Why does a symphony musician need a job description? To an outsider, tremendous talent, performance skills and experience are all that are required.
It turns out that even those skill sets aren’t listed on most major American symphony orchestras’ job listings. Nor are there clearly defined expectations, criteria or standards for achieving tenure after a probationary period.
There’s an unfortunate, long history of musicians being denied tenure with none of the above procedures in place. And a disproportionate number of those musicians are Black.
The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is the first major American orchestra whose recently implemented collective bargaining agreement (CBA) includes detailed language regarding the inclusion of job-related criteria and procedures for tenure in its recently implemented collective bargaining agreement (CBA), adapted from documents recommended by the Black Orchestral Network (BON).
BON serves as an advocate for Black musicians, providing a network of human and data-driven resources, including the AFM’s model policies and standards document, annual meetings and networking opportunities.
BON grew out of informal conversations among Black orchestra musicians during the pandemic. Virtually everyone shared experiences of embedded racism playing out in the tenure and promotion procedures and the failure of American orchestras to acknowledge the lack of accountability and the absence of equitable standards and procedures for promotion.
BON founders point out that these serious gaps obstruct initiatives to boost inclusivity and equality.
BON formally incorporated in 2021, and in May 2022, it issued its first Dear American Orchestras letter, affirming a commitment to classical music performance and calling on American orchestras to confront a collective history of bias, exclusion and indignities, as well as current barriers Black musicians face.
The letter, signed by Black orchestral musicians, active and retired, sent shock waves throughout American symphonic communities.
“So many Black musicians signed that first letter that it was hard for people in the industry to say, ‘Wait a second. I see that person every day; I had no idea they felt like that,’” said BON co-founder Jennifer Arnold, a violist and director of artistic planning for the Richmond Symphony Orchestra.
“It was needed, and the reactions were overwhelmingly positive,” she continues. “These conversations haven’t happened in a public setting, and, at that time especially, a lot of people we contacted about signing said, ‘I need to get this off my chest.’”
But there was little movement to change policies and procedures, and two years later, BON issued a second letter spotlighting the failures of the tenure system: “a process that can harm many and serve few.”
“It can take a long time for the orchestra industry to move into the contemporary era,” acknowledges Rochelle Skolnick, director of symphonic services and special counsel at the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada, who authored BON’s model standards document.
“People affected by the lack of structure and transparency finally felt they have enough of a voice to speak about their experiences and hearing them forced us to see that things are not working well.”
The CSO was already ahead of the game in 2019. Recently retired CEO and president Jonathan Martin explained, “The goal of the ten-point plan was to quickly establish infrastructure to accelerate the absorption of best DEI practices into all facets of the organization. It was a logical extension of our 2019 strategic plan, which included a commitment to increasing the number of board members of color, hiring a chief diversity officer and having more CSO performances in area neighborhoods.”
In the wake of George Floyd’s murder, the CSO accelerated its efforts with a 10-point program to be accomplished within a year. Harold D. Brown was appointed chief inclusion officer in 2021, and as of 2025, 33% of the CSO’s board are persons of color and under the age of 40.
But CSO president and CEO Robert McGrath, who took over from Martin in February, acknowledges that, like other American orchestras, the CSO’s job postings lack job descriptions or criteria for evaluation and transparency during the tenure process.
“We adapted the recommendations BON put forward because they are the most substantial things we’ve done internally to inspire positive change in the CSO’s culture and within the industry at large.”
“From day one, everyone who joins the orchestra receives a document laying out the process by which they’ll be evaluated, the expectations both quantitatively and quantitatively that are expected, from performance level to developing communication and interpersonal skills,” McGrath continued.
“Those expectations are used as a rubric developed to make the process as consistent as possible,” he said. “These were developed in meetings with CSO musicians and staff, ensuring that we use fair and equitable standards to evaluate each musician.”
McGrath says several new CSO members are working under the new regulations.
Three other orchestras have incorporated BON’s recommendations into their recent CBAs: the New York Philharmonic, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and the Charlotte Orchestra.
BON founders and staff have high praise for the CSO.
“Jonathan Martin is incredible,” said violist Emilio Carlo, BON’s director of projects and a CCM alum who was in the first class of CSO/CCM Diversity Fellows sponsored by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. “Their amazing CBA credits BON for the language used in some of the new inclusions. Hopefully, other orchestras will start paying attention.”
BON co-founder Titus Underwood, principal oboist for the Nashville Symphony and CCM faculty member, adds that CSO is exemplifying what is common practice in most workplace settings.
“By itself, this CBA doesn’t eliminate racism. But its expectations and accountability are clearly spelled out. This is leveling the playing field for everyone,” he said.
“It’s incredibly meaningful that the CSO adopted some of BON’s language in its CBA,” said Weston Sprott, BON co-founder, dean and director of Juilliard’s preparatory division and trombonist for the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.
Sprott hopes that other orchestras will want to model their CBAs on those of the CSO and the other three cited in BON’s recent press release.
“These organizations that are setting the pace will be seen as successful organizations because this is more than the right thing to do; it makes the organization better,” he said.
“The letters we wrote are based on our lived experiences,” he continued. “Some experiences are traumatic; some are good and everything in between. We’re not out to be an organization to base ourselves in grievance and trauma. We’re based in creating practical solutions that make the world better for everyone and centering on what would make the world a better and more inclusive for Black musicians.”
For more information about the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, visit cincinnatisymphony.org. For more information about the Black Orchestral Network, visit blackorchestralnetwork.org.
This story is featured in CityBeat’s April 2 print edition.
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