November 1, 2026
Contact: Stacey Champion | sc@champion-pr.com | 602-788-0033
Phoenix Symphony Musicians Take a Final Bow – But Refuse to Make It Their Last
Musicians play their final scheduled concert and will meet management at the bargaining table Monday, the first day of their layoff
PHOENIX – The 66 musicians of The Phoenix Symphony performed today at Symphony Hall in what is now the last concert on the orchestra’s calendar. With the 2026–27 season suspended and the musicians laid off effective tomorrow, no further performances are scheduled. But the musicians are determined that today’s concert will not be the last in the orchestra’s history.
Tomorrow, Monday, November 2, the first day of their layoff, the musicians will meet with Symphony management for bargaining. The musicians asked for the meeting. They are seeking not only to negotiate the consequences of the layoffs, but to have a voice in whether the orchestra goes silent – and when it will return.
The Symphony’s Board has said publicly that it wants the music to return “as soon as possible.” So do the musicians. They expect management to come to the table with a plan to put the orchestra back on stage.
“We have one question above all: what is the plan?” said Bridget Pasker, Assistant Principal Cello and Orchestra Committee Co Chair. “If management brings a real plan and demonstrates a willingness to get us back on stage, then we can help. We have always been prepared to negotiate in good faith to make it work.”
What goes dark with the stage
With no Symphony concerts on the calendar, Phoenix loses far more than a season:
• Classical, pops, and film concerts, and the holiday Symphony performances that Valley families plan around.
• Education and community programs that bring live music to thousands of students and families.
• The audiences that fill downtown restaurants and small businesses on concert nights.
• A Symphony Hall that the City of Phoenix just modernized with about $7 million in public funds, now standing empty and dark.
• Arizona’s only full-time professional orchestra.
If the silence lasts, the musicians may have no choice but to leave Arizona to find work. They may not come back. Orchestras that go silent rarely return the same, and some never return at all. Starting tomorrow, the musicians will not be paid. Their health insurance ends November 30, just as the holidays begin. After that, they must pay for continued coverage themselves or go without. They have no set date to return to work, and no assurance there will be a season to return to. Many have mortgages, children, and aging parents to care for. Four moved to Phoenix just this September to join the orchestra. Ten musicians are married couples so will lose both household incomes.
The musicians have already sacrificed over the years to help the Symphony meet its financial challenges. They have played shortened seasons since 2023–24, in an orchestra well below its contractual size, and accepted base annual pay (approximately $47,400 in the most recent season) that cannot keep up with the cost of living. They have offered to help with fundraising.
The musicians continue to call for real transparency and accountability. Just weeks ago, the orchestra opened its season to strong audiences under its new music director, Paolo Bortolameolli. The Symphony was in the midst of a $60 million fundraising campaign launched in 2025. As recently as October 1, the City was welcoming audiences to a renovated Symphony Hall for “this season.” But within weeks, the season was gone.
The musicians, and the community that supports this orchestra, deserve answers:
• How did this happen?
• Will there be accountability?
• What will be done to make sure it never happens again?
The musicians’ union has formally requested the Symphony’s financial records and has begun receiving documents. But the picture is still far from clear.
“Today we played for people who have supported this orchestra for decades. We want to play for them again,” Pasker said. “We will be at the table tomorrow, and are ready to meet any day after that, until this orchestra is back where it belongs.”
How the community can help:
• Tell the Symphony’s Board, the Mayor, and the City Council that Phoenix wants its orchestra back on stage this season.
• Follow and share the musicians’ stories on Instagram and Facebook and sign up for updates on the musician’s website.
• Before making your next gift to the Symphony, ask the Board the same questions the musicians are asking.