| BG native Alex Hanna (Photo provided) |
When Alexander Hanna, fresh from graduating from the Curtis Institute of Music, arrived as principal
bassist of the Detroit Symphony for the start of the 2008-2009 season, he didn’t even know what a union
did.
"I didn’t know why they took money from my paycheck every week," he said.
Now in the wake of a 26-week strike that scuttled the orchestra’s season, Hanna, a 25-year-old Bowling
Green native said: "This whole experience makes me realize how important the union is and how much
it does for me." Orchestral music in the United States would not have achieved the artistic heights
it has without unions, he said.
A situation where musicians can be fired at will isn’t "a good environment in which to make
art."
"The union has enabled us to have some certainty and comfort," and that fosters commitment to
the artistic mission, he said in a recent telephone interview.
The strike was over pay and number of engagements and the size of the orchestra. In the end, orchestra
settled for pay cuts, reduction in size of orchestra and reduced season.
That season will start in October. "I’m looking forward to it, and dreading it because the
orchestra’s been devastated," Hanna said.
Many musicians left during and after the strike, including its concertmaster Emmanuelle Boisvert.
"It seems every week someone else leaves," Hanna said. When veterans musicians leave they take
with them decades of experience. A sense of ensemble that can only be nurtured through years of working
together is "essentially being destroyed."
"We will get some new musicians," he said. "Perhaps those musicians can bring fresh
enthusiasm and optimism."
He’s also concerned whether the orchestra can attract the top talent it has in the past. Because of the
rancor of the strike, the Detroit Symphony is "not the most attractive orchestra."
Still, Hanna said, "the standards of our musicians and our musical director (Leonard Slatkin) have
not changed."
Before he was hired at age 22, the orchestra had been looking for a permanent principal bass for six or
seven years – about as long as Hanna, who started on piano, and then played cello, had been playing
bass.
"Sometimes it takes awhile to fill these really coveted positions," he said.
The signs of discord were present from the time Hanna joined the orchestra. He and his fiance Hanna
Sterba, also a musician, had been preparing for it. A bassoonist, Sterba had a full-time job. Without a
mortgage or children, they were able to weather the strike better than some other members.
But as it wore on, Hanna said, "it got really scary."
"I’m young so I tend to be one of the most optimistic ones in the group," he said. "I
thought we were going to be on strike for two or three weeks."
But it stretched into six months.
The worst part, he said, was the infighting among musicians as they got desperate. "It was hard to
go to the meetings because it got pretty dark," he said. Still "we never lost out trust for
each other, never lost our respect."
During the strike, he did substitute with other orchestras around the country. "A lot of people
throughout the country were aware of what was happening in Detroit and knew I and other musicians of the
DSO were available."
He also received offers to play in Europe, which he was not able to accept.
Without the orchestra repertoire to work on, "I had a really good chance to practice a lot… It
helped me grow as a musician."
He did master classes. "It confirmed my passion for teaching, but it also confirmed my passion for
performing as my main priority."
He said he’s always open to new musical opportunities, and "I’m always trying to send out great
vibes" as he performs around the country.
This summer he returned to perform at Bellingham Festival of Music in Washington state. He and Sterba
will marry in Bowling Green in August.
Then in fall, he hopes the orchestra can get back on track.
"Probably the most frustrating thing for me," he said, was how the strike and its concentration
on the contract distracted from what he and other orchestra musicians are truly about.
Good contracts, he said, mean high quality orchestras, still "anybody who goes into this for money
is stupid. I do this for the music."
"All these things took us so far from why we’re here, which is to make really great music and bring
it to the people of Detroit, and the people of the world."
