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Omaha paying better than Hawaii.

Per the ad:
* The Collective Bargaining Agreement is currently under negotiation, salary and benefits may change.


...and the last two 990s don't look real good.

(Not being from the USA) I didn’t know what a 990 was, but I do now and here’s a link to an older one: https://www.omahasymphony.org/uploads/F ... .15.20.pdf

How to access the latest 990’s isn’t clear to me but I’d have thought it a good idea. On the other hand I’m not sure that being a professional Tuba player is a good idea. However, if someone can and they want to then that’s their choice.

Good luck to everyone auditioning today and tomorrow. Post some updates if you hear anything!

2nd tenor wrote: Mon Aug 04, 2025 3:00 am (Not being from the USA) I didn’t know what a 990 was, but I do now and here’s a link to an older one: https://www.omahasymphony.org/uploads/F ... .15.20.pdf

How to access the latest 990’s isn’t clear to me but I’d have thought it a good idea. On the other hand I’m not sure that being a professional Tuba player is a good idea. However, if someone can and they want to then that’s their choice.

Well…based on that old 990 you cite their year over year improvement was actually ok but that’s pre-covid shutdown. A 990 on it’s own isn’t going to give a true clear total representation of what’s going on though in the overall scheme of things.

It’s a small market regional group - a good starter group for someone who is getting their toe in the water of being a symphonic tuba player I would think. If I recall both Alan Baer and Gene Pokorny started out at a similar not that far away small market group - Milwaukee. Omaha is a low cost nice middle america town so a dollar is going to go a lot farther. Nice people and not the crime of a lot of other places. Within an easy day drive of Chicago and still the home of one of the richest guys in the world Warren Buffett (Berkshire Hathaway) who still lives in a modest home there. Some other major corporations call it home as well like Union Pacific RR and they all have a history of being generous donors to non-profits.

As far as the crack about being a professional tuba player that’s pretty much true about any musical job or any of the arts isn’t it? Outside of Taylor Swift and Beyonce and a couple others no one else is getting rich - more of subsistence survival. If Symponies were for-profit businesses they’d be out of business - unless they took advantage of the prolific numbers of very talented musicians that Universities are churning out every year. I kind of chuckled when someone posted here the other day about the Baltimore Symphony’s new contract. When I clicked on the link I was struck by the comment by the Union that the musicians wanted to be paid equivalent to the other major city symphonies. Baltimore hasn’t been a major city in decades and it never ever was in the league of NYC, Chicago or LA. More the equivalent of Milwaukee, WI.

And Baltimore is sliding into the abyss with a hostile business environment and population. They are most likely living off the last remaining major donors and their endowment. If this was a for profit business I’d slash payroll costs and replace with high quality recent graduates. The audience would for the most part not notice. I’m always hearing professional symphony players disparage their audiences musical IQ - often stating the audience is just there for the status and clueless about the music - that airhead socialite donors don’t care about the music. If that’s true - then the audience won’t notice any decline in quality of the product. This would allow the symphony to slash costs and ticket prices. This would allow them to grow the customer base. When the CSO ventures outside of downtown Chicago the ticket prices are $200 - $250. They will never attract younger patrons and folks not already fans of classical music. Without those new members and the continued loss of interest of the super wealthy (fewer and fewer people see much social status in donating to the Symphony any more) it’s just a matter of time before all the rainy day endowments in old school formerly wealthy industrial towns like Baltimore just completely depletes.

I don’t begrudge anybody wanting and asking for money nor that a lot of the administrations of these groups have major problems of their own, but the reality is at some point the money is gone and so are the jobs. The Unions seem to be completely oblivious to this. And mocking the audience that pays the high ticket prices is certainly no way to encourage more folks to buy tickets or to donate.

Craig Fuller is a great player and a good person.
I wish Craig all the best.

Someone will win the position. But NOBODY will replace Craig Fuller.

Seth Carter, winner...