MN Opera Orchestra votes no confidence in Opera leadership as labor negotiations intensify
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The Minnesota Opera Orchestra musicians announced a formal vote of no confidence in Minnesota Opera leadership on Saturday, another escalation in contentious labor negotiations between musicians and leadership.
The Opera Orchestra has been at odds with the Opera over cost-of-living wage increases. That dispute led the Opera to postpone the world premiere of "The Many Deaths of Laila Starr," which was due to open Saturday evening.
While the vote of no confidence is an escalation, it is not an outright work stoppage. However, musicians did vote to authorize a strike in early October.
In a letter to the Opera board of directors, orchestra musicians said Opera president and general manager Ryan Taylor had delegated negotiations to outside legal counsel. They also accused management of negotiating in bad faith, planning to cancel the opening of the season while shifting blame to the musicians.
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“The intentional mischaracterization of the outcomes of previous negotiations has further eroded trust in management and its representations to musicians,” the musicians wrote in the letter.
The musicians accused Taylor, who joined the opera in his current position in 2016, of refocusing the Opera away from the artform and cultivating a “deeply strained and increasingly toxic working environment” for musicians. They said musicians have received the brunt of public criticism over operating costs despite accounting for a fraction of the overall budget.
“We believe the current negotiations have exposed a much larger failure of leadership,” the musicians said in the letter. “Rather than accepting responsibility for the direction of the company, Mr. Taylor has increasingly sought to place responsibility for its challenges on the very artists whose work defines the institution.”
In a statement posted on its website, the Opera board said it had full confidence in Taylor.
“We believe the musicians’ union should focus on mandatory subjects of bargaining, such as compensation and benefits,” the board said in its statement. “Organizational leadership and vision fall outside the scope of bargaining, and complaints about them will not contribute to successful resolution of our negotiations.”
Negotiations between the Opera and its musicians intensified this week. On Tuesday, the Opera announced it was postponing “Laila Starr” until late 2027 or early 2028. Taylor said he did not believe negotiations were close enough to make opening night a possibility.
Taylor also said the union — American Federation of Musicians Local 3073 — rejected a “temporary no-strike, no-lockout agreement” that would ensure the orchestra receives retroactive pay increases once a new contract is reached.
Cellist Rebecca Arons, chair of the union’s negotiating committee, said that was a hollow promise considering the Opera’s unwillingness to agree to wage increases.
The Opera’s next scheduled production is “My Name is Florence” Jan. 8 and 9.
Alex V. Cipolle contributed reporting.
