Highest Paid Orchestra in the US
Orchestra forms a greater part of colloquial music and is one of the most revered musical performances in the world. A single performance sees an ensemble of hundreds of different musicians in a single venue. When the years of practice are put into play, the performance draws thousands of onlookers or audience. This not only helps to keep the tradition of orchestral music alive but also pay the musicians to keep the establishment strong
Rick Perdian — Event and Music Management brings you a list of best orchestras in the U.S. The list is compiled based on the base pay of musicians.
The list also contains The Big-Five along with other orchestras in the US. The Big Five orchestras of the United States are the five symphony orchestras that are known for their “musical excellence, the caliber of musicianship, total contract weeks, weekly basic wages, recording guarantees, and paid vacations.
1 San Francisco Symphony
Base Pay $166,400
The San Francisco Symphony Orchestra remunerate their musicians a large chunk from ticket sales, donations, and other sources of income. It has maintained its spot on the base pay rankings over the years. SFO Symphony was founded in 1911. It’s based in San Francisco, California.
Since 1980, the orchestra has been performing at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall in the City’s Hayes Valley neighborhood. They are the resident orchestra of the LMD Symphony Hall. Despite the short history of performances, the orchestra has been awarded an Emmy Award and 15 Grammy Awards. It was also the first to feature symphonic radio broadcasts in 1926, and in 2003.
Visit https://www.sfsymphony.org/ to learn more about their upcoming performances.
2 Los Angeles Philharmonic
Base Pay $164,476
The Los Angeles Philharmonic, also known as LA Phil, was founded in 1919 by William Andrews Clark, Jr., a copper baron, arts enthusiast, and part-time violinist. It is the major orchestra based in the city of Los Angeles.
Each year, more than 250 concerts are either performed or presented at the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s two iconic venues: the Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Hollywood Bowl.
It is known its ability to remold and remodel its performances at the whim of the conductor offering it a unique advantage. The group resides in the abstract Walt Disney Concert Hall, where it has been led by conductor Gustavo Dudamel since 2005.
The LA Phil’s involvement with the city of Los Angeles expands beyond the walls of its concert halls, with performances in local schools, churches, and neighborhoods. In fact, one of their education initiatives, Youth Orchestra LA (YOLA), has provided free instruments and music training to over 700 local students.
Visit https://www.laphil.com/ to learn more about their upcoming performances.
3 Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Base Pay $159,016
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is one of the top-ranking American orchestras and a part of the “Big 5” orchestras in the US. Chicago Symphony Orchestra is a highly regarded brass section. At the time of this ranking, the group was led by Daniel Barenboim. It is now under the baton of renowned conductor Riccardo Muti.
It was established in 1891 by Theodore Thomas. The ensemble gathers at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival. Originally named “Chicago Orchestra,” it was later changed to Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1913. It has seen numerous music directors including Desire Defauw, Artur Rodzinski, Rafael Kubelik, Fritz Reiner, Jean Martinon, Georg silti, and Daniel Barenboim.
The Chicago Symphony first broadcast on the radio in 1925. Till now, it has performed well over one hundred concerts each year at its downtown home, Symphony Center, and the Ravinia Festival on Chicago’s North Shore.
Riccardo Muti, the current music director of CSO, has earned sixty-two Grammy Awards from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
Visit https://cso.org/home/ to learn more about their upcoming performances.
4 Boston Symphony
Base Pay $153,400
Boston Symphony Orchestra is one of the Big-Five orchestras in the U.S, also the second oldest among the Big-Five. It was founded by Henry Lee Higginson in 1881.
It primarily performs in the Symphony Hall Tanglewood in Boston. Since its establishment, it has had 17 different music directors including George Henschel, Serge Koussevitzky, Henri Rabaud, Erich Leinsdorf, and William Steinberg. The current music director is Andris Nelsons.
It was also the first orchestras to perform live on the radio (NBC, 1926), along with presenting more than 250 concerts annually. Its live performances have reached masses through the internet, radio, television, and educational programs.
As claimed by BSO, its official website is one of the most-visited orchestral websites in the world, with 7 million visitors annually.
Visit https://www.bso.org/ to learn more about their upcoming performances.
5 New York Philharmonic
Base Pay $147,550
New York Philharmonic, officially called Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc. is the oldest orchestra in the U.S. Established in 1842 by the American conductor Ureli Corelli Hill, with the aid of the Irish composer William Vincent Wallace.
Each season, the New York Philharmonic connects with over 50 million music lovers around the world through worldwide tours, residencies, digital recordings, and live broadcasts. It is also the first American orchestra to perform in North Korea. New York Philharmonic performed in Pyongyang on February 26, 2008, upon an invitation from the North Korean Government.
Some of the renowned music directors who have worked with New York Phil include Ureli Corelli, Theodore Eisfeld, Carl Bergmann, Leopold Damrosch, Theodore Thomas, Adolf Neuendoriff, Emil Paur, Wassily Safonoff, Gustav Mahler, Leopold Stokowski, and Zubin Mehta. The current music director of New York Phil is Jaap Van Zweden active since 2018.
Visit https://nyphil.org/ to learn more about their upcoming performances.
6 National Symphony Orchestra
Base Pay $143,208
The National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) is an American symphony orchestra based in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1930 and has been performing at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
NSO is home to over 100 musicians. They perform a 52-week season of approximately 175 concerts each year. They regularly participate in events of national and global importance including ceremonial state affairs, presidential inaugurations, and holiday celebrations. The annual National Memorial Day Concert in May and A Capitol Fourth concerts on 4 July are two of the highlights of NSO.
Visit https://www.kennedy-center.org/nso/home/ to learn more about their upcoming performances.
7 MET Orchestra
Base Pay $135,328.36
You must have heard about MET Gala, we hope you are familiar with MET Orchestra as well.
MET Orchestra is one of the world’s great performing ensembles who have performed more than 200 concerts each season. They are known for their performance both on stage and in the opera pit.
It was founded in 1883. Since then, MET Orchestra’s performances have performed entire opera repertoire, symphonic and chamber programs at Carnegie Hall, international tours, and countless musician activities outside of MET Opera House.
Visit https://www.metorchestramusicians.org/ to learn more about their upcoming performances.
8 Cleveland Orchestra
Base Pay $135,096
The Cleveland Orchestra is one of the “Big 5” orchestras in the US. It was founded in 1918 by the pianist and impresario Adella Prentiss Hughes. It has remained the primary venue to witness one of the best classical and contemporary compositions in the U.S. The orchestra plays most of its concerts at Severance Hall.
Franz Welser-Möst has led the Cleveland Orchestra since 2002. They often make extensive tours across the U.S. and abroad. Known for their artistic excellence, concert programming, and community engagement, they have a proud history of giving back to the community. They share the joy of music throughout Northeast Ohio via education and community programs that date back to its founding in 1918.
In 2012 Gramophone Magazine ranked the Cleveland Orchestra 7th on its list of the world’s greatest orchestras, and The New York Times referred to the orchestra in 2018 as “America’s most understatedly amazing orchestra.
It has seen the tenure of some of the greatest Music directors including Nikoloi Sokoloff, Artue Rodzinski, Erich Leinsdorf, George Szell, Pierre Boulez, Lorin Maazel, Christoph von Dohnanyi, and Franz Welser-Most.
Visit https://www.clevelandorchestra.com/ to learn more about their upcoming performances.
9 Philadelphia Orchestra
Base Pay $137,800
Philly Orchestra is the youngest among the Big-5 Orchestra in the US. It was founded in 2001. They solely based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They perform at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. They perform subscription concerns at Verizon Hall amounting to over 130 concerts annually.
YANNICK NÉZET-SÉGUIN is the current music director with STÉPHANE DENÈVE as principal guest conductor, and GABRIELA LENA FRANK as composer-in-residence.
They filed for bankruptcy in 2011 which dramatically cut the musicians’ pay. Prior to the bankruptcy, the orchestra was one of the highest-paid in the country. In recent years, the orchestra and the musicians negotiated and settled for a raise of 2%.
Visit http://www.philorch.org/ to learn more about their upcoming performances.
Get in touch with Rick Perdian to learn more about the essentials of orchestras management.
