Musicians will demand an end to orchestral outsourcing as they picket the Florida Grand Opera (FGO) Superstar Concert Series debut on January 10, 2009. Musicians are asking that patrons tell the FGO that the performance of an opera should contain more than a pickup orchestra and that the orchestra belongs in-house.

According to the musicians, the FGO must treat its musicians with respect if it truly wants a quality orchestra. The FGO has thrown its orchestral musicians, who have performed for the past eight seasons, out on the street, without any form of due process, and is offering no job security to the musicians currently performing in the FGO orchestra.

The musicians also believe that artistic control should rest with the Music Director and not an outside entity that does not have a vested interest in the future of the FGO. All of the opera companies in the top fifteen metropolitan areas of the United States, except the FGO, hire their orchestras directly. These other major opera companies do not relinquish complete control of the orchestra to an outside entity. FGO has stated that they have no control over whom Miami Symphonic Services sends to the FGO pit.