| site home | appeal to our audience | what you can do | donations | in the media | events | did you know...? | sign our guestbook | photo gallery | log in |
JSOMusicians.org
Official Site of the Jacksonville Symphony Players’ Association |
Tuesday, February 9, 2010 |
Welcome to JSOMusicians.org, the official website of the Jacksonville Symphony Players’ Association (the musicians who perform in the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra).
May 19, 2008
America’s first and only violinist to win the Gold Medal at Moscow’s Tchaikowsky
International Competition performs with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra tomorrow night.
This special concert is a direct outcome of the protracted labor dispute early this season
between the musicians and management of the JSO. The resulting contract, ratified in January,
calls for an annual concert to bolster the retirement pension for the musicians. In so doing,
the JSO follows in the tradition of other great orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic
in utilizing a prominent artist for a pension benefit concert. Net proceeds will go directly
to the AFM Pension Fund to benefit the musicians of the Jacksonville Symphony
Orchestra.
Kevin Casseday, Chair of the Jacksonville Symphony Players’ Association, comments: “I can’t
think of a better way to launch this new annual annual event than for our orchestra to
perform with one of America’s foremost violinists. This is not his first performance here, and
we look forward to welcoming him back.” Mr. Oliveira is also the first violinist to receive
the coveted Avery Fisher Prize, in addition to capturing First Prizes at the Naumburg
International Competition and the G.B. Dealey Competition. Mr. Oliveira is a Distinguished
Artist in Residence at the Lynn University Conservatory of Music in Boca Raton, Florida.
Event: Pension Benefit Concert
Performers: Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra with Guest Violinist Elmar Oliveira
Conductor: Fabio Mechetti
Date: Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Location: Jacoby Hall, Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts
Tickets available for purchase at www.jaxsymphony.org
Featured Compositions: Mozart, Concerto No. 3 for Violin and Orchestra
Beethoven, Symphony No. 7 in A Major
Brahms, Academic Festival Overture
May 8, 2008
This past December, the then-locked-out musicians of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra
performed at Hendricks Avenue Baptist Church to benefit their Health and Welfare Fund.
By the next morning, the church sanctuary they had just performed in was gone, lost in a
fire.
The musicians went on to ratify a contract in January. One element of the contract was
an agreement, at the musicians’ request, to hold a fundraising event to help rebuild the
portion of the church that was destroyed. Kevin Casseday, Chair of the Jacksonville
Symphony Players’ Association, shared: “This is a way of repaying our debt of gratitude
to the Church. We want to help them out in their time of need, just as they helped us
four months ago when we were in need. We are also hopeful that the JSO staff will
continue to offer their full support and cooperation for this worthy event; to the
extent that they do so, this event will have the added benefit of further healing the
wounds from the lockout.”
Event: Benefit Concert for Hendricks Avenue Baptist Church
Performers: Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Vernon Humbert
Date: Saturday, May 10, 2008
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Jacoby Hall, Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts
Admission is free, donations accepted
Featured Compositions: Felix Mendelssohn’s “Reformation”
Symphony and works by Bach, Copland, Genzmer and Handel.
Jan. 18, 2008 (11:00pm update)
This weekend, from noon Saturday to noon Sunday, AM 1460’s Andy Johnson will host a 24 hour fundraising marathon to benefit the Friends of the Jacksonville Symphony Fund. That fund, which is a component fund of The Community Foundation, Inc., was established primarily to fund initiatives in the contract between the Musicians Union and the Symphony Association through identifying new symphony donors.
The projects this effort will fund include new educational concerts and an extra week of concerts following the regular symphony season.
The event will feature live and recorded music by musicians and friends of the Jacksonville Symphony. Listeners will be able to call in to make pledges and talk on the air with AM 1460 manager and host of “Down to Business” talk show, Andy Johnson. The public may also access the station via internet, at: www.1460.us or www.1460theriver.com/wznzlive1.swf
Schedule updates will be posted at here, at www.jsomusicians.org.
A live musical performance, free and open to the public, will kick things off from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday by members and friends of the Jacksonville Symphony at the Unitarian Church off of Arlington Expressway.
(904) 854-1460 is the number throughout the 24 hour event for calling in to talk on the air with radiothon host Andy Johnson. To make off air pledges, call (904) 421-0704.
Donations are tax deductible, and all checks and credit card pledges will be directed to “The Community Foundation, Inc.”. Also, if writing a check, the memo line should read, “Friends of the Jacksonville Symphony Fund.” Checks should be mailed to the Musicians’ Association of Jacksonville, c/o JSPA, 2030 Schumacher Ave, Jacksonville, Florida 32207.
The Jacksonville Symphony Players’ Association will collect all such pledges and deliver to the Community Foundation, who will prepare and mail tax-deductible acknowledgements to donors.
More volunteers to receive pledge calls are still being sought. If interested, contact event coordinator Andy Bruck at (904) 651-7566.
The Unitarian Universalist Church of Jacksonville’s address is 7405 Arlington Expressway. UUCJ is located on the Arlington Expressway’s north service road, just east of Arlington Rd. and west of Townsend Blvd.— between Les Chateau Apts. and Agape Dentistry. (Only the sign is clearly visible from the street.) AM 1460 studios are on the fourth floor of the Enterprise Building, which is located at the northwest corner of Belfort and J. Turner Butler Boulevard. The Building is directly across the street from, directly west of, St. Luke’s Hospital. There is a big sign on top of the building which says Enterprise Building.
“A COPY OF THE OFFICIAL REGISTRATION AND FINANCIAL INFORMATION OF THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION, INC. MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE DIVISION OF CONSUMER SERVICES BY CALLING TOLL-FREE (800-435-7352) WITHIN THE STATE. REGISTRATION DOES NOT IMPLY ENDORSEMENT, APPROVAL OR RECOMMENDATION BY THE STATE. REGISTRATION NO. CH2304”
Jan. 15, 2008
At the eight week mark of being locked out of work, musicians of the Jacksonville Symphony Players Association performed their 6th benefit concert since they were locked out by the symphony management on Nov. 12th at St. Paul’s By-The-Sea Episcopal Church. The church was filled to capacity, and many audience members stayed for the post-concert question-and-answer session with the musicians’ negotiating committee, their attorney Leonard Leibowitz, the chair of the International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians, Bruce Ridge, and the Director of Symphonic Services for the American Federation of Musicians. The JSPA would like to thank everyone who attended and showed their support both moral and financial, and most especially the generous people at St. Paul’s By-The-Sea Episcopal Church, for making our concert such a success.
Jan. 11, 2008
The Guestbook is back! The new version has a more robust storage scheme, and has a moderator-review feature. We look forward to hearing from you again.
Dec. 23, 2007
We were shocked to hear this morning that sanctuary of Hendricks Avenue Baptist Church, which generously hosted our Messiah Sing-Along concert last night, was destroyed by fire. Our hearts, thoughts and prayers go out to its members.
Dec. 21, 2007
Thank you, Leon Fleisher & Katherine Jacobson Fleisher for such a beautiful performance last night! It was a huge success and a delightful evening. The musicians are grateful to all of you who came to hear the concert.
Dec. 19, 2007
Yesterday, Symphony Board President Jim Van Vleck issued a memorandum via the Symphony’s SoundBytes email publication, as well as on the JSO website. The JSPA’s response is here.
Dec. 17, 2007
Percussionist Evan Bertrand resigned from the JSO on Thursday. Evan will be moving to Charleston, where he begins in January as Personnel Manager for the Charleston Symphony Orchestra. Trained at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, he has also performed with the Houston Symphony, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the Naples Philharmonic, and Houston Grand Opera. Says Charlotte Mabrey,
“...upon Evan’s arrival there was a consistent ray of sunshine. One that continued to remind me that the reason we enter music is deeply rooted in joy. His playing and attitude repeatedly brought great music and a sense of belonging to my section. He is irreplaceable. Sure, there is a hot shot percussionist waiting in the wings somewhere, but Evan has it all: great talent and a sense of wonder that sustained me through some rough times. And I have had rough times lately. My heart aches to see him go and upon receiving the news from him at our Informance a few Saturdays ago I could only burst into tears. This is MY family and with his departure a great big piece of my heart and soul leaves as well.”
Dec. 16, 2007
Many people gave generously of their time, talents, and other resources, without all of which Saturday night’s Holiday Pops concert would not have been possible, let alone successful. The JSPA would like to thank New Life Christian Fellowship and its pastor Paul Zink for generously allowing us to use their church, soprano Rhonda Hambright for singing, Andy Johnson for narrating ’Twas the Night Before Christmas, audio engineers Jason Kabrich, Jeff Alford, and James Pitts, video director Carey Goin, stage manager Keith Reese and lighting director James Tucker for sharing their time, equipment and expertise, City Councilwoman Glorious Johnson and Pastor Zink for their brief addresses before the concert, everyone who manned the donation table, everyone who prepared and served food and drink for the reception, and most importantly everyone who came to listen and be a part of our holiday music!
Dec. 14, 2007
The musicians’ and the Jacksonville Symphony Association’s negotiating teams met and exchanged proposals today. The musicians’ proposal included concessions of over $1,250,000 from our last proposal. The JSA team still refuses to budge from the position they have taken since the onset of the lockout. Nor is management willing to submit the differences to a neutral arbitrator. The continuation of the lockout actually threatens the rest of the season, and perhaps future seasons as well. In addition, they have indicated that they are unwilling to meet again until the week of January 8, 2008 unless we are prepared to accept an offer within the economic confines of what they proposed prior to the lockout.
Dec. 11, 2007
City Councilwoman Glorious Johnson’s Resolution 2007-1361, acknowledging the importance of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra to the
City of Jacksonville and strongly encouraging both parties to submit to arbitration and resume the regular performance schedule, passed by a 16-1 emergency vote.
A MS Word document of the resolution can be found here.
Also, we can now accept donations via credit card and PayPal. See our donations page.
Dec. 10, 2007
The names and email addresses of the Jacksonville Symphony Association’ Executive Committee are now posted on our “What You Can Do” page.
Dec. 4, 2007
The musicians’ negotiating team suggested to the JSA that both parties submit to arbitration. The board and management declined.
Dec. 3, 2007
The JSPA has posted a point-for-point response to Mr. Van Vleck’s Nov. 29th document on our “Did You Know..?” page.