For many kids who have a love of music, their future dream job consists of sitting on stage, washed in spotlights as the conductor raises his or her arms, signaling that the entire auditorium is about to be filled with music.
For music students at Ohio State their dream job might be forced to change.
An announcement released by the Board of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra in January declared it will fire 22 musicians at the end of August and impose an almost 30 percent salary and benefit cut forthe remaining 31 musicians by eliminating 12 weeks from the following season.
"The situation [with the CSO] really hurts the music department," said William Boggs, conductor of the OSU Community Orchestra. "It's definitely a lost opportunity for some music students."
Some students however, such as Kelly Neal, a junior in music and English, have other plans to fall back on.
For students who have other passions besides music, the cuts at the CSO do not have a major impact, Neal said. She said she plans to rely more on her degree in English to find her future career opportunities. But the problems at the CSO might be predicting an upcoming trend with other musical organizations, which would eventually affect students who hope to pursue a career in the field and find no positions within such organizations are open, she said.
The CSO was founded in 1951 and is currently conducted by Junichi Hirokami, who said in a New York Times article he had hoped to take the CSO on tours to Japan, throughout Europe and America, but will be unable to now because of the financial difficulties.
According to the CSO musicians Web site,
www.symphonymusicians.com, fans from around the globe have united in an attempt to make sure the symphony does not play its final note.
"You just can't have a city of culture without an orchestra," Boggs said.
Olivia Radcliffe can be reached at radcliffe.33@osu.edu.
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