Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Philadelphia Orchestra has gone on strike, canceling an opening night performance that about 1,000 people had come to hear.
Philly.com reports (http://bit.ly/2dgQZRh ) that the 96 musicians and two librarians who belong to American Federation of Musicians Local 77 decided to strike about an hour before curtain time on Friday. Last-minute efforts to reach an agreement failed during back stage talks.
Orchestra president Allison B. Vulgamore appeared on stage about 20 minutes before the concert was to begin and told the audience there would be no performance because a labor agreement wasn't in place for "one of the world's greatest orchestras, if not the greatest."
After the audience left the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, musicians came out carrying picket signs.
___
Information from: Philly.com, http://www.philly.com/
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.