A London bookseller came up with the perfect place to launch the new Harry Potter book this weekend – the city’s central King’s Cross train station, where Harry himself catches a train to Hogwarts School. But after the terrorist attacks on the city’s subway last week, one of which occurred at King’s Cross, the event is being moved out of central London entirely.
Tag: 07.13.05
Good News, Bad News In Seattle
The Seattle Symphony and the Seattle-based Pacific Northwest Ballet will both finish their fiscal years in the black, or at least close to it, but Seattle Opera has dipped into the red for the first time in over a decade. The opera’s deficit could be as much as $280,000 and comes just as the company is preparing to embark on a complete Wagner Ring cycle later in the summer, which will push its annual budget up by some $8 million. Meanwhile, no one’s really breathing easily at the symphony, where the accumulated deficit has been reduced but is still impressive, and the musicians’ contract is up for renegotiation.
Wage Freeze, Unpaid Furlough For Houston Symphony
After weeks of negotiations, the musicians and management of the Houston Symphony have tentatively agreed on a revision to their current contract. The revised deal includes a wage freeze, an unpaid three-week furlough, and an eventual 1% raise for the 2005-06 season. Negotiations went considerably better than the last time the orchestra was at the bargaining table, in 2003, when a bitter three-week strike left all sides unhappy and at serious odds. The revised contract is meant to lessen the organization’s dependence on capital campaigns for ongoing operating funds.