A Boston symphony settles the pay equity suit of a musician: NPR

Elizabeth Rowe, principal flutist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO), settled the litigation she filed against the orchestra last July, claiming she was paid significantly less than her nearest peer. Rowe was looking for more than $ 200,000 in unpaid wages.

Rowe and the orchestra went into mediation in December, and the case was filed last Thursday in the Superior Court of Suffolk (Massachusetts). The terms of the regulation have not been disclosed.

Rowe was one of the first women to file a pay equity complaint under the Massachusetts Pay Equity Act (MEPA), which came into force in July of this year. His case has been closely followed by the classical music industry, as well as by those more interestingly addressing gender issues.

Rowe was hired in 2004 by BSO – a group widely regarded as one of the best orchestras not only in the United States, but around the world – for this prestigious and extremely competitive position. According to the lawsuit, she has appeared as a soloist with the orchestra more than any other BSO senior musician in the fifteen years since her hiring, and has been strongly encouraged in advertising and publicity campaigns. orchestra marketing.

ABS and Rowe's lawyer, Elizabeth A. Rodgers, provided a joint statement to NPR, which reads as follows:

"The Boston Symphony Orchestra and Elizabeth Rowe have successfully settled the case regarding Ms. Rowe's trial against the orchestra.While the details of the resolution are confidential, all those involved in the processes are satisfied with the result.

The Boston Symphony continues to strive to be a leader in the industry by strengthening the role of women at all levels of the organization, including staff, management and the orchestra. The former principal flutist of the OSF, Doriot Anthony Dwyer, was a pioneer joining the orchestra in 1952, the very year that the OSF became the first orchestra to set up an audition process blindly. This process was aimed at promoting equity and addressing gender imbalance, among other issues, in orchestras across the country at that time.

In the same spirit of improvement and innovation that it has demonstrated over six decades ago, the orchestra will continue to collaborate with musicians, staff and other industry leaders to accelerate the process. reaching parity. ABS and Elizabeth Rowe look forward to continuing their shared commitment to artistic excellence at the highest level. "

According to a study conducted in 2016, about 47% of American orchestral musicians were women; the number of female players has improved dramatically since the widespread introduction of "blind" hearings in the 1970s and 1980s, in which the musicians' genders are masked by screens; and carpets, to soften the sound of women's shoes.

However, composers continue to be vastly underrepresented in orchestral programming in this country: according to an analysis by the Institute for Composer Diversity, a clear majority of American orchestras have scheduled at least 90% from their 2019-20 seasons with music written by men. (From now on, the numbers for color composers are even more dismal.)

The group's figures are continually updated as the orchestras announce their upcoming seasons. The OSF, for its part, has not yet announced its programming for 2019-2020.