The New York Philharmonic has reached a three-year agreement with the union representing its musicians, the parties announced yesterday. The new contract, which calls for an increase in the minimum weekly salary every six months beginning March 21, 2005, and continuing through March 21, 2007, was overwhelmingly ratified by the musicians following Saturday night’s concert. The contract runs through September 20, 2007, at which time the minimum weekly salary will be $2,180.

“We are very pleased that we were able to achieve a progressive agreement with significant improvements over the next three years, especially in light of the current economic climate that has had an impact on orchestra negotiations across the country,” said the president of the Associated Musicians of Greater New York, Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians, David Lennon.” Everybody came out of this negotiation satisfied with the result.” The talks were begun in early March and progressed most substantially over the past few weeks.

The precise terms of pension benefits were a major part of the negotiation, according to Mr. Lennon. A compromise of sorts seems to have been reached, though the agreement itself calls for further negotiations. The pension benefit will initially remain at $53,000 annually, but will be renegotiated in the second year of the contract. If a $60,000 benefit is not achieved for the third year of the contract, the minimum weekly salary will increase to $2,280 on September 21, 2006, and to $2,330 on March 21, 2007.

The contract features changes in working and touring conditions, which will achieve greater scheduling efficiency while addressing the workload concerns of the musicians. Increased benefits, to go into effect September 1, 2005, include gains in life, disability, and instrument insurance. The musicians have also agreed to perform one additional concert, without pay, for fund-raising purposes, once during the term of the contract.

In a statement, New York Philharmonic Board Chairman Paul B. Guenther said, “I am pleased to say that respect and understanding continues to prevail between the management and musicians of the New York Philharmonic. I believe we have reached an agreement that builds on the strong foundation of America’s first orchestra.”

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NOTES

New York-based film company Emerging Pictures has teamed with the Theatre Row complex on West 42nd Street to create Emerging Cinemas at Theatre Row, a new commercial art house theater operating exclusively with high-end digital projection equipment. According to the principals, this is the first full-time commercial cinema in the United States to operate without using any traditional celluloid projection. … Scottish poet Kathleen Jamie has won the L10,000 ($17,945) Forward Prize – poetry’s equivalent of the Booker – for her latest collection of poems, “The Tree House” (Picador). … Columbia University has appointed the painter and printmaker Gregory Amenoff as the inaugural Eve and Herman Gelman Professor of the Visual Arts in the School of the Arts. The newly established chair is a result of a generous donation from the estate of Columbia University alumna Ellen Gelman, who died in March 2002.