By Nick Miller
The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra has told its musicians that they will be stood down without pay next week, citing fears the organisation might not survive the coronavirus lockdown.
The MSO will keep only "essential" employees on staff during the lockdown, MSO chair Michael Ullmer said in a letter sent to employees on Tuesday, and these would take a 20 per cent salary cut.
Sir Andrew Davis conducting the MSO.
However the MSO intends to bring back all employees including the musicians once the crisis is over, a spokeswoman said.
"Our overriding objective is to preserve this great organisation so that it can prosper into the future," Ullmer said in the letter. "It is critical that when we recommence normal operations, the MSO is not in an irreparable and depleted state.
"Without the ability to give live orchestral concerts, we have lost a significant portion of our revenue, being ticket sales, as well as flow on effects to donations and corporate sponsorship."
The MSO was one of the first Victorian arts organisations hit by the coronavirus crisis, with a flood of cancellations and no-shows at its Chinese New Year concert in early February. The orchestra was forced to cancel sponsor events and also lost anticipated revenue from a recording of the concert. Then when the state enforced a 500 capacity limit for events in mid-March the MSO cancelled its season.
The MSO board met on Monday and concluded their financial situation "continues to deteriorate".
"Unfortunately it is with great regret that we have no other option at this time than to enact a stand down of our musicians in accordance with the Fair Work Act."
Under the act, a stood-down employee may not be paid but still accrues leave. The MSO said it would also keep paying musicians' superannuation.
The musician stand-down will take effect on Monday – 12 administrative staff have already been stood down.
The MSO is in the process of applying for access to the JobKeeper employee support scheme, however it said the process "may involve some delay" and payments would not start to flow through until the end of April.
The orchestra initially tried to play on as the virus hit Australia in March, with free concerts broadcast live on YouTube from empty concert halls. However this proved unsustainable on health grounds, and they are now putting out archival recordings under the hashtag #KeepTheMusicGoing.
The online concerts are accompanied by a plea for donations. Like many other live performance organisations, the MSO also asked ticket holders to cancelled events to donate the money rather than seek a refund.
"These are challenging times for everyone," the letter concluded. "Rest assured the MSO will be back performing live to its thousands of ardent supporters in the not too distant future."