From an article about executive pay: “Many musicians approve of high executive salaries – if, that is, the orchestra is doing well. But when it is not, frustration arises, as it also does over inequities in players' pay scale. The base pay of a New York Philharmonic musician is now $103,000. According to 2003 tax records, Glenn Dicterow, the New York Philharmonic concertmaster, was making $366,000 (this does not include income from engagements outside his orchestra schedule.) The have-nots in this scheme are primarily section string players, who have to pay for instruments costing significantly more than woodwinds or brasses – often in five or six figures. And in the case of brand-name soloists, the disparity is even more enormous. The violinist Itzhak Perlman and the cellist Yo-Yo Ma, two of the most reliable box-office draws in the field, are reliably said to make from $65,000 to $70,000 per night. That is as much as full-time players at orchestras like the Dallas Symphony, the Atlanta Symphony and the St. Louis Symphony make in a year.” This, of course, is peanuts compared to the salaries and bonuses of some of the country's large corporations. I think the average salary among those ranks is about $14 million. The woman at left is not an orchestra player, but that is entirely irrelevant.
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