Dear Atlanta Symphony Musicians, The Musicians of the Utah Symphony stand in unwavering solidarity with our friends and colleagues in the Atlanta Symphony as they fight courageously to preserve the legacy of their great orchestra. We are sending an initial donation of $5,000 to support their efforts and encourage all lovers of great music and art to visit the Atlanta Symphony Musicians' website at http://www.atlsymphonymusicians.com/ to join us in supporting this vital cause. As Atlanta Symphony Maestros Robert Spano and Donald Runnicles so eloquently stated in a letter to the ASO board, "Sustainability must also be applied to a quality of the orchestra and the notion of excellence, not only to finances. There are artistic lines that cannot and must not be crossed." WAC's stated desire for maintaining artistic excellence while at the same time reducing the orchestra's size and compensation are utterly incompatible. There are fundamental artistic requirements necessitating a major orchestra to have a full compliment of players. One cannot present an exceptional concert with a third of the players missing or replaced, any more than one can feature Lang Lang on a baby grand with a third of the keys sticking. We urge WAC, The ASO Management, and the ASO board to join their musicians in seeking a reasonable contract that preserves and continues the exceptional musical legacy of the Atlanta Symphony. We remind those parties that the Atlanta Symphony Musicians are willing to go back to work immediately under the terms of their concessionary contract of two years ago while negotiations continue, preventing further damage to the reputation of this great orchestra. Once again, in the words of Runnicles and Spano: "Two years ago, our musicians accepted huge concessions with an expectation that, in so doing, both board and management would be able to steer the organization out of financial distress. We ask the board and management to acknowledge the sacrifice the musicians have already made, and to examine other ways and areas to establish sustainability." In Solidarity, The Musicians of the Utah Symphony
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