a sustainable model took new urgency when the accumulated debt rose to $23 million by the end of fiscal 2012, including $18 million borrowed against earnings on the orchestra’s endowment.
· Seeking significant concessions to halt the red ink, management locked out the musicians during tense 2012 collective bargainingagreement negotiations. After a month without pay, the players agreed with great rancor to a $5.2 million wage reduction over two years (an average of $14,000 annually for each) and other cuts.
· In 2013, Moody’s Investors Service downgraded the Woodruff’s credit outlook from stable to negative, largely because of the ASO debt.
· The orchestra finished the 2014 fiscal year with a $2 million operating deficit on a budget of $37 million.
· Eight months of negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement this year proved unsuccessful. Management said its final proposal was for a four-year deal with an escalating salary increase topping out at 4.5 percent in the final year. The musicians propose a roughly 15 percent salary increase over four years —- basically the amount the players gave up 2012. Another point of division was health care, with the musicians being asked to shoulder a greater share of the cost, which they said would turn management’s raise offer into a net decrease.
· Management locked out the players on Sept. 7 after the the collective bargaining agreement expired without a new one in place, and canceled concerts through Nov. 8. Four days later, the ASO Players’ Association issued a statement that charged: “The Symphony has been placed in the position of turning deficits that have been engineered by the WAC with the intention and for the purpose of extracting more concessions from the Orchestra’s musicians.”
· ASO president and CEO Stanley Romanstein resigned Sept. 29, saying in a statement that he didn’t want to be an “impediment” to management reaching a labor agreement with ASO musicians. Management has pushed to bring in federal mediator to help restart negotiations, an idea to which the musicians said they are receptive, but an announcement has not been made.

HOWARD POUSNER

October 3, 2014 by Howard Pousner @ artsculture.blog.ajc.com

1/30/2015

Woodruff board chief Hertz willing to ‘break the backs of employees’ October 3, 2014
by Howard Pousner

The heated words between leaders of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Players’ Association and ASO and Woodruff Arts Center management took a harsh turn on Friday, with the musicians’ union releasing a statement sharply critical of Woodruff Arts Center Governing Board Chairman Douglas Hertz.

The statement, included in its entirety below, charges that Hertz is more interested in cutting full-time ASO musician positions than he is “in securing financial stability or in preserving the high artistic standards of the institution he has a duty as a steward to serve and protect.”

The Woodruff responded shortly with a statement by its president and CEO, Virginia Hepner. “We are saddened that they are attempting to disparage the reputation of Doug Hertz, our chairman,” she said in the statement, also included in its entirety below. “He is widely recognized as one of the most successful and generous leaders in Atlanta and we feel extremely fortunate to have his ongoing support.”

In addition to his Woodruff role, Atlanta native Hertz, president and CEO of United Distributors, a beverage distribution company, is a board leader or member for organizations including Camp Twin Lakes, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and the Westminster Schools.

The volley of statements could be the final dissonant notes between the two sides for a while.

The U.S. Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service announced later Friday afternoon that it would provide mediation services in the contract dispute and musician lockout that has spanned four weeks.

Typically, mediators move quickly to make both sides save their words for the negotiating table and to stop staking positions in the press and on social media.

October 3, 2014 by Jenny Jarvie @ artsatl.com

1/30/2015

Lockout exposes rift between ASO and Woodruff board members over direction | October 3, 2014 By Jenny Jarvie
Full Article

Ever since Atlanta Symphony Orchestra musicians were locked out of Symphony Hall a month ago after failing to agree with management over the terms of a new collective bargaining agreement, critics have wondered who is calling the shots.

While ASO president and CEO Stanley Romanstein, who resigned last week, bore the brunt of musicians’ and the public’s ire, many have suspected his moves were dictated by the orchestra’s parent company, the Woodruff Arts Center (WAC).

Criticism of the WAC is now mounting as the stalemate between musicians and management reaches its second month. In an interview with ArtsATL, a longstanding ASO board member voiced his anguish at the WAC’s “takeover” of the orchestra, claiming WAC officials seemed more interested in balancing the budget than maintaining the ASO’s reputation as a world-class ensemble.

“I am very disappointed to see the Woodruff Arts Center so glibly and so willingly allow the quality and prestige of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra to go down the tubes,” said Dr. John W. Cooledge, a retired pediatrician who joined the ASO board in 1976 and now serves on the board of counselors, an advisory tier of the body. “Right now the feeling of the symphony board is frustration and anger and sadness. The ASO board no longer seems to have any power,” Cooledge said, noting that he had very little input in the lockout negotiations. “WAC is calling all the shots.”

The makeup of the ASO board has evolved over the years, Cooledge said. In 1976, when Cooledge joined the board, he said it consisted largely of ardent music lovers, “people who knew each other and worked in harmony.” Now it comprises corporate executives from Atlanta’s leading businesses: Delta Airlines, Coca-Cola, King & Spalding, Alston & Bird, Verizon Wireless, the Atlanta Hawks and Philips Arena.

“There was some lamenting a few years ago that some people were taking positions on the board primarily to put on their resumes,” Cooledge said.

While he acknowledged that the ASO board could have been proactive in asserting control — or, as he put it, “preventing a final takeover” — he said there had never, until recently, been any clear realization that WAC could move the orchestra into a second-rate organization.

“We thought the WAC was acting in the best interest of all its divisions,” he said. “We were caught napping.”

While there has been some discussion among board members, Cooledge said, that ASO separate from WAC and become an independent entity, the consensus is that there is no easy way out. The WAC has complete control of the symphony’s endowment. “I’m pessimistic about finding an easy solution,” Cooledge said. “We’ve sold ourselves to Woodruff.”

Karole Lloyd, ASO board chair

Douglas Hertz, chair of the WAC governing board

Virginia Hepner

October 2, 2014 by Trevor O'Donnell @ trevorodonnell.com

1/30/2015

Maybe Atlanta Symphony Should Lock Out Its Marketing Department Instead

Presumably, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s labor issues are the result of the same underlying forces that are affecting orchestras everywhere: diminishing audiences and diminishing community support. But if the organization is using amateur, old-fashioned, self-centered marketing practices that fail to produce desired results, it seems counterproductive to lock out the artists when locking out the administrators who make bad marketing decisions would probably have more productive long-term consequences.

October 2, 2014 by Michael Schulder @ wavemaker.me

1/30/2015

By Michael Schulder

How can the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s 12th Man be a game-changer?

The 12th Man, in football parlance, refers to the fans.

11 men from each team are on the field. The 12th Man fills the stands.

The home team feels its energy – and transfers that energy into its performance.

Many of us who are closely following the ongoing developments at the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra – the ASO – are part of its collective 12th Man.

We are its fans and supporters. Many of us are current donors. Others of us may become significant future donors.

We recognize the immeasurable value that this artistically preeminent orchestra adds to our city.

With no ASO performances on the horizon, and the symphony currently locked out of Symphony Hall, the 12th Man’s attention has turned to what’s happening off stage.

We must be determined to help answer the question: how can we change the course of this current crisis from its lose-lose direction to a win-win? How can we change the game?

The Quotable WAC | September 28, 2014

9/29/2014

trudgemusic the view from stage left

The Quotable WAC Posted on September 28, 2014 | Leave a comment

A few gems from the Woodruff Arts Center Leadership:

“We must make sure the management structure is as efficient as it needs to be without compromising the artistic direction at each of the divisions…The Woodruff Arts Center board has no business telling Robert Spano about the musical direction of the symphony.” – Larry Gellerstedt, Chair, Woodruff Arts Center Board of Trustees, in an interview with Maria Saporta of the Atlanta Business Chronicle, June 2012

Fast-forward:
Mr. Spano said he was troubled by a provision in the latest management proposal that would give it discretion over whether to fill positions, which could further shrink the ensemble. – New York Times, Sept. 2014

…It was important for Hepner and her board to not make “the symphony a scapegoat for everything that’s wrong” at the [Woodruff Arts] Center. “I think it’s easy for everything to get blamed on the symphony,” she said. “But there are other issues.” – Penny McPhee, President of the Arthur Blank Family Foundation, in an interview with Maria Saporta of the Atlanta Business Chronicle, June 2012

Easy to blame everything on the Symphony. Hmmm…

“We all have a real desire to grow the collective audience in Atlanta and the region and the state. There’s more to do,” Hepner said. “But I can tell you, it will be a lot more fun to grow the organization.” – Virginia Hepner, President and CEO, Woodruff Arts Center, in an interview with Maria Saporta of the Atlanta Business Chronicle, June 2012

(Apparently, “growing the organization” means rewarding management failure with large bonuses.)

“We’ll never sacrifice the quality of the art…To me, it’s all about artistic excellence and access…My personal thrill would be that everybody in the community got to see what we do.” Virginia Hepner, in an interview with WABE Radio, Aug. 2012

Fast-forward:
“The lockout is essentially the board and management punishing the orchestra… It’s a one-sided attempt to force the orchestra to its collective knees. It also paints the orchestra as this intransigent group of musicians. But in fact they have shown extraordinary willingness to come to a common agreement, as what happened two years ago proves. The fact that it should have come to a lockout again is simply devastating.” – ASO Principal Guest Conductor Donald Runnicles, in an interview with the Guardian UK, Sept. 2014

Atlanta Magazine: You also have to keep the artists happy, an issue that got attention from the ASO musicians strike. [Note: The 2012 event the interviewer refers to WAS NOT A STRIKE. It was a unilateral, management-imposed LOCKOUT. Apparently, Ms. Hepner did nothing to correct or clarify the important distinction for the interviewer or the readers.]
Virginia Hepner: “The symphony is very well-run. We want it to be a world-class orchestra…that is extremely expensive… the symphony was $20 million in debt. We couldn’t find any more ways to go without asking the musicians to participate. And I really appreciate the fact that they did. It was essential to ensuring that we have a symphony in the future.”
“I’m a huge Atlanta fan, and I believe we can do anything we set our minds to. I’m pretty optimistic. I have to be; I work in the arts.” – Atlanta Magazine interview with Virginia Hepner, Dec. 2012

“Very well-run.” Really? REALLY?

“I tell my colleagues here, the most important thing for me to do is bring resources so that they can fulfill their artistic vision.” – Virginia Hepner, in an interview with Atlanta Business Chronicle, March 2013

(I don’t remember ever hearing this from her, but, then again, we really aren’t “colleagues” since you locked us out…)

“If you are comfortable with the people you hire, you have to let them do their job.” – Doug Hertz, Chairman of WAC Board of Governors, in a interview with Barbara Kaufman of the Atlanta Business Chronicle, May 2013

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I would like very much to do my job now.

“I learned a long time ago that everybody’s replaceable.”
“I’ve never seen a for-profit business get more out of an investment than artists do—they’re so creative in terms of how they produce what they do with minimal investment.” – Virginia Hepner, in an interview with GA Center for Nonprofits, Winter 2013

In Ms. Hepner’s defense, when she mentioned being “replaceable” she was apparently referring to some hypothetical future situation in which she herself might be replaced. Can we pencil in a date for that one?
As for “minimal investment,” how minimally should anyone invest in the ASO? Way to encourage philanthropy!

“I think that the measure of both an individual and somebody representing a company is, in fact, the relationships that we have. Because you’re not going to have long-term relationships unless you’ve built up a trust. And that’s a trust with your customers, a trust with your suppliers, and frankly, a trust with your associates.” – Doug Hertz, Chairman of the WAC Board of Governors, in a promotional video for United Distributors, March 2014

So, is the reason you’ve locked us out because you don’t trust us? Or should we not trust you, since you apparently aren’t interested in a long-term relationship?

Keep those gems coming, WAC! We’re listening!

A DEAFENING SILENCE | SEPTEMBER 25, 2014 7:00PM

9/28/2014

“A DEAFENING SILENCE”

Mr. Spano lamented that “our brilliant and creative musicians, who need to be intimately involved in the creation of our path to the future,
have been asked to leave the building — and Atlanta is left with a deafening silence.”

Please join us on Thursday, September 25, 2014 for “A Deafening Silence” on the ASO’s 70th Anniversary Opening Night.

We invite you to join us:

• The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus
• Current and Former Members of the
Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra
• Current and Former Members of the
Talent Development Program
• Patrons, our Audiences, and Supporters of your Atlanta Symphony Orchestra

When: Gather at 7:10PM (We are asking for about 45 minutes of your time.)

Gather: Outside of the First Church of Christ, Scientist
on 15th Street and Peachtree Street (Across from the Woodruff Arts Center)

Dress: Evening Concert Attire for Musicians and Chorus

Bring: Musicians and Students – Either your instruments or cases

The ATL Symphony Musicians