On Saturday, Sept. 26, the Cleveland Orchestra Musicians union ended a three-day strike after signing a new three-year contract with the Musical Arts Association, the non-profit organization that governs The Cleveland Orchestra (TCO). The musicians departed on Tuesday for their 24-day European concert tour, as scheduled.

The new contract includes provisions for five percent annual guaranteed pay increases, a more affordable healthcare plan and greater input from musicians during audition and hiring processes.

Per the new contract, base compensation will increase from the current $165,516 to $191,620 over three years. The union originally proposed a 25% increase to over $206,000 during negotiations. Although Cleveland’s cost of living is lower than that of many cities with major orchestras, the current base compensation for musicians is still among the lowest of comparable orchestras in the U.S. To orchestra members, however, this is not only an issue of the musicians’ pay, but of the orchestra’s prestige and ability to hire new talent.

“We want to be able to keep up with peer orchestras,” said Kathleen Collins, a TCO second violinist of 32 years and member of the negotiating committee. “It’s beyond economics for us. Personally, it’s to maintain the Cleveland orchestra’s [position] in the top tier [of orchestras in the country]. If our compensation falls short, we simply can’t attract any more quality musicians to replace those that are retiring.”

However, for Collins, the issues don’t end there. The contract also needs to address musicians’ health and long-term careers.

“We’ve also asked for workplace protection to prevent injuries because that’s a very big problem, especially for string players,” Collins said. “We have a lot of players who are out with chronic pain conditions or are playing while hurt.”

Similarly, the San Francisco Opera orchestra musicians went on a six-day strike, ending on Sept. 17 with a tentative agreement in place. Since 2008, nine American orchestras have already closed due to financial distress, while two major orchestras have filed for bankruptcy. U.S. orchestras receive 13% as their public funding share, while Canadian orchestras receive roughly 49%. The system of public funding has perpetuated orchestras nationwide to economic crisis, which marks this particular new contract as a win for the Cleveland Orchestra musicians.

“We’ve been a union orchestra for many, many decades,” said Emma Shook, a TCO second violinist of 25 years. “Before we were a unionized orchestra, the members of the orchestra sometimes had to do two or three jobs, driving a cab or working at a store. Unionization allows us to perform our craft without fear of not being able to make it day to day. Being part of a union ensures we have some power, the power of solidarity and unity, to fight for a fair wage and fair working conditions.”

Cleveland Orchestra’s negotiations come months after music faculty at the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM) reached their own union contract agreement, with 40 members of The Cleveland Orchestra also teaching as CIM faculty. After officially unionizing in September 2024, the CIM ratified their first union contract with the American Federation of Musicians Local 4 in January of this year. The Local 4 includes musicians from The Cleveland Orchestra, Cleveland Chamber Symphony, Cleveland Jazz Orchestra and Blue Water Chamber Orchestra. CIM’s three-year agreement covers approximately 120 faculty members and establishes standards for compensation, workload, job security and professional support. The contract also covers CIM’s instructors who work for CIM’s Joint Music Program with CWRU; however, CIM ended the joint-degree program two weeks before the Fall 2026 semester began.

For students in the CWRU and CIM community, these ongoing negotiations bring to light the working conditions for professional musicians across Cleveland’s music institutions. However, these conversations also help CWRU musicians get the support they need. CIM instructors often move between full-time, part-time and guest teaching roles, and although CIM and CWRU no longer have an established partnership, CWRU students are still able to attend CIM courses, lessons and ensembles. With improved job security and pay, more CIM faculty may be more likely to invest time in the students’ music education, honing their skills and performances.

88% of adults under 45 attended at least one live concert within the past year. Among those who have attended at least one classical concert performance in their lifetime, Gen X and Boomers are the least likely to have attended in the past year globally. Gen Z and Millennials are the ones who are likely filling the front row seats in concerts worldwide, which is an uplifting note for live, classical performance.

As audiences continue to show interest in live music, sustaining that interest also requires sustainable working conditions for the performers themselves. According to Collins, the current compensation prior to the contract did not reflect the level of investment expected from TCO musicians, making it increasingly difficult to maintain the orchestra’s artistry.

“Our management, CEO and music director are paid in a first-tier way, but musicians are not,” Collins said. “We are expected to receive a second-tier compensation level, but we don’t feel like that’s sustainable in an artistic way for this orchestra. It would be a tragedy because it’s taken generations to build up this amazing gem in the Cleveland area.”