ALMS FOR THE CHORUS

posted by James Reel

    A reader sent this addendum/correction to my review of last week's Tucson Symphony concert:

The Tucson Symphony Orchestra Chorus is NOT a paid group. There are approximately 4 people per voice part who receive $500 per season to serve as section leaders with almost a hundred contacts of at least 2.5 hours per contact. That would be 16 out of 80 people, the rest are volunteers who are doing this solely for the love and joy of the music and of performing. All the singers are given a bottle of water for every performance. The soloists were paid NOTHING. You do the math. The administration and publicity department of the TSO does very little for the chorus as you could tell by what was and wasn't in the program.

    Well, from the very beginning the TSO folks have been touting this as a paid, professional chorus, and because money changes hands, there's a degree of truth in my statement that it's a paid group. Still, the information from my correspondent suggests that the TSO itself has been stretching the truth about the "professional" (that is, paid, not volunteer/amateur) nature of the chorus.