At this point, more than 600 signers of our petition have added personal comments and exhortations along with their signature.  They are passionate and clear and heartbreaking and encouraging.  Please read them to strengthen your resolve to help bring this lockout to an end.  Feel free to borrow from these comments as you write to Board members and politicians and businesspersons and others who can bring pressure on the SPCO Board and Management.

• When I attend SPCO concerts, I often feel as if I’m in the presence of genius. Not just the genius of the composers who penned the music, but also of the musicians who interpret and recreate it, and the instrument makers who crafted ordinary materials into spectacular tools, and the architects who designed the wonderful spaces in which the music is performed.  Something about being in the presence of genius puts petty issues into perspective, sharpens the mind for the next challenge, and ennobles the soul.  I need The SPCO in my life, and our community needs its ennobling powers, and its wonderful musicians need the opportunity to perform and earn a decent living doing so.  You, the Board, can help make it happen; please do.
• The SPCO until recently was a cultural gem with an international reputation.  To “pare down” and diminish this amazing group of musicians is unthinkable. I cannot believe that all of the board approves the destruction of the Orchestra and beg them to become involved in saving the full Orchestra.
• I would like to promote fair negotiations and honesty.
• I cannot live without this Orchestra…!
• Because it I care about music, humanity and the future of us all.
• I am a musician myself and I know how important music is to our communities. Please negotiate and end the lockout.
• Anyone who works, deserves fair pay for a fair days work. I also believe in the concept of “Good faith”
• Adding action item 5 to petition: stop calling me to ask me for donations when you propose to replace the orchestra I have known and admired for decades with unseasoned part-timers.
• This is a true St. Paul jewel.  It would be a shame for it to be gone.
• For the sake of the Arts…PLEASE?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
• It’s the right thing to do.
• The SPCO is a national treasure that is one of the best parts of the Twin Cities. The orchestra should not be destroyed but should be nurtured and the musicians honored and rewarded.
• Chairman, International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians (ICSOM)
• Respect for your musicians and for your city will engender respect FROM your musicians and from people living in the city you represent.  ’Tis the season for so many things.  Why not add doing something most positive for your community to the list?!
• Don’t ruin one of your city’s most priceless institutions. Support the musicians and end this lockout.
• These are dedicated, devoted musicians who deserve to be treated fairly, and in good faith.
• My mother is a SPCO violinist and I support her!
• The St Paul Chamber Orchestra is a National Treasure and the musicians should be treated with dignity and respect for their hours and hours of dedicated labor, rigorous training and dedication to their jobs and this kind of thing is shameful
• All across America, our fine orchestras are being destroyed by mis-management.  It has to stop, or we will be the poorer for it.
• This orchestra is my inspiration as I learn to play my own instrument. I can’t stand the idea that artists are treated like expendable line items.
• Fellow Musicians…..
• When the arts die our nation dies.
• So that the treasure that is the SPCO continues. The SPCO was the primary thing that attracted me to the Twin Cities.
• This is one of Saint Paul’s artistic gem, plus a revenue-generating activity that brings people to downtown Saint Paul for food, social gathering and wonderful music. What could be better than our divine players in the beautiful jewel-box of the Ordway? City mother and fathers, take note! Apply pressure!
• Show us that music is the most important!
• The role of an orchestra’s board and management is to support classical musc by supporting the musicians who make the music.  Being sidetracked by business models of highly paid executives and low paid “employees” may please businessmen but it distracts from this mission.  It is taking your eye off the ball.
• The SPCO breaks our hearts in joy with the beauty and integrity of their music.  The SPCO board is breaking our hearts and the soul of the orchestra with its short-sighted action – we beg the board to work with musicians and our community to save our SPCO.
• St. Paul management does not appear to be negotiating in good faith.
• Share your support for this wonderful group of musicians.
• The SPCO is the finest chamber orchestra in the U.S. Let the music, and the good faith negotiations, begin NOW.
• Future of classical music
• I believe that the SPCO will not be able to remain the world class ensemble it is if the management forces through the changes they want.
• We cannot deprive our community of this great music. It is too important to our community and civilization!
• Member of the Nashville Symphony
• We need to save this world class orchestra and this is to show our support for our musicians, who are also our friends.
• Professional quality music is important to the fabric of any community
• The SPCO is one of the real treasures of this region. It is crucial not to let it die.
• I’ve been a fan of the SPCO for 20 years, listening both on MPR and live.
• The SPCO is the cultural jewel of the capitol city of Saint Paul!
• One of the country’s best orchestras has been silenced, and its exemplary musicians h
• St. Paul is one of greatest orchestras in our country and a source of pride for Americans.  Decimating this orchestra rips the soul out of the community and the country.  History remembers a city for its arts and science.  Will St. Paul be remembered only for its bad decisions?
• The SPCO is precious and irreplaceable. It has expanded my musical tastes, and does an incredible job of attracting new and younger audiences. It would be shortsighted and irresponsible not to make every good faith effort to preserve this cultural treasure intact.
• Art and culture give a city character and greatness.
• i thrilled to hear the SPCO a number of years ago when they were on tour. Don’t destroy this wonderful orchestra!
• A lockout is a cessation of communication. Which, may I contend, HAS NEVER SOLVED ANYTHING. Support the SPCO!
• The SPCO is a wonderful institution in our community. We have been attending concerts for at least 15 years, and donate regularly to the orchestra. We miss them!!!
• The Twin Cities orchestras and their public deserve managements and boards that preserve great art. Sadly that is NOT happening here.
• In these troubled times, music can help bring people together. The musicians of the SPCO also provide a much needed educational service to school children and emerging orchestral professionals. In addition, why deprive the SPCO of much needed revenue through concert ticket sales?
• I love the orchestra. They make the music. Period.
• The Musicians make the orchestra.  They should never be locked out!  They deserve a management that has the musicians as the first priority!
• I am a season ticket holder and a supporter of the musicians, who after all, make the SPCO what it is. End the lockout now and find a solution that does not rest on the backs of the people who make this orchestra great!
• The SPCO is, and always has been, one of the finest chamber orchestras in the world. What is happening to the musicians is reprehensible!
• We love the musicians of the SPCO and we want this lockout to end immediately.
• All musicians should get paid what they are due.  Find some other way to cut your costs, not on the backs of the musicians.
• I played with the orchestra in the 1980s and always held the orchestra and the Twin Cities in the highest regard for the support of the arts. This fall has been a shock and disappointment. Please bring back the music!
• Music and art elevate the human spirit….Quality artists need and deserve your support and utmost respect.
• An amazing orchestra with amazing musicians.
• The SPCO is a national treasure, which I look forward to hearing on my trips to the Twin Cities. Its loss would be not only a tragedy, but a black eye for the civic leaders of St. Paul.
• This is one of the two great orchestras in Minneapolis.  The musicians have dedicated their lives and livelyhoods to making it great.  Do not destroy it.
• The musicians ARE the SPCO.
• Support the Saint Poul Chamber Orchestra!!!
• SPCO is a fantastic orchestra that provides amazing musical expression that any city would be proud to host.
• The SPCO is a jewel and a vital part of the cultural fabric of the Twin Cities.  Management’s position shows a lack of understanding and appreciation of the value of this cultural jewel and what it takes to assemble and maintain an orchestra of this caliber.
• The Arts require enlightened and creative leadership to continue thriving in this community. We must unite to help preserve such an ideal.
• The SPCO is one of the cultural treasures in our country. Please do not allow economic differences endanger their future.
• Through outreach programs we’re nurturing future supporters.
• The SPCO is a fantastic group of musicians–individuals who have, over their many years together, fused into a dazzling whole. Let them play!!
• The only full-time professional chamber orchestra in the country and definitely one of the best in the world…you get what you pay for.  This orchestra puts St. Paul on the map and they deserve our support!
• St. Paul Chamber Orchestra is a cultural treasure! Keep it alive!
• I remember this orchestra as  the monumental chamber orchestra since I was a child.
• The Music.  Supporting the members of the orchestra.  They should get A LOT MORE in $$ & benefits for what they provide.
• For many, many years we have enjoyed the SPCO on tour, first in Washington, and then in New York.
• arts and music are hugely important and should continue!!
• Because I’m a fan of music and community!
• I believe that music benefits our society
• The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra is the pre-eminent chamber orchestra in the U.S, and a treasure for the Twin Cities.  The musicians deserve a   fair contract and respect for their artistry and service to their audiences.
• I have heard the orchestra both in person and on recordings.  They seserve fair treatment and support–not harassment.
• You have some fine musicians in a great orchestra.  Don’t kill it, sustain it, that is your duty as a board and management.
• What happens to one orchestra effects all orchestras across the country.  Including the ISO.
• For the past several years I have been fortunate to bring students from my university to hear SPCO performances. The orchestra is a truly unique ensemble with some of the best musicians in the country, and it would be a shame to see that change or diminished by this sad state of affairs. It’s absolutely critical to keep the orchestra at its current quality and reputation, and that will require attracting the top caliber musicians. You can’t do that by turning this into a part time orchestra. Quality costs and as an audience member, I’m willing to pay for it.
• Unions and negotiations help the middle class, middle class made America what it used to be and can be again.
• Because I support my fellow musicians and organized labor.
• Great musicians deserve fair compensation!
• Music is necessary for life!
• I’m a professional musician, and I want to support my colleagues.
• We NEED this fantastic orchestra
• Classical music is important to our culture and our hearts. St. Paul is an extraordinary orchestra which I heard live in a huge hall here in Indianapolis few years back. Will never forget how “big” this chamber orchestra sounded in Clowes Hall which is a giant hall and has a giant stage. Top rate orchestra and should be supported at all costs!
• As a fellow orchestral player and someone who has sat at the negotiating table, I realize how important it is to keep talking before things reach an impasse.
• The SPCO is an integral thread in the cultural fabric of the Twin Cities, indeed the upper Midwest.  Keep the concerts going while you work toward a solution.
• Such art is too important to be without for so long
• I’d hate to see an orchestra that I helped to build for over forty years go away because of a management that has forgotten that they’re a ‘support group,’ not the orchestra.
• I am not a local audience member, but like many around the country I’ve heard the SPCO on recordings and radio broadcasts. In fact, the orchestra put St. Paul on the map for me. I’m rather shocked that a gem like the SPCO is not being valued and cared for. Musiicans are not interchangeable cogs in a machine. Do protect what you have so carefully built over many years!
• Silencing the music hurts everyone.  It does crazy, crazy damage to the artistic “product,” to ticket sales and donations when the music resumes, everything.  End the lockout—put the musicians on stage.
• The orchestra management is risking losing high quality musicians forever in this group and tainting the reputation of the world-class music-making that has defined the SPCO for decades.
• I am a musician and I understand how important an orchestra is to the larger community. Please sit down and negotiate in good faith- end the lockout!
• Subscriber and donor. The SPCO is a unique institution that has been doing a lot of things right and should be a model for other arts organizations.
• The SPCO is the foremost Chamber Orchestra in the WORLD and should be deemed a National Treasure.  The current Board and Managment are have no idea of it’s value and importance and are trying to viscerate it.
• Bargaining in good faith means no lock outs. This tactic is the worst imaginable one for the community.
• St, Paul needs stable and well-run arts organizations!
• Please do not destroy this national treasure
• Lock outs only create ill will between all parties — including potential audience members. This could be a death knell for a marvelous and respected institution if not resolved. Don’t be Congress!!!
• Keep great music flowing for all the citizens of the area & the world.
• As a professional artist who has worked with incompetent administrators, I see many of the same incompetencies in SPCO management with much of the same dissembling lingo.
• I have enjoyed hearing the SPCO on the radio for many years.  The quality of the musicianship is the essence of its world-wide reputation.
• I am unable to fathom the motivation behind a Board of Directors that would seek to destroy that which they claim to support.  It would be an artistic and moral crime for this group of individual to effectively end the realm of this elite group by failing to work with the musicians as partners as the SPCO seeks to regain financial stability.  SHAME! SHAME!
• The destruction of a world class ensemble should be important to everyone.
• Once again we observe a BOARD OF DIRECTORS fail to work as partners with the organization they are charged to support.  I have not ceased to be amazed when the egos of the directors becomes more important than the health and welfare of the organization.  If the Board continues to resist negotiating with the musicians of the SPCO, the world will hold this Board responsible for the demise of this renowned orchestra.  Get it together board…..what can I say…….
• Trying to make a living
• A great city needs great music!!!
• The SPCO is one of the great treasures of our city and state.
• These are musicians of the highest quality who deserve the utmost respect.  Please bring the music back!
• Because refusing to even negotiate an enormous salary cut is an unfair labor practice
• this lockout will unnecessarily damage the quality of a world class mucical organization
• Really? I love music and I support the musicians. The rich, spoiled board is not doing a good job.
• the orchestra is a cultural gem that deserves full support and great respect for all its accomplishments and the dedication of its musicians.
• This is one of the greatest orchestras in the world. Every time I hear them perform, it nourishes my soul. This doesn’t happen with any other chamber orchestra I’ve heard.
• Whenever we come to the “city”, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra is our first priority.  It’s a marvelous organization that deserves support!
• I wanted to be a professional musician (trombone) nearly since I learned to play. Here, almost 50 years later, I’m still playing, albeit as an amateur in a non-profit orchestra and local, popular big band. But, there is nothing like hearing true professionals. The Twin Cities have been privileged to have two outstanding professional orchestral organizations in our community. SPCO is truly an asset that this area should not lose.
• The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra is one of America’s great cultural institutions. Anyone involved in destroying it should hang their heads in shame.
• The SPCO is world class. It is totally unconscionable for management to have locked out the musicians, especially after they have made concessions for many years in their last few contracts. Were they supposed to agree to everything and anything proposed by management? This lockout is a lowdown tactic and shows what kind of people are running (or destroying) this cultural asset. If they had any character or integrity, they would have looked towards a resolution to  a new contract while these wonderful musicians were continuing to create their great art and bringing joy to so many music lovers and supporters.
• Don’t let this be another fine orchestra to be cut back to a shadow of its former self. If you do, it will never regain the status and musical achievements it once had. I speak from experience having gone through this same process with the Toronto Symphony. Good luck!
• The SPCO is an international treasure.  I think everyone involved needs to work together with a cooperative spirit to protect and nurture this gem of the Twin Cities.
• Music should be given a higher priority in this world for all kinds of reasons
• The volunteer members of this board should be recognized and applauded for their dedication to the SPCO. They have assumed the responsibility to represent the public interest in the fiscal oversight of the orchestra, but in their enthusiasm for this role they have become too involved in operations, including artistic decisions. This and other intrusions seem to have soured relations between the board and the artists to the point that, rather than supporting the SPCO the board has begun to confound it and now threaten its continuance. Odd, for a group of people that originally volunteered to help. Please end the lockout.
• Stop this hateful, worthless lockout!  Please come to the table and work respectfully with the musicians to find solutions.  And let them do their jobs!
• SPCO is the premier chamber orchestra in this country.  Please help to preserve its quality and future!
• Let’s preserve this fantastic orchestra.
• Lockouts stink whether it is Hockey or in the Arts.   Up with workers!
• One catches more flies with honey than with vinegar.   The SPCO is a sweet spot, a group that exemplifies all that is great about our artistic side in Minnesota.   Fight to protect the reputation so well deserved as a mid-sized city with two world class orchestra.   It’s no mistake that that happened here, and to throw it away with callous disregard it destructive and sends a “keep out” message.  Instead, put aside the vinegar, use a spoonful of honey and allow the music to continue while mending the nets.
• The arts are vital to the community and nation.
• right thing to do
• After living and working near the Twin Cities for over thirty years, my wife and I now debate     whether to retire here or move elsewhere.  One of  our greatest concerns about leaving is that we could no longer enjoy the SPCO.  We sincerely hope the Board will not “solve” the issue for us.
• Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra is an icon of artistic excellence to every musician. Stop these bad faith negotiations
• great respect for Christopher Brown and the good of chamber music for Saint Paul and all of us.
• I have grown up listening to the ST. Paul Chamber Orchestra, marvelling how it is truly one one of the premier chamber orchestras in the world. And I have been privileged to perform and work with some of the amazing musicians of this group. These musicians have absolute integrity in their profession and deserve to be treated with much more respect than they have been shown at the hands of their management.
• The SPCO is unique in the world because of its musicians.  NOBODY does what they do near as well, let alone better.  They are a shining cultural star for the state and make the world a better place to live in by the content and quality of what they do.
• Don’t treat the world class musicians like this!!
• Hearing the SPCO on tour in Spokane years ago was one of the best concerts I ever heard.
• The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra is one of the finest musical ensembles in the World.  St. Paul, Minneapolis, the entire state of Minnesota and indeed, the entire country should treasure this legendary orchestra.  It is tragic for the soul of art in the midwest that this ridiculous lock out exists.  I urge the management of the SPCO to return to the bargaining table.
• Live Music is important for the soul
• The SPCO is one of the large reasons I came to the Twin Cities to pursue my master’s degree in music. I have gotten to hear them once and the Minnesota Orchestra 0 times since arriving here. And now, thanks to both of these standstills, I am left doubting whether I should have continued pursuing my musical career or not. But no matter what happens with me and other music students here, it’s vital to the health of the community (and obviously the SPCO musicians!) that this gets resolved, and hopefully without too much damage beyond what has already been done.
• This decision is affecting the lives of parents and their children.
• The music of SPCO transforms the ears of the city, and makes history with the excellence of their unified sound!
• The community of St. Paul needs to continue hearing the world class musicians of the SPCO and they need to be compensated at a fair rate.
• Music is for the soul How dreary would our lives be without it.
• This lockout is not the fault of the musicians.  It is the board’s responsibility to be realistic with terms.  Save our world class orchestra.
• Cultural life would be impoverished without the SPCO
• Each year I attend 5 to 10 SPCO concerts.  The manner in which management is making demands and the extreme terms are unreasonable and incredulous.  The board of directors should reconsider their tactics, end the lock out,  negotiate with the muscians, and stop acting like Republican corporate slashers.  Most patrons can afford to pay more than $10 for a ticket–this is an immediate source of revenue.The supporters, listeners, and muscians deserve better.
• This world-class orchestra needs a world-class management team that will negotiate in good faith. “No” cannot be the only answer to the Musicians’ creative and reasonable proposals. There doesn’t seem to be any real negotiation taking place.
• The musicians are your orchestra.  The orchestra is your product.  Put money into your product, not the concert hall and other things that are not the product.
• The SPCO has been in my life since attending summer camp with orchestra musicians in the 1960s. This group is an international treasure and must be preserved intact!
• The SPCO is a FANTASTIC orchestra and must be allowed to not only survive but to flourish.
• Because I am a working classical musician. In addition to the immense cuts, there are also draconian measures proposed which would set back the whole profession for years.
• I’m a musician who has performed at SPCO events. I’ve also been an audience member and appreciate the level of skill and commitment these musicians have. I support fair pay that is respectful and reflective of the dedication required to be a professional musician.
• These musicians are at the top of their profession and deserve a pay that reflects that.  Decisions made by the Board over the years that has resulted in the current financial difficulties is not a burden that should be passed on to the musicians.  They have already agreed to significant pay cuts.  When more than $55 million has been raised for non-musician related improvements, $1.5 million really isn’t that much.  The time and effort going into this lock-out, if it had been redirected to salary improvements and musician retention, could have prevented this whole thing from happening in the first place.
• The musicians ARE the orchestra – and for management to forget this endangers the future of the orchestra.
• To lose the most highly respected SPCO would be a loss of cultural integrity in American society.
• Classical music is the foundation of excellent culture. While this country is lowering its standards in many regards, we must maintain this essential element of beauty in life.
• The arts are necessary to a civilized society.
• The actions of the BOD have already compromised the artistic integrity of the SPCO. Having a world-class artistic institution in St Paul pulls in $50 in tax revenue for every dime Minnesota spends on it, and it keeps the downtown vital and the businesses hopping. I love the concerts, but it makes good business sense for the city and the state.
• The very future of this art form is at stake.  The Board must rise up!
• The audience needs to remember what they would be missing, be enriched by the music being made and the musicians need the work.
• fair negotiations are a must
• It would be criminal to destroy this world-class orchestra.
• The SPCO is a seasoned ensemble that has served Minnesota’s audiences with finely choreographed and spirited performances of historical treasures and music of our time. They serve children and adults, driving and playing all over the state and beyond. Locking them out during negotiations is mean-spirited. You are not only tearing a precious relationship between the SPCO and your community, but are acting carelessly towards this group of commited professionals; people who deserve better and who are the living embodiment of a specialized musical art form.
• We are starved for SPCO music!
• My commitment to the arts in MN, as well as the artistic quality of these amazing musicians.
• I am a cello teacher in the community and heavily invested in the arts.  We are lucky to have such a wealth of musicians in our community, but if we lose either one (or both) of our orchestras, it will have a negative impact on our arts, our culture, and what Minnesota is known for. As a society, we have no problem paying out millions on sports arenas and the players, but we can’t figure out how to keep a musician’s “family of 4″ above the poverty line?  We start preparing for our jobs as early as age 3 or 4—-endless hours of practice, injuries, lessons, expensive teachers and instruments—but we’re not worth a $130,000/yr. job? I’ll bet the board members aren’t settling for $130,000 a year.  It’s political and it stinks.
• When I think of St. Paul, the first thing that comes to mind is the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.
• Board members of arts organization who remember their missions. While most arts organizations have missions that relate to bringing arts and arts education to their communities, many board members really believe that the missions of their organizations are to break even. They believe that cutting budgets and doing less is satisfactory as long as the budget is balanced. We need to remember that doing less and doing less important work does not achieve the mission. And, in fact, it works against the possibility of achieving a balanced budget.
• We’re very committed to the quality of SSPCO–season ticket holders for ages
• professional musician colleague
• The Board should be servants of the art form, sharing it with the people, rather than destroying the lives of the very ones who create the art. The sole goal of a balanced budget (at the expense of the artists) is not enough.
• Because we need our orchestras back
• I want to enjoy this music, i want back the pride of having such a fine Chamber Orchestra, I want making music to also mean making a living for as many excellent musicians as possible, and i want kids to know that is possible.
• The orchestra is a non-profit organization, but the lock out seems to have a profit or expense reduction motive.  It is important to manage well, but it appears that management needs to raise donations and an endowment rather than locking out the musicians.  Something is screwed up here.  this is not a sport.
• Music is actually important as is culture in our world.
• The SPCO is unique in America and a treasure for the people of Minneapolis/St. Paul
• The musicians provide something very special- culture,  so our lives encompass more than just work & toil. They bring great value to the city and should not be diminished to such an extent. No one is saying that there is no financial problem, but please use some creativity in figuring how to maintain the integrity of the orchestra than to later rebuild something that’s been destroyed.
• As a musician, I feel we are important to preserve the Arts.  Musicians work very hard, are great cultural ambassadors and deserve respect and appropriate remuneration.
• The music must go on!  A deal can be reached that is respectful and responsible.  Make it happen!
• They breath life back into me when I am depleted.  I love them. They are magical.
• Because it seems to me that management is being hostile to the artists, and not attempting to find a resolution.    This is a negotiation strategy that was unheard of only a short time ago.  Stop the nonsense and get on with creating a sound funding model and treat your musicians with the respect they deserve.
• Keep music in the Twin Ciies!!!
• The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra has been, and is, one of the finest chamber orchestras in the world.  I have never had the opportunity to hear them live, but I have been enjoying their recordings for years.  We will lose a part of our musical soul if we allow a group such as this to go downhill.
• The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra is a cultural trasure. The musicians  deserve to be supported so they can provide music to the community. Locking them out is a sad and cowardly action.
• The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra is one of the best orchestras in the world. They are too important an ensemble to be silenced.
• the talented musicians ARE the orchestra
• i love the SPCO and want to see the fine musicians back on stage.
• Art needs artist those of your occupation can live !
• It is very important for the management to show good faith- they are not by using the lockout
• As a member of The Philadelphia Orchestra I have seen what the misguided business minded Boards are doing to orchestras, here, and around the country. The results being demoralized ensembles permeated with an air of insecurity and distrust. Boards and Managements are destroying the possibility for art to thrive. They use catch phrases like   “sustainability” as Trojan Horses  in a false hearted attempt to  break the unions and impose reductions and work rules that serve no real purpose other than to bolster the community  business “leaders” images of themselves as caretakers of the institutions.
• As a future music educator I stand with my fellow musicians in their struggles over fair pa.
• It is a travesty to witness what is happening to the arts in this country, and it is especially sad to see what the wonderful orchestras of Minnesota are going through right now.
• Board of Directors, you have been entrusted to preserve Saint Paul’s greatest performing arts organization – please do so.
• I am really shocked that orchestra management in a city that prides itself for its commitment to culture and art would use such brutal tactics to bully musicians into submission, and risk destroying this great orchestra in the process. It’s a sad commentary on the state of things in America when this is viewed as a good way to “negotiate”.
• Professional musicians deserve the greatest respect possible, with no further concessions.
• I think the Arts define our Cities as world class. SPCO is a world class chamber orchestra. We need to celebrate and support their continued success as a thriving cultural treasure.
• Our community needs to have a balanced culture. We need to support our fine arts and our talented musicians.They have consistently shown their dedication to our community. They deserve to be treated as the professionals they are.
• All workers should be negotiated with fairly.
• This is extremely important to maintain the high quality of life in the Twin Cities!
• I highly value the art of live classical music.
• Business Rep
• Why do I even need a reason as to why this is important to me?  It is self-explanatory.
• Just because I enjoy beautiful music.  It sparks the holiday season.
• fair wages
• music is a big part of my life and the SPCO is special to me.
• This is NOT the way business gets done in Saint Paul.
• The Arts are important to our society
• Ashamed of the cold hearted reaction from the world’s largest “Christian” Church.  Stop the manipulation to crush another Union in these United States.  Shame on you.
• Musicians being treated unfairly without regard to their sacrifices and contributions are always important to me. The Florida Orchestra, of which I am a member has been through 2 strikes with and I stand with my colleagues in solidarity.  Hang on!
• We need the music!
• We must support the arts  We must support unions
• A world class orchestra adds such immeasurable wealth to our community. Please end this lock out and continue to negotiate in good faith. This action does not become this organization.
• SPCO???  It’s the musicians, stupid.
• This is terribly wrong for incompetent management to punish musicians and decide the future for them.
• Ultimately, very little of cultural program funding actually goes to the artists who create or perform.
• These people spend YEARS & YEARS learning their crafts. They are very important to our town and society. You aren’t just paying for the hours that they play, but also the YEARS they spent learning mastering what they do.
• The SPCO creates the most beautiful music and it’s a shame that the musicians are being treated so shabbily by management.
• The musicians deserve the opportunity to bargain in good faith with management.  The community deserves the opportunity to hear and see great musical performances.  Let the orchestra play, while bargaining for a fair agreement goes on.
• The musicians in SPCO and all musicians deserve better treatment.  They have made sacrifices in the past.  It’s time to treat them with respect
• Music is a universal language!
• the arts in all forms are so important to preserve and to share.  If young people do not have orchestras like the SPCO to aspire to their dreams will never form
• We need not to lose this great orchestra. We need to be fair to each other.
• This management tactic is being used across the country.  We musicians of the Atlanta Symphony are looking for ways to reverse the backwards movement of orchestra managements who are unable to do their jobs.  They pad their offices with extra staff and then take it out on the musicians.  We are the product!  We should not be sacrificed for an austere bottom line, also a fashionable  attitude in our nation’s Congress.  It’s wrong to cut at this time.
• It is important for management to know that muscians, especially of the caliber in SPCO, are NOT COMMODITIES!  You can not deliver an artistic product like the current SPCO without maintaining exceptional musicians within a stable structure.  The musicians have already gone the extra mile.  It is time for management to meet them.
• music is vital to mental health
• Because music is important and because musicians are never compensated sufficiently for the value of their talent and any effort to compensate them fairly should be welcomed and encouraged.
• Please save the SPCO!
• I am tired of seeing workers get robbed of their wages and benefits so corporate executives can have a larger salary off the backs of those who do the work
• As a freelance musician it is important for me to support any and all players who are in disputes with promoters, agents and the management of professional orchestras. Players need to play and allowing the music go on while the SPCO contract gets renegotiated will allow the organization to keep their audience and the musicians to keep PLAYING.
• I’m also a musician
• Fairness
• I am a musician and sympathize with the players of SPCO.  We were lucky to find a Executive Director who seeks to consensus rather than force issues.  When everyone is content, even the most difficult issues can be solved!
• One wonders if you’re trying to destroy the SPCO. This would never have been allowed to happen were music a professional sport, and the SPCO were our team.
• So we can continue enjoy the Chamber Orchestra music
• First class musicians are essential to Minneapolis and the state of Minnesota. They are more important than building funds or new construction.
• Musicians need to be fairly paid and fairly negotiated with in your community so that the M/SP area can continue to benefit from their excellent reputation!
• Benifits city, economics, quality of life, inspire today’s youth.
• I have been head usher at UCC for 31 years.  I am totally disturbed by this lockout, inappropriate revenue decisions and failure to honor what it took historically to build this family  of musicians. Why doesn’t this matter? We don’t need a beautiful concert hall.   We need our musicians, every one of them.  Raise our ticket prices for Heavens sake. And show good faith, please.
• So much of what I love about living here is tied up in these two orchestras. I have season tickets to the MN Orch., and my sister takes me to SPCO. I am heart-broken.
• I play in the Regina Symphony, where we’re fortunate to have good management and board who bargain with us in good faith.
• The musical culture of our country is maintained by gifted, loyal musicians and not management and symphony boards who will not pay them a living wage commensurate with their skill levels. It is very disappointing that an orchestra of this quality does not have the full support of their community leaders and Board members. These musicians have made more than reasonable concessions of salary during the last five years. It is time for the Board and Management to treat them fairly or lose this institution. Those of us in other symphony orchestras are 100% behind the musicians in this wage dispute!
• I really miss our Saturday night concerts and think this lockout is unnecessary and very harmful to the entire SPCO.
• The longer the lockout continues, the less likely the orchestra will be able to recover. Does the board really intend to destroy this wonderful orchestra, when there is still a good chance to save it?
• The SPCO has been an incredible orchestra in MN/USA that has blessed us with the highest standards of excellence of music – it must continue!
• locking unions out so mgmt can reduce costs has become far too easy
• I can’t imagine the wonderful city of St. Paul without this incredible Chamber Orchestra!
• The SPCO is my ” home” orchestra–I learned my love of music from them.  They are the jewel of St. Paul–we cannot lose them!
• I have been a season ticket holder for a few years now. I was under the impression budgets were being balanced from the communications I received from the organization. Shocked and dismayed this fall when this contention arose. The  music and the musicians are the reason for this group. Major cuts to their salaries are unacceptable.
• The musicians ARE the SPCO.
• This orchestra is a very essential part of my life!
• Take off the mutes! I need my inspiration back!
• The twin cities needs to protect its investment in offering great arts and let the mismanagement of the SPCO continue.
• SPCO concerts are the only concerts I attend. I miss them. Let’s bring them back.
• Rather it is Crystal Sugar or the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, stop this war on workers.
• End the lockout, negotiate, resolve
• I’ve t been an usher for SPCO and have developed a deep appreciation for these wonderful musicians. You cannot cull their ranks and maintain the high quality of this group. They are family, whose members depend on each other for their extraordinary work.
• The SPCO is an invaluable cultural asset to Saint Paul and the surrounding communities. A city which fails to recognize the necessity for such an accomplished orchestra as the SPCO fails to provide for the city’s present and future cultural health.  Cultural organizations are not
  supposed to be held to a “business” model, because they are non-profit organizations and aren’t beholden to “shareholders”. A successful orchestra Board should be committed to raising money and bringing more donors into the “pool” of financiers….for the goal and pride of having a world-class orchestra in their city,
• We retired to the Twin Cities because of its vibrant cultural life and have enjoyed the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra for the past 6 years.  The musicians deserve more from the Board than their current treatment.  Stop the lockout and negotiate now!
• The SPCO is an irreplaceable group of stellar performers that enriches my life immeasurably.    I’m sure many supporters would have increased their donations before the lock-out if we’d known what dire straits lay ahead.  Why didn’t anyone in management give us that option before deciding to require such draconian sacrifices from the musicians?  Please do your patrons the courtesy of resuming talks to resolve this completely avoidable impasse.
• Life without music? I don’t think so! Please start the conversation to show a commitment to our communal future.
• This wonderful group of musicians porvides a vital cultural aspect to our Twin Cities which must be preserved!
• As a season ticket holder I am frustrated with what appears to be “union busting” tactics on the part of management.  I want my music back and don’t see how not talking is a productive tactic by management,
• Common sense!
• The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra is the premiere orchestra of its kind in the U.S.  It’s a national treasure and must be preserved.  The musicians deserve the pay they’ve been getting as well as deserving a management better at handling finances and more appreciative of the ensemble they’re supposed to promote.
• Proceeding with this lock-out feels like totally disrespectful union-busting.  I am also concerned that the Twin Cities is losing the cultural infra-structure that attracted me when I chose to move here.  Minnesota culture can do better than this!
• This is a world class orchestra – and a Minnesota treasure. If we can build yet another sports stadium I don’t understand we can certainly manage support of our treasured orchestra. So let’s get going!
• By your actions you are depriving your community of live music and depriving your musicians of a livelihood Shame on you!
• We must not lose such a fine musical group as SPCO!
• As a long time subscriber it is appalling to me that these fine musicians are being treated so poorly and with such a lack of respect.  I miss my SPCO!
• The fine music of the SPCO is good for the soul in trying times. I miss it.
• The SPCO is a jewel in the Twin Cities arts community and are known all over the world. We should be supporting this kind of art for our community and for our children and grandchildren.
• The SPCO is more than classical music for a select few. It is a statement by the city of Saint Paul and the State of Minnesota about the quality of life for all. Providing more than concert presentations; it provides serious music education for young and old. Without enlightened leadership for the SPCO our community loses more than just a venue for wonderfull classical music. It loses part of its spirit. An erosion felt ultimately all across our city, our State and our country.
• The tragic strategy of the Board of the SPCO is killing this fine orchestra, and sanity has to be restored
• The SPCO is important to me because of the quality of its artistry. It is important to St. Paul because its artistry and its worldwide status as one of the best (if not THE BEST) among the best.
• To lose a chamber orchestra of this caliber and quality would be a tragedy and a disgrace to the Twin Cities community which has always supported the arts so strongly.
• This orchestra is a local. state, and national treasure and it deserves respect and support.
• Am a long-time season ticket subscriber. Frankly, for several years we have been concerned about some of the decisions made by the management.  We Minnesotans deserve fresh, new, visionary leadership of the SPCO.
• I really treasure the SPCO and have felt incredibly fortunate to have this world class musical gem right here in Minnesota.
• Besides being superb professionals, our musicians are part of our community. Not only do I miss the joy of attending concerts, I would miss  even one musician who was forced to leave because of this continued lockout.
• We must save this skilled, talanted world class orchestra. It has been the fabric of my music life as a teacher and music enthusiast. We must give this to our young people.
• SPCO became the beautiful part of my life!!!
• The outstanding talent of this group is SORELY missed
• Long time season ticket holders, donors, encore society members
• Why live in MN without the SPCO
• I love this orchestra!
• I played 36 years of professional French horn in Germany. After living through two World Wars, the German people today have a saying:  ”Wenn die Kultur geht, der Krieg kommt.” (When culture leaves, war comes) Think about it………..
• I need the music that the orchestra plays
• Because my sister-in-law is a member of the orchestra & I know how talented they are and deserving to continue their fine organization.
• I played a viola in the orchestra from 6th to 12th grades.  It was a wonderful experience for me, and for those that we played for.  In this day and age of smart phones, internet, etc. I feel it important to support the arts.
• The Twin Cities have two world class orchestras. Hard to believe their management are willing to piss them away.
• I love music!
• Don’t destroy our beloved SPCO!
• The SPCO is a valuable part of our community.
• Music is meant to be heard – so why get in the way of letting the musicians do their jobs? It’s important to have music – otherwise we are not human!
• The SPCO is an integral and valued part of our Twin Cities and national community. The ensemble represents my values, and I am proud to support them at a level that acknowledges their skill, artistry and contribution to our society.
• professional musicians are a treasure…Classical Music is a must.!!!!
• I have held season tickets since before the Ordway opened.  We need our orchestra back.
• They are a gift to the community.  Treating them in this manner is nonsense.  They do not deserve this after years of dedication to the community.
• Music feeds our souls.
• I am an avid fan of SPCO, have been attending concerts since the first year of inception.  It is very impressive how much improvement over the years and a trajedy to see it lost over the board’s irresponsibe actions.
• I support the musicians whole heartedly.  To the administration, Please work to settle this dispute and put our musicians back to work.
• We support the musicians.
• great artists
• My first classical concert was on my 8th birthday. Granted I fell asleep that first concert, but since then I have attended a concert every year for my birthday. Often it was with the SPCO.  The experiences during childhood of live classical music have continued to influence my adult life.  I listen to classical music everyday – especially at work to create a calm and stimulating atmosphere.   Since graduating college I’ve attended several SPCO concerts a year.   As a craftswoman I often find inspiration in classical music.   Next year is my 26th birthday. I have been listening to classical music and attending live concerts with the SPCO for 18 years – that is 70% of my life spent with classical music in the background.  Please commit to negotiating and end the lock out. Current and future children deserve a thriving classical community – which depends on a thriving SPCO.
• This is a very special St. paul orchestra
• The SPCO has been a world-class musical organization, and management’s bungling approach to the situation threatens to destroy that reputation and greatly damage the Twin Cities’ cultural scene.
• I do not want the orchestra to disappear! They help me make it through the winter.
• We need this msuic in our society!
• The beautiful music fills my soul.  It is missed.  Also, I know two of the musicians, so it is personal.
• An orchestra of this caliber with such highlly talented musicians should be valued and preserved.  Every effort should be taken to provide the necessary funding to continue.  The management’s position of hiring contract players and  lack of good faith negotiating will likely destroy this orchestra and others across the country.  Preserve the orchestra and the dignity of these extremelyfine, highly trained musicians so that this orchestra and others do not become a thing of the past!
• Wonderful group with such a rich history, should be supported nationally.
• I have been an SPCO subscriber for many years, and for several years a member of the Green Room because I make a contribution that compensates for the low price of my tickets ($10 per concert for the two series I attend).  As I am 79 years old and do not drive at night, the cancelling of Friday morning and Sunday afternoon concerts is a huge loss for me.  I feel as though my entire cultural life has disappeared.  Please get the musicians back to playing!
• Business people, who have no connection with the art world should not run a cultural institution and apply profit oriented strategy to a non profit organization. I have been concertmaster of several world class orchestras (among others the Minnesota Orchestra and Vienna Radio Symphony) performing worldwide for 51 years.   The present situation in the Twin Cities music scene cannot be described as anything less than an outrage!  The board of directors ought to start the savings beginning with their own remuneration!
• Great Orchestras like SPCO need great towns like St Paul & Minneapolis – hand & glove!  Do what it takes to keep the high level of musicianship alive in the SPCO.
• The arts and artists are important to our society.
• Music is an important part of our culture; past, present, and future.
• The musicians are being treated unfairly and disrespectfully.  The Boards of Directors of the MN Orchestra and the SPCO are killing music in Minnesota.
• Because music is not some frivolous pleasure to be dangled as a carrot by Boards who think of it only as a business.  There is much more at stake here. When the Arts are healthy, humankind thrives.
• The unfair practices of the board and lack of consideration of the musicians well-being with lack of any wages or health care benefits is archaic and unfair!  Our communities need the nourishment of the musicians music!
• I have a daughter who is a music performance major in college, studying on the cello.
• As a violinist since the age of 5 my only opportunity to perform came from the educational system. As an adult I struggle to find opportunities to perform and see performances. The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra gives me the opportunity to enhance my knowledge and understanding of music and performance. End the lockout please!
• I have had season tickets for over 25 years to the Baroque/neighborhood series.  It is important to me to keep the arts strong in an increasingly difficult environment.  Great music has a lasting effect on all.
• Our community institutions need to treat the members of the community fairly — and that certainly includes the musicians who create the value that the SPCO brings to the Twin Cities.
• It’s an issue of justice for people who work.
• For me, an important part of living in a location is the depth of cultural experiences that I can have. The SPCO is a sterling part of the fabric of life here in Saint Paul. I want it to survive AND thrive. Life here would be quite diminished without this great group of musicians.
• The SPCO is St Paul’s greatest treasure – as a series ticket holder for dozens of years – they enrich my life and keep me living in MN
• Goddammit! Because it is.
• This is a first-rate orchestra and our community is being deprived of wonderful music by not being able to hear them. They must be supported and the issues resolved fairly – and quickly.
• The music SPCO presents is soul fillingly beautiful and represents the best culture the Twin Cities and MN has to offer and share.  How can we let this musical gem dissolve or leave?  The world would be poorer for it.
• I don’t want to lose this fabulous chamber orchestra. Reducing the quality of this special group is totally unacceptable.
• The SPCO players deserve to be treated as professionals, not merely as employees.  Management seems mainly bent on union busting and bullying.  That is no way to treat such high quality professionals.  The players are entitled to assert musical  control over their work.
• We are 20 year season ticket holders. End the lockout and allow negotiations.
• Attending SPCO and supporting the Orchestra has been very important for us for over 30 years.   We want the playing to start up.   The musicians have signaled that they would accept reduced benefits, but management needs to stop threatening the players with forced retirement and firing.   This impass should go to mediation, and then arbitration if the musicians and management can not agree.   Start the concerts by accepting the reduced pay that the musicians have offered while details of the contract are worked out.
• Without our music and musicians, the winter seems especially bleak!!
• The SPCO is the finest chamber orchestra in the U.S., a necessary part of the cultural life of the city!
• Music!!
• Even though I’ve not done season tickets for awhile, I’m concerned about loss of quality of APCO.
• It’s time to resume negotation.  If necessary, go to arbitration.
• Please recognise that the management that made some poor decisions is now in the way of fixing them – and then fix them with a smile!
• Our prized and briliant musicians are  prized jewels of our our greater communty and the world!  Young people growing up must have this musical experience  in their future.
• friends in the orchestra
• DO THE RIGHT THING.
• We have held season tickets for several years.  Our quality of life is diminished because of this lockout.
• Music and the arts are what make the Twin Cities special
• I want my beloved city of St. Paul to continue to be a leader in promoting the love of music for generations to come.
• I have enjoyed the SPCO every since I moved to MN.  What a treasure they are!  The musicians of the SPCO should not be asked to take another salary cut.
• It is essential that classical music not become extinct in America!
• Music is why I stayed in the Twin Cities after finishing my degree at the U of M.  I don’t want it to go away!
• To: Board of Directors of The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra Society  As concerned audience members, we urge The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra Society Board of Directors to take the following four actions:  1. Commit to respectful and constructive negotiations – deliver fair pay and treatment musicians deserve.  2. Find and support effective leaders – collaboration inspires growth.  3. Solve the revenue problem – you cannot cut your way to greatness.  4. End the lockout while negotiations proceed in good faith.   Sincerely,  Angeline PM
• Our world needs classical music – there is nothing more important and the SPCO must not be allowed to fade away!!
• Respect for artists! How difficult is that? Without them the SPCO is nothing!
• The arts is an integral part of a successful society. Music provides a path for the expression of emotions, and healing physical, spiritual and emotional maladies. We invest in Wars which take lives and cause unmentionable distress. Music does the opposite.
• Because we used to care about the arts in Minnesota.  Now we build stadiums and arenas for big business and allow our orchestras to die.
• SPCO is the best classical music we have in town and it it is good to see a model working that is fair, balanced and shows that the artists matter: this matters.
• Without music, where is the humanity?
• MUSIC LEADS US TO OUR SOULS
• I have lived in St. Paul all my life and take particular pride in the quality of its music life.
• My husband and I are season ticket holders and also sustainers. We love the SPCO and believe our musicians are a treasure.
• It would be shameful for St. Paul to continue with this lockout. How can a city that was ready to bend over backwards to get a football stadium allow the Board of Directors of their Chamber orchestra lockout the musicians.
• Proper management and negotiations is key to preserving this wonderful art form in our area!
• I remember hearing the Orchestra play in the Student Union on the St. Paul Campus free in 1959. Thomas Nee (sp?) was conducting. Since then the orchestra has become world renowned. Only to come to this? Outrageous! This orchestra is vital for the artistic health of Minnesota. Please don’t let it go down, please.
• The school trips to the SPCO are some children’s only exposure to classical and instrumental music, losing it would leave a huge gap in their artistic education.
• They have been my own orchestra since the days they played at St. Paul Central High School Auditorium.  I have grown in musical understanding along with them  This is about community as well as high standards.
• While we have lived in the Twin Cities only four years, my wife and I have become dependent on the SPCO for live classical music played at an excellent level.  Winter without the SPCO is, indeed, “The Bleak Midwinter.”  Please, please, end the lockout and open the doors to music!
• I love the SPCO just the way it is!  I don’t understand the Boards of either of our fine orchestras. Uncaring rich folk would be my characterization of board members.
• I’m a subscriber and enjoy listening to their beautiful music.
• Please do not destroy our wonderful orchestra.
• SPCO is one of the top chamber orchestra’s in the nation. We need to keep these musicians together, in order to preserve the quality of their music.
• We need to keep our world class SPCO intact and in St. Paul.
• music is a fundamental part of life. we should do all we can to encourage artists, musicians, and artisans remain a part of the fabric of our society in st. paul
• The SPCO is stellar institution composed of wonderful musicians.  They need to be supported and brought back to work with a decent salary RIGHT AWAY!
• Life is unimaginable without our exquisite source of joy, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. There were 92,000 attendees in the last season. For only $10 more per ticket , including the $5 a month club, the deficit would be erased. A $10 ticket is still a grand bargain, guaranteed to attract new patrons.  I sit in the best seat in the house at the Ordway, hear the best chamber orchestra in the world and only pay $40 for that ticket. That’s a travesty!!! If one can pay $40, one can afford $50. Please raise our ticket prices!
• The SPCO is a leading ensemble that deserves all of the respect that is owed to them and their art. The utter disregard of said respect on behalf of the SPCO Board of Directors is not only shameful, but helps to set a somber precedent regarding the future of music in the Twin Cities. We owe it to them as well as ourselves to bring an end to this lockout and get such amazing musicians back in business.
• Art and entertainment is a very important aspect of society.  Musicians and artist should be properly supported and taken care of.  With all of the stressors of life, music and art serves as the proper stimulant for opening the senses, your perspectives and perceptions of life.  In short, we need music.  And good music at that.  I stand with the musicians.

• The SPCO concerts brighten and warm my heart and soul.  Please open sincere talks again – thank you!  A BIG fan.
• Don’t forget the Minnesota Orchestra!  We support Minnesota Professional musicians
• They are our neighbors, friends and an intricate part of our community
• We have been subscribers for over 20 years and donors for the last 4. Don’t destroy this orchestra!
• If we can pay for sports, we can surely pay for music, culture, art!
• Although I haven’t attended any SPCO concerts, I feel your pain because I DO attend MN Orchestra concerts and hold a full seasons tickets for 2012-2013. It pains me not to be able to hear the live music I love. So, please, let the SPCO play–I will attend!
• The SPCO is a cultural gem.
• I am a musician, a proud resident of St. Paul, and most importantly a long time supporter of the SPCO. We are so lucky to have a world-class quality chamber orchestra and it would be devastating to lose it. As part of the younger audience, I hope others like my husband and myself continue to stand up for the musicians of the SPCO. They are the heart and spirit of music. Frankly they are a staple in our cultural scene in Minnesota. It’s crazy to me that both the SPCO and MN Orchestra musicians have to fight for basic union rights. The cultural, artistic, health of a community is the spirit and breath of its people. It’s as important as food and shelter. It’s a universal expression beyond words that connects as humans. This is worth the money, isn’t it?
• The SPCO is such a credit to the American music scene and to St. Paul in particular! It would be simply shameful to lose such an ensemble.
• our artistic community is an integral part of our life here in the cities and should be supported by us all, the musicians bring us both pride and unparalleled joy and we all need to stand behind them in these negotiations.
• Why no last name for the petitionwriter?
• My 3 year old son keeps asking when we can go on a family date to the Orchestra.  You are denying a child of a budding love of classical, live music and a young family the joy of experiencing live music together.
• The SPCO is an internationally renowned cultural gem!  Don’t trash our beloved SPCO!  We would willingly pay more for tickets to their incredibly fine concerts.  We don’t believe management is on higher ground here.
• Clearly, there is a real lack of understanding by the board of directors about the negative impact a lock out has on the whole of the organization. It seems to be a disease on both sides of the Mississippi.  You are not just hurting the musicians; you are sending an awful signal to the donors large and small; to patrons; to future concert goers; to school children; to all the businesses who are affected by a lockout.  It is careless and short-sighted.
• Musicians deserve to be treated well.   I attend SPCO concerts and am beginning to think the Board should be fired….today.
• You cannot pretend to have the best of anything with due compensation.  It appears that many, everywhere, want the best for not much.  This is not sustainable and MN needs to show itself as a leader to start reversing this terrible trend.
• I’m getting really sick and tired of the short-sighted, callous, thoughtless , and I might add, lazy approach by orchestra management to use lock outs as a way to starve musicians into servitude. Our world class musicians deserve to be treated fairly and with respect. The management and board are doing neither.
• The Arts give us joy, life and purpose.
• The orchestra is a treasure. Do whatever it takes to save this orchestra.
• As season ticket holders we are also the ones locked out!  Somehow you were doing so well, balancing the budget, et al, but now this?!  Come on, settle and get on with it.  If you have to raise prices a bit, so be it!
• I have children who play the violin and love music. What do I tell them when the SPCO leadership do not treat musicians as professionals and do not pay them properly for their talent. What do I tell my children when SPCO leaders didn’t do the hard work to plan and ensure music will continue to be part of the cultural vibrancy and vitality of St. Paul? The board is made up of leaders from throughout the Twin Cities and MN, this is the moment in which you were entrusted to reach into your vast resources and talents so future generations will continue to enjoy the cultural vibrancy and vitality you grew up to enjoy. Please step up and provide the leadership you were entrusted to provide to the SPCO and community.
• We miss concerts, and, let’s not lose this artistic resource for our community.
• Part of what attracted my family to move to St Paul was the amazingly wonderful arts scene. The SPCO is essential to that community; to lock them out deprives the city of a valuable resource. Let them play while negotiations proceed!
• BOD, You can not possibly believe that locking out the employees that provide your product will result in more revenue, lower costs and an improved working environment.  This is the most counter-productive move that any management group can make.  Prove that the orchestra is important to you by ending the lockout and sit down and negotiate in good faith.  You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
• spco is a treasure we can’t lose—it idntifies our twin cities!
• The SPCO must continue to be part of our cultural heritage, but I canh’t support the organization until you support our musicians.
• The SPCO is a cornerstone of the arts community in Twin Cities.  I have been a season ticket holder for 5 years.  This dispute needs to be arbitrated and settled.
• The Twin Cities needs world class music as much as sports teams and business headquarters.  Please end the lockout and give us back a treasure.
• Let there be music!

• The arts have been getting short shrift for FAR too long, while administrration lazes about in their overpuffed, overpaid positions.  This nonsense HAS to stop.  Arts are as are integral to the formation of balanced character as are the so-called sciences, and FAR MORE important than the Capitalistic mindsets of so many ego-centric administrators.
• Our community needs music and our musicians need to make a living. End the lockout now!
• We need the music back please
• The Saint Paul Chamber orchestra is a part of St. Paul’s culture.
• We don’t hold season’s tickets, but we sometimes attend and we buy lots of CDs.  This is a terrible shame. There must be a way to use money allotted to that extravagant renovation.  Unallot it!
• We are in danger of losing our first class music in MN.  It would be like losing the Guthrie.
• I saw the SPCO a year or so ago at Carnegie Hall and they were just great. And by the way, I am a composer, arranger and pianist.
• What will the future of classical music be without SPCO.
• The Orchestra is a great part of the great City of St. Paul.  I hope a solution, fair to both sides, can be achieved.
• The St Paul Chamber Orchestra is a mark of the high intelligence and respect for the arts in St Paul. Please do not let it fall apart. It seems the Board Chair may be out of touch with reality.
• Fairness & music are important to me.
• Live music is wonderful for the soul!
• The SPCO is a cultural treasure for St. Paul, the Twin Cities and Minnesota.
• I’ve lived in the Twin Cities for 34 years, and I experience the SPCO as the gem of the classical music scene.  Please change your lock-out policy and proceed with respect.
• As an artist, I can appreciate the musicians’ perspective. Negotiate and move on!
• The arts are a critical part of a civilized society.
• The SPCO is one of the cultural treasures of the Twin Cities.
• The first thing we need are professional musicians who are paid a fair wage, if we are to have a first class orchestra..  Please do not take this valuable resource away from us.
• The arts are important to Minneapolis/St. Paul, and I believe that while both sides need a chance to do more talking, it will be good for everyond in the long run if the Orchestra does not lose patrons.
• I care about fellow musicians, ensembles, orchestras and music in this world.
• I love the cultural opportunities for my daughter and I in the twin cities. It certainly looks like the muscian’s are willing to make some kind of a deal, why isn’t the Board?
• I am a professional musician and really hate to any orchestra or musical organization have to go through something like this. This country needs to support the fine arts.
• I have been going to SPCO concerts for 24 years, since I was 7 years old. The SPCO fostered my lifelong love of classical music, my interest in playing piano and clarinet, and I have shared this love with my generation of friends. I even got on NPR as a 10 year old to ask my favorite violinist, Nigel Kennedy, a question on air. The SPCO is a vital part of our community, PLEASE BRING THEM BACK!!
• I simply love attending concerts performed by the SPCO. Having grown up in the East metro where I played flute in my school band I developed an appreciation for music and I find the SPCO concerts very special to attend. The SPCO concerts bring back precious memories of when I played. I really miss them! Please Board of Directors end this foolishness! And, let the show go on. With all my heart, thank you.
• Please end the lockout and treat our world-class orchestra with the respect they deserve.
• I am distressed that both of our orchestras are being slashed.
• If it weren’t for these gifted and professional musicians, you would not be on this board and there would be no orchestra!  End or your greedy arrogance and let these people earn the wage they have earned!  Shame on you!!
• Minnesota needs live classical music performances- and needs to have it back now!
• A lockout is not the way to preserve our cultural heritage.  Please end the lockout before our musicians are  forced to find work elsewhere, and this musical jewel is lost to us.
• We miss you! Life in the Twin Cities is grim without you.
• As a musician myself, I understand the difficulties of not only paying the musicians, but being one.  However, the SPCO has done everything right to re-extend their contract, while the board doesn’t seem to be cooperating (as is usual in contract negotiations between businesses/companies and labor unions).  It’s about time the board starts to negotiate fairly.
• We need the arts available for generations to come
• The SPCO nourishes my soul, and union-busting drives me to despair
• I think what you’re doing to the musicians is absolutely despicable!
• I have tickets to shows that have been canceled.  The musicians are the most important part of any orchestra and you are treating them like the least important part.  It requires a lot of talent and incredible amount of practice time to get to this level. They should be paid according or they will leave our community and take their talent elsewhere!
• We need a rational approach by the board to resolve this issue.
• I am a graduate of MCAD and support my fellow artists and musicians!
• I do not believe lockouts are a fair, just or acceptable means of negotiating.
• I heard about the local St. Paul businesses that are hurting, please end the lockout.
• This seems to be one more example of all  “talking points” and no “talking”.
• SPCO is a treasure! Increase in venues has opened doors to more (and poorer) folks. There must be a way to continue the good vibrations…
• SPCO is  music to the soul
• Do we only need sports teams?  The arts will live on,   Sports team wins will be forgotten in only a few years if even that long.
• The SPCO is a unique treasure that should not be forced out of existence.  This is no time for stubbornness.  Each side has its reasonable and just demands that, somehow, must be satisfied to some degree.   Each must hear and be heard.   If not, the Twin Cities will lose an irreplaceable asset.
• This uniquely wonderful Chamber Orchestra must be Active for the Holiday Season, you are a really rea;;y important part of Minnesota.
• Don’t let musicians become an endangered species
• I have attended concerts for over 30 years.   Management’s insistence on rock bottom ticket prices is way off base.   The optimum price for revenue is neither the lowest or highest ticket price.    We are in total support of the musicians.
• We dictate what we value in this society by what salaries we pay people. A continued reduction in pay for musicians only devalues their profession more.
• I heard the Orchestra in Norman, Oklahoma a few years back. They are a national treasure and should have our support!
• We need to have the music back.  I support the musicians.
• Enough already!  Don’t make art a nickel and dime travesty.
• We must keep our professional music organizations going during these tough times.  The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra players deserve fair compensation for their work and talents.  Settle their contract now!
• Please, please, give us back our band!!!  The SPCO gives so much joy to so many all over the world.  The musicians need our support and we need their music.
• My grandather was a violinist and the orchestra was his life. Through his talent and love for music, he helped to make the world a nicer place.  Please help to carry on this tradition.  End this lockout and treat the musicians with the care and respect they deserve.
• CULTURE + BEAUTY
• This orchestra is a Minnesota jewel and needs to continue entertaining Minnesotans ASAP!
• seriously overpaid board members for a non profit org
• The St.Paul Chamber Orchestra is one of the treasures of our community.  I would suggest keep the Orchestra and get new management.
• We love contemporary classical, and the SPCO gives us the best the Twin Cities has to offer.  Let’s not give up on them!
• Okay, SPCO is one of the main reasons I live in Minnesota. It is as important to me  as spring… as summer rain… as baseball and hockey. The orchestra is as important to me as my back yard and my love of the Minneapolis Institute of Art. It is as important to me as my old friends at the places where I used to work. It is more important than my old friends Lake Harriet, the Mississippi river, and the resort on Lake Superior. I love it like the cardinals in my front yard and the woodpeckers in the back yard. Some very big mistakes have been made by people other than the musicians of the SPCO. There should have been a very big whirling storm of publicity, fund raising and honest advice to the audience. That’s not what happened. The music that we all love stopped. I don’t want the music to depend on the generosity of the 2%. I will not recognize a “new” orchestra. I want to pay the taxes for nurturing of Minnesota. I want to be offered the opportunity to help with the funding process. The audience is the second most important member of the SPCO family. Those who did the locking out should have stepped on to the stage and pleaded the case. That can happen now, just as resumption of the music can happen now.  -R Perschmann
• we need the Chamber Orchestra as an integral part of Twin Cities life and culture.
• I have been a LONG time subscriber to the SPCO. This lock-out is totally outrageous by the management. I could not be more angry at the management or more supportive of the musicians.
• I am a classical music lover and piano teacher.  I want quality music available to the public.
• The SPCO is the crown jewel of Minnesota. I can’t often attend, but I do donate what I can.
• Please support this major cultural venue, and suport the talent of these amazing musicians!
• The SPCO is world class, and so worth saving!  Invest in these artists and we invest in the cultural reputation and economy of St. paul
• Please keep the music going. Without making music, why should any orchestra exist? Play on!
• My stepfather played in the spco for MANY years. The lockout needs to end reasonably. Skip James is an incredibly bright man who has spent decades in the spco, and it was a large part of my childhood.
• Music is from the Creator as a gift to be shared.
• I have too many friends in orchestras throughout the world whose livelihood depends on the good faith negotiations.
• I’ve signed because art and music are crucial to our society. We need the Saint Paul.
• The SPCO is a rare, highly valuable asset. Hire a professional CEO with imagination and get this great ensemble back to work.
• An important aspect of our cultural capital.
• I attend regularly and I give routinely but not now
• I have been a subscriber and huge fan of SPCO since 1973.  The SPCO has moved me beyond tears many, many times and I am missing their concerts very much
• Music is life.  The SPCO is a superb orchestra.  It is inconceivable that this orchestra should be diminished in any way.  Musicians of this quality should be venerated and protected, not abused and impoverished.  Shame on the SPCO Board and Management for their conduct in this negotiation.
• I am a season ticket holder and have been attending SPCO concerts each year since 1973.  The orchestra has filled my life with joy and inspiration, and I miss them.  Please take immediate action, working constructively with the musicians of the orchestra, to resolve the current impasse.  Bring the the SPCO’s resounding music back to our ears and concert halls soon.
• Possible job opportunity! keep the the twin cities culture alive!
• I urge the board to offer a fair and just settlement to the the fine musicians of the SCPO. It is a travesty that the board has chosen to threaten on of the jewels of the Twin Cities fine arts community.
• You get what you pay for.  You don’t keep a major league team by asking them to accept minor league salaries. As a 20+ year season ticket holder, I’d happily pay more for my tickets in order to keep this terrific cultural asset in St. Paul.
• “Without music, life is a journey through a desert“ Pat Conroy   My family and I have attended SPCO concerts since 1992.   It is inconceivable that the existence and quality of this internationally renowned orchestra should be imperiled.  SPCO musicians locked out!  Concerts cancelled through Feb. 8, 2013!  What is wrong with the SPCO Board and Management?  Negotiate in good faith NOW.
• My daughter is a music performance major at MSU
• I love the SPCO and their sense of mission bringing classical music to everyone.  But, the musicians ARE the orchestra – while budget tightening may be needed, don’t punish the musicians with draconian pay cuts.  The orchestra will lose in the long-run!
• The SPCO, which is its musicians, is a treasure and needs to be saved.
• This is a shameful situation. How can the managements of both the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and Minnesota Orchestra be Los stupid!!!!!!
• SPCO musicians are at the top of their class and should be rewarded accordingly.
• The St Paul Chamber Orchestra has an International reputation as a world class Chamber Orchestra.  It would be a tremendous loss not only to St Paul/ Minneapolis area but to the entire International musical community, to see the this musical jewel dismantled professionally in any way.
• We need/ want this organization to flourish. The well being of our population both young and old want it to succeed. DO IT!!!!!
• Such a wonderful group of talented musicians, giving great beauty to this country and countries all around the world. Great musicians must  be paid well and supported so that they continue to give beauty to us all.  The cost of living is not being reduced, nor should their compensation. Manage the maintenance of their compensation management! That’s what YOU are being paid to do!
• I’ve followed the SPCO ever sense its beginning. A unique and wonderful organization that brings so much to the Twin Cities. These wonderful musicians must be treated fairly and a reasonable solution must be found.
• Growing up in St. Paul, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and Minnesota Orchestra were both instrumental in my education as a musician, my spirit as a human being and my sense of community, wonder & beauty. Such amazing culture deserves to be cherished, nurtured and shared, generation after generation.
• Keep the music playing!
• A quote I read recently, “Books are humanity in print” and music is our humanity transmitted by instruments.  Music reflects our humanity and our consciousness.  Music is momentary, the sound is just for that concert, but is handed down by printed page.
• This orchestra has suffered from inadequate administrative leadership for many years while maintaining the highest artistic product.  The musicians and the audiences deserve better.
• I am a professional flutist
• We miss our Orchestras!
• The musicians and the music are what the organization is all about.
• As a life-long musician, I understand the importance of keeping the SPCO going strong. We are very lucky to have some of the most talented musicians in our Minnesota orchestras, and they all need our support right now.
• I love music!
• It is unthinkable to not have culture of this quality in a city that prides itself on a high quality of life. Not all of us are sports fans!
• Music is the spirit of our souls and should not be stopped during negotiations.
• It is unbelievable that an orchestra of such high caliber is in lockout!
• I believe classical music is a part of the culture of this country that should be thriving rather than stunted.  The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra is recognized throughout the country as a shining light of culture.  It inspires the humanity in all of us….therein lies it’s value.
• It would be a travesty to lose the jewel we have.
• I miss the SPCO; losing it would be terrible. I do not understand the huge budget for non-musician expenses and the chintzy attitude about paying good salaries. The SPCO is the musicians.
• I love this Orchestra and miss the concerts terribly.
• I have been an SPCO fan since the early 1970s, when Dennis Russell Davies toured with the orchestra around the upper Midwest. I was a high school violinist in Aberdeen, SD, and it was truly inspiring to hear live performances by such skilled musicians. They played familiar repertoire and also new compositions that really opened up my musical world! Now I am a high school orchestra teacher in the Twin Cities, and the SPCO plays the same role in the lives of my students. The SPCO Board simply must recognize its responsibility to support the musicians and ensure the long-term artistic excellence of the orchestra by negotiating in a respectful, constructive, collaborative manner.
• The SPCO is a prime community asset and the tradition of excellence has engaged children for decades.  The Board’s job is to work WITH the artists to protect and promote their craft.  At present the institution of the SPCO is being sacrificed to short term stubborn posturing.  Get to work Board. Get this done.  Now.
• One of the reasons we settled back here in the Twin Cities was the music scene (not the Vikings).  It is shocking and tragic that both orchestras have been locked out in the same season.
• The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra is a one of a kind orchestra.  It is a spokesman for the USA and represents the arts and musicians in a stellar manner.  It is a beacon both in this country and internationally; a treasure not to be lost or demeaned.  Do what is right and negotiate in a gentlemanly manner, instead of hiding behind your shield by virtue of an instrument called a “lockout”, or a coward’s way of dealing with a situation wherein the musicians are right and management is WRONG!
• We have been season tickets holders for a decade. We are willing to pay more for our tickets and leave a bequest to the SPCO in our wills, but we are not willing to lose the best musicians in the SPCO to a protracted lockout, and we will not support non-union replacements.
• The SPCO is important to the cultural tapestry of our State capitol.  It is such an asset and is sorely missed.  This petition seems sensible to me.  It appears the Board should shift gears ~ and seek new management.   -?-
• It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich Rat-tray to enter the KIngdom of Heaven!.
• The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra made a wonderful impression when it performed in Vienna.  The American orchestras are the finest ambassadors which the United States can send.
• 1.  The SPCO performances renew and enrich my life, and I am sure this must be true for countless other listeners as well.  We had season tickets and really miss the performances.   2.  It appears that the musicians of the SPCO are not being treated with the dignity and respect that they deserve as human beings and as world class professional musicians.
• I began listening to the SPCO before moving to the Twin Cities.  It is very important to me to support this wonderful orchestra.
• Chamber music needs to be kept alive – preserved, performed, and created  anew.  The SPCO has been a vital part of  the 30 years we have lived here.
• I was a Minnesotan who left after college and spent the last 30 years of my career life in California. Ten years ago I retired in Minnesota–why? Because of the live orchestral music that was available–at a price I could afford and at a distance I could easily manage. I am VERY distressed at the situation both local orchestras are facing. Quality music making is a strong com- ponent in the Minnesota identity profile. Would MN scuttle a couple of the major sports teams? Likely not–they would find ways to keep them. I remain hopeful that the boards and the musicians TOGETHER can find a way to regain and maintain the viability of this precious asset–live classical music!!
• The SPCO is what gives St. Paul its cultural essence.  We would lost without it
• We have a wonderful, world-recognized group of musicians and the effort shoud be to keep them together, versus making them profitable.
• We are fortunate to be blessed with two world class orchestras:  SPCO, and MInnesota Orchestra.  We must do everything possible to fight for the great cultural legacies offered by these great orchestras and their musicians.
• The SPCO are the concerts I look forward to all year. No Bach, no Hadyn, no Mozart, No Beethoven; there’s a hole in our city, and it needs to be filled. 100% behind the musicians, and completely disgusted with how management has treated both the musicians and concert goers. Let ‘Em Play!
• Music is my life!
• The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra is a Capitol City gem that must be retained and maintained if Saint Paul is to continue to attract educated, cultured people to live, work and contribute to our great city.  Chipping away at this great resource, as proposed by management, will destroy the quality and value of the SPCO.   The goal should be to retain our talented musicians, providing decent salaries and collaboration on artistic decisions.  Offering severance packages to those with the most experience is a recipe that can only lead to the degradation and eventual demise of the SPCO.  I urge the management to immediately end the lockout while continuing good faith negotiations.  This is an essential first step to begin restoring trust between the musicians and management, so that a fair resolution can be designed to sustain a world class SPCO.
• I have been a supporter of SPCO for 35 years. I particularly value the openness of the musicians, and their willingness to mingle with the audience. It matters to me that we keep together this precious group of talented artists, who are each an asset to our entire community. They feel like extended family, in a way that visiting talent never does. I will only continue financial support if the Board deals with them respectfully and in good faith, and works to find an amiable solution to the obvious financial challenges which all acknowledge.
• We have enjoyed season tickets with SPCO for more than 30 years, watching musicians grow in skill and collaboration and commitment to the community.  This is a jewel in the Twin Cities’ crown and we hope not to lose our musicians, who, for us, are SPCO.
• I miss the music.  This orchestra is too important to let slip away.  Please go back to negotiating.
• I treasure the superior quality of our SPCO.  I have no confidence in the Bd. of Dir. that would Walmart such a jewel nat’l & local.  The problem is not the musicians; it’s the mgmt.
• After attending the MESSIAH concert, we realize what we’re missing.  Also we don’t get our money back either for missed concerts, or for our sustaining contributions.  Does management realize they have nothing to manage?  Are their salaries going down as well?
• We moved here from San Francisco 33 years ago because this is a cultural beacon. I’ve lived in Omaha and don’t want to go back.
• As a young musician (junior in high school) that has been going to SPCO and MO concerts since the age of 6, I look up to the musicians and strive to be just like them one day. They are very much, a part of the reason why I want to attend a conservatory and/or be a music major when I go off to college. Kids that grow up in Minnesota are so blessed to be around such wonderful music, and as the future of the music world, are influenced by these fantastic musicians. If we don’t keep them, young musicians won’t have the real encouragement we get from the musicians of the orchestra. This year, I am a 7th year student of the Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies (GTCYS), and co-winner of the 2012-2013 GTCYS Concerto Competition. Because GTCYS shares office space with the SPCO and hosts the Finals Recital for the Concerto Competition in the perfomance space every year, we were almost not able to have the finals there beecause of the Lock Out. Keeping these musicians should be our number one priority as of always, and the board should be doing everything they possibly can to make sure that happens. If the board truly loves and cares about the wonderful music being made, they will take it to heart, that in order to continue for the music to be played in the way that it is now, they must think of my peers, colleagues, friends, and of me. Students that love music and can’t be without it. Without the musicians to influence, encourage, and teach, the music will not be as great as it is now in generations to come.
• Music is the heart of our soul….don’t take that away from us…..
• I been listening, savoring the SPCO for about 25 years. Please find ways to resolve the silence.
• I lived in Minneapolis/St Paul for many years and one of my greatest loves is music.
• This exquisite group of musicians has inspired me for decades with their unique (yes, unique) sound and infectious energy, musicality, and deep, organic sense of ensemble. Many instrumentalists could play the notes they play. However, the results of music-making by these particular musicians–with in some cases, decades of honing their art and craft together–remains simply unparalleled. I have been moved by the results as an audience member over the years, but as a musician myself, I experienced this powerful artistic presence in a deeply personal way when I had the honor of performing Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with the SPCO a few years ago. Those performances were the musical highlight of my performing career.
• SPCO is one of the world’s foremost chamber orchestras. It is an absolute crime that a handful of people can shut this organization down. There is no substitute in life for access to excellence in music. World class artists perform for us with SPCO. And SPCO artists are the most accomplished in their field. This level of playing combining world accomplished artists with our chamber orchestra MUST be heard now. In addition, the unemployment of these people is cruel and inhumane while the Board pays themselves and provides themselves with health insurance!
• I sign this petition because it is simply incomprehensible to me how one small component of the SPCO family/organization took it upon themself to behave in a most uncreative, non-community-oriented way to try to solve problems that affect the entire SPCO family/organization. If problems are as massive as they are purported to be, it only makes sense to call upon all of the resources at the disposal of the SPCO community in order to creatively, cooperatively come to new understandings and solutions.  It’s not simply a matter that by decimating musician compensation you will be losing the very musicians that define the SPCO to your community, it is in the insulting, divisive manner in which you have behaved throughout this entire drama, beginning with the first insulting proposals made to the orchestra musicians almost one year ago.   Unlike conventional, for-profit businesses, artistic ensembles can only thrive in an atmosphere of trust and mutual respect.  You have been destroying what is the bedrock of any artistic ensemble through your behaviors and unwillingness to seek more broadly for wisdom in solving problems.  I only hope through this demonstration of the broad community’s disdain for your behaviors and attitudes that you will begin to reach out and seek additional perspectives that can help create new, perhaps even exciting and innovative solutions to this unsustainable situation.
• St. Paul needs to keep its World Class SPCO
• We have season tickets and are a contributor.  Let the music start
• Every World Class City needs to have an orchestra. Why should we be any different?
• The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra is a cultural gem whose quality must not be destroyed.
• The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra has been a leader among cultural organizations in the United States for decades, and the Twin Cities has long been known for the richness of its diverse cultural offerings. For the SPCO not to exist would be  an American tragedy and would send a discouraging message re what is truly valued in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area to individuals and corporations considering a move to the area.
• Because I think that my flute teacher, as well as all of the other musicians, deserve to go back to work and play beautifully for others. The University of Minnesota School of Music wants to hear world-class orchestras again.
• artists open the heart; no artists, no heart.  no heart, no livable, sustainable community.
• The musicians of the SPCO are extremely hard workers and do not deserve such unfair treatment. I, myself am striving to become an orchestra musician someday. I know how hard it is to actually find a decent job in an orchestra. These musicians have worked so hard and sacrificed so much in their lives. They only deserve the best!
• Don’t know how much more obvious it could be. Preserve this great orchestra!
• I believe that the musicians of the SPCO understand what is best for the orchestra, while the current Chairman & interim CEO and his supporters simply do not.  I wish to encourage the musicians and their allies.
• It is unbelievable to me that the Board can’t see how important it is to keep the current musicians and compensate them fairly for their work.
• World-class orchestras like the SPCO must be preserved.  And the SPCO is not just a name, it is the musicians that have made it what it is.  Don’t destroy this jewel.
• The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra is a Minnesota treasure, world-renowned.  Why would we ever allow a beacon of the acclaimed standard of life in Minnesota to disappear!? Please save this great orchestra and preserve this great cultural asset and our quality of life!
• I am also a professional musician and I love the SPCO!  I hate to see this happening to them.
• Music is important to everyone, whether they know it or not.  And my future depends on the success of musicians across the country.  I can’t let my future, passion, and fellow musicians be non existent.
• The SPCO is a world renowned ensemble and everything needs to be done that can be to get this completed!
• Music is important and the SPCO are a wonderful Saint Paul and Minnesota tradition! important to you? (Optional)
• I want the musicians to keep their purpose in life which is to fulfill themselves & every human being to hear perfectly performed beautiful classical music of the highest level for their mental, emotional & physical healing.  Besides I love listening to them. It makes us balanced human beings.
• I have been in music for most of my life and can’t imagine being without it for any length of time.
• From a family of musicians who has been on Symphony boards, I know how these ensembalists,  many of whom have doctoral degrees and speak several languages, have been regarded as Union filth by narrow minded CEOs of big cities. Yet it is the CEOs who would profit most as ST Paul flourishes as a real place for high end culture,
• Because this is a one-of-a-kind ensemble that brings incalculable benefits to the community.
• I have relationships on both side and truly hope that a fair and peaceful agreement can be made in a short period of time so that the SPCO can be a thriving culture once again.
• I have been attending their concerts since the 1960s, and I can’t imagine seeing this orchestra diminished or lost.
• The SPCO is a treasure. Treasure it.
• SPCO has been a state treasure my entire adult life- PLEASE do not squander the opportunity to save the orchestra!
• Our son is a bassist and studies with Christopher Brown, principal bass of SPCO, and hopes to play in a symphony orchestra.  Music is a big part of our lives, and I can’t imagine being without this orchestra.
• KEEP THE ARTS ALIVE!
• The SPCO is a treasure for our community.  Please figure out a way to resolve the lockout!
• It is important to preserve the arts in a community.   Work to resolve the negotiations.
• The arts deserve credit for contributions to the community and the artists deserve our respect.
• The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra is a national treasure. To lock out this amazing group of musicians for an extended period and threaten the very existence of the group is unconscionable. As key players leave to accept work elsewhere, it will take years to rebuild the collective ensemble chemistry that has been built over time.  END THE LOCKOUT NOW!!!
• Music is a large part of my life.
• The SPCO is an award-winning cultural institution and one of the reasons why we are happy to live in the Twin Cities.
• When a Treasure is in our midst, such as The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, civilized society should treasure, nurture and preserve it. It’s a measure of our humanity that we figure out how to support excellence. As the saying goes, “JUST DO IT!”
• The only first class chamber orchestra in the US
• Season ticket holder for 36 years
• Losing this orchestra would be a huge loss for the twin cities and for the world of classical music.
• The SPCO is essential to the cultural life of Saint Paul.
• The Twin Cities love its classical music and is willing to support it, and its wonderful SPCO musicians. Let’s talk! and let’s hear them play in the meantime!
• This world-class orchestra includes some of the nation’s most talented musicians and has presented classical, innovative, world-class programs. It is a cultural and educational gem. We will all be poorer if it is diminished.
• Because I love going to the SPCO concerts…why? because they’re wonderful.
• The classical arts are the marker of the degree to which a community or culture is truly uplifted and educated. When the arts fail, all in the culture fail. THE SPCO members deserve much better than that with which they deal with now. We must support them. The eyes of the world, not just our localities, are watching us.
• The SPCO is a unique musical asset.  It is important to keep it intact and active to guarantee future success.
• This whole situation is ridiculous, I can’t believe that our musicians in the state are being treated this way. It’s disgusting.
• The SPCO is too great a treasure to risk losing!
• These musicians are world-class performers and we need them in Minnesota.
• We miss our concert series very much.
• Music is crucial for our well being.
• I love the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and consider them a vital part of our community.I miss them. If tickets have to cost a bit more, that often happens to things that are worth having.
• The artistry of SPCO musicians is a community inspiration. We can’t ask them to give this away.
• The SPCO is the nations premier chamber orchestra. It is a national treasure and the pride of Minnesota. Treating them this way is beneath the dignity of those charged with their well being.
• Arts & Culture
• I have been a season ticket holder for many years.  This crisis was brought on by the reduction in ticket prices for everyone.
• The SPCO is one of the treasures that sets the Twin Cities apart–it is one of my most beloved parts of our culture, and I want it to survive strong and with integrity, not as a skeleton “lean” orchestra.
• This is a nationally recognized orchestra with some of this country’s finest musicians.
• we need great live music and to support these awesome musicians!
• I am 87 years old and now live in a nursing home. SPCO Classical muisc helps me fall asleep at night…It is so beautiful, I dream of angels
• I have been attending SPCO concerts since the 1970s when I was in high school. Over the years I have been delighted and moved by the music and energized by the experience of attending amazingly beautiful performances. I also have enjoyed hearing the SPCO’s recordings and concerts broadcast on MPR. I am saddened, dismayed and increasingly frustrated by the actions of the board and management. I recognize times are hard financially yet we have arts organizations in our community that are thriving under forward-thinking, engergetic, respectful, creative leadership, with an important partnership between artistic leadership and administrative leadership. I wish the Governor and Attorney General would launch an investigation into the actions of the SPCO Board and Management over the past few years. I was saddened to read a post by a Management supporter pointing out that non-musician staff of the Orchestra have not had raises or retirement contributions for several years. Of course this is concerning too. My passionate hope is that either the current Board will open their eyes and minds to look around at other arts organizations that are thriving in these challenging times. I’m not privy to the Board charter so I don’t know if the remainder of the Board can vote to remove the Chairman and CEO. I don’t believe it’s in the SPCO’s best interest to have a management structure with an administrative leader with so much power. I am saddened that the musicians are locked out. Over the past few years every time I have attended a concert it was a full house and the music was fabulous. I truly hope the management will agree to resume the season and negotiate in good faith.
• The SPCO is a most important part of our cultural life. That orchestra says more about the character of our communities than all the sports stadiums we  find money to build.   I’m so afraid to lose these great musicians…
• Start the concerts while negotiations continue. SPCO concerts are valuable for the Twin Cities, and the lockout disrupts not only the present but also the future.
• The SPCO is a vital musical and cultural asset to our community, and represents St. Paul nationally and internationally.   It would be  unconscionable to allow this organization to fail.  Why not take the higher road – not just the short term disposition – and not for our or the musicians’ sake, but with a view toward this unique and outstanding orchestra to offer enjoyment and enrichment to future generations.
• IT is time to get our musicians back to work!!!
• We do not live in Minneapolis/St. Paul, but we often drive down to attend concerts.  Music performed by the SPCO is a moment of beauty in our life and that of so many people.  We miss it terribly.
• It’s a disgrace what the Board of Directors are doing to an excellent Orchestra.  The public’s feelings and the SPCO members feelings will never be the same.  Talent is being lost to other excellent orchestras.  Don’t you care?
• I have been a season ticket holder for nearly 30 years.  I will only continue to buy tickets and donate if the Orchestra is “essentially” unchanged
• We miss the gifted and enthusiastic SPCO musicians making amazing music for us on our concert nights.  A world-renowned orchestra should not be side-lined due to poor planning by the front office!  We support your efforts to save the orchestra by maintaining an appropriate pay scale for the caliber (top-notch) of musicians we have, and want to keep!!!!  We are willing to pay more for our tickets, and many of our friends are, too.
• In 1988 I came to the Twin Cities to find a job in the arts community. When I landed the grant writing job at the SPCO I was ecstatic–I had listened to their music for years on public radio, and I knew they were among the best in the world.  Over seven years of regular employment and about five more of occasional contract gigs, the SPCO became part of me. To lose it is not simply to lose what is undoubtedly one of the world’s finest and most respected chamber ensembles, but a piece of my past and my identity.  We need to solve the problem. How can I help?
• We have been season ticket holders since 1989.  What is being proposed for the SPCO musicians will destroy the quality of the orchestra and we will not continue to support SPCO if you carry this plan out.  It is the best orchestra that we have heard and we have heard many all over the country over the past 40 years.
• Those who do the work should reap the reward.
• A highly trained group with consistent membership focused on playing mainline classical repertoire is needed in our community.
• I love MN, I love orchestral music. We need to support the Union when they ask us members to stand up for fair pay for their (the MN Symphony’s) livelihood IF we want the Union to take action for ALL of us who are suffering in our own careers. (I’m the singer/pianist who used to perform in your Malls in MN each Xmas in the late ’90′s
• The financial health and the development of our orchestras  is intimately connected to the health of the economy in general, and the treasonous race to an impoverished Dickensian – nay – feudal-imperial condition must be stopped and reversed, starting with the full reinstatement of Glass-Steagall: HR 129 is pending on Congress, and has significant support.  Without this, the cultural life of the nation – and of the world -      suffers deeply.  I support all efforts to bring the state of our world-class orchestras and chamber ensembles to the attention of the citizens and our Congress.
• SPCO musician performances are missed by us. Locking musicians out is a tragedy
• SPCO is one of the finest, if not the best Chamber Orchestra in the World! It is absolutely unthinkable for us to abandon this gem!!