The Strib declined to post my comment on this article:
http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/music/192632281.html
I will post it here instead….
Ironically, the long-tenured musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra, such as Bill Shrickel (who is quoted in the article) in even the worse-case-scenario, might be offered a handsome retirement package. However, those musicians of similar, or even equal ability, who are outside the orchestra, would not have such an option open to them. One of them, in fact, who was acknowledged to be a supremely talented player named Eric, died homeless recently on the shores of the Mississippi River; ironically, almost at the doorstep of the MO iconic director’s condo.