Fewer positions in German professional orchestras
According to the German Orchestra Association, the number of musicians in German professional orchestras has continued to fall. From 2016 to 2018, the number of positions fell from 9816 to 9746, which corresponds to a decrease of 70 positions.
The number of orchestras also continued to decline. This was due to two mergers: the merger of the two SWR orchestras from Baden-Baden/Freiburg and Stuttgart as well as the Thüringen Philharmonie Gotha and the Landeskapelle Eisenach.
When the first all-German survey was carried out in 1992, there were 168 publicly financed, regularly performing professional orchestras. Since then, 39 orchestras have disappeared from the map. Between 1992 and 2018, the number of reported musician posts fell from 12,159 to 9,746, meaning that the number of jobs has fallen by around 20 percent. Further losses are looming in Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
In eastern Germany in particular, many professional musicians only have emergency collective agreements. Remuneration in some orchestras is up to 30 percent below the collectively agreed wage and therefore only just above the minimum wage level. Nationwide, 39 orchestras do not pay according to collective agreements, 27 of them in the east.
