Moderators

Panel 1: Public funding / private funding in the current economic environment
Anders Laursen – DMF (Denmark)

Anders Laursen is the President of DMF (Danish Musicians Union) and saxophonist. As FIM Vicepresident, he has througout many years given the orchestras a lot of concern.

He is member of the administrative council of Aepo- Artis.

At home he is in the Presidium of both Gramex and CopyDan.

Panel 2: Interdependence of stakeholders within the economy of live music
Lottaliina Lehtinen – SML (Finland)

Lottaliina Lehtinen (LL. Lic.) is legal counsel at the Finnish Musicians Union. Her main focuses are in employment and copyright questions. Lehtinen’s published LL. Lic.-dissertation focused on the concept of fair remuneration and recording contracts. Her guide-book on musicians’ contracts was published in January 2011. Lottaliina Lehtinen is also a qualified violinist.

Panel 3: Visionary orchestra management
Gerald Mertens – DOV (Germany)

Gerald Mertens was born in 1959 in Lübeck, Germany. He studied the law and church music at Kiel University where he played the flute in the Chamber Orchestra. In 1986, Mertens was chosen to be a Management Trainee at Kiel Opera House, 1989 at Hamburg State Opera. In 1990, he became the secretary for legal affairs of German Orchestra Union (DOV – Deutsche Orchestervereinigung).
Since January of 2001, Mertens serves as a lawyer for Managing Director of DOV and Managing Editor of the magazine, DAS ORCHESTER. He was appointed as the Managing Director of German Orchestra Foundation in 2005. He is on the faculties of Berlin Free University and Viadrina University Frankfort (Oder) teaching Orchestra Management. President of “young ears network”.

Panel 4: Towards efficient risk prevention policies
Tania Hardy Smith – MEAA (Australia)

Tania Hardy Smith is a cellist with Orchestra Victoria. Orchestra Victoria is situated in Melbourne, Australia and is the primary performance partner for Opera Australia and The Australian Ballet. The orchestra also maintains a busy education and concert program, both in Melbourne and throughout Victoria.

Following her tertiary training at the Victorian College of the Arts, Tania pursued a busy freelance and teaching career, playing for many groups including the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Melbourne Symphony and Rantos Collegium Chamber Orchestra. In 1989 she joined the Elizabethan Melbourne Orchestra (now known as Orchestra Victoria) on a full-time basis and became a founding member of Ensemble Liason, Trio Artemis and the Tarraj Quartet which specialised in 20th century string quartet music.

Tania is currently president of Orchestra Victoria Musicians’ Association and federal president of the Symphony Orchestra Musicians’ Association, the primary organisation for symphonic instrumentalists in Australia. She is also completing a part-time PhD in Archaeology at La Trobe University, the research subject being an exploration of the influence of archaeology on art and identity in Australia.

Panel 5: Towards a recognition of occupational ailments
Reinhard Pirstinger – GDG-KMSFB (Austria)

– born in Graz/Styria/Austria in 1954
– attended grammar school
– started to play the violin at the age of 7
– attended the Graz Academy of Music and continued his studies with Prof. Alfred Staar (Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra) in Vienna
– First violinist with the Linz Bruckner Orchestra since 1980 and member of numerous chamber music ensembles
– has been a staff representative in the orchestra for many years and member of the Austrian trade union KMSfB
– Vice President in the Music Section (responsible for the orchestras in the regions of Austria)

Panel 6: Support for orchestra musicians
Dan Gottfried – IMU (Israel)

President of the Israeli Musicians’ Union and General Manager of the Israeli Musicians’ performers rights collecting society. Graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Economics (1962) and Law (1972) and the Tel Aviv Academy of Music (1958) in Piano studies. In 1959 he won the 1st prize in the Mozart Piano competition. Established and headed the Jazz Studies Faculty at the Jerusalem Academy of Music (1981- 1987), Initiated and was the Artistic Director of the Red Sea Jazz Festival (1987 – 2008). An accomplished classical and jazz pianist who appeared around the globe and collaborated with jazz legends, such as Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, Benny Golson, Art Blakey, Frank Foster, Sam Rivers, Randy Brecker and many more. In 2007 received the Israeli Ministry of Culture Prize for his life achievements in the music field and in 2010 the Jerusalem Academy of Music Gold Medal for his contribution in advancing jazz education in Israel.

Panel 7: Employment situations
Horace Trubridge – British Musicians Union (UK)

Founder member of R&B/doowop band ‘Darts’, Horace had a string of top ten hits and after 2 Gold and a Platinum album, 8 years of extensive touring and musically directing and appearing in the West End hit ‘Yakety Yak’, ‘Darts’ finally called it a day and Horace became a busy session musician. In 1990 Horace began working for the Musicians’ Union as the Union’s Careers Adviser.

In 1997 he became the London Official negotiating for members at the Royal Opera House, English National Opera and West End theatres.

In 2003 Horace was made Assistant General Secretary and now oversees all of the Union’s trade agreements.

Panel 8: Working time
Beat Santschi – Swiss Musicians’ Union (Switzerland)

Guitarist, FIM Vice-President, President of the Swiss Musicians’ Union SMV/USDAM, President of the Swiss Coalition for Cultural Diversity, Vice-President for Europe of the International Federation of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity.

Has studied the piano, the guitar, archeology, cultural anthropology, orchestral conducting and, most recently, arts management.

Lives in Zurich, Switzerland.

Panel 9: Wages – Mobility – Relocation – Unfair competition (globalization)
Ray Hair – American Federation of Musicians (USA)

Ray Hair, a 35-year resident of Denton, Texas, is president of Local 72-147 (Dallas, TX), a labor union representing 1700 professional musicians across North Texas and Southern Oklahoma. As its president, Mr. Hair negotiates the Union’s agreements with 14 symphony orchestras, theaters and various other collectively bargained employers including the Dallas and Fort Worth Orchestras, the Dallas Opera Orchestra, the Dallas Summer Musicals, the Southwest Exposition and Fat Stock Show, as well as agreements with every major employer of professional musicians in the area.

A professional musician who has performed all styles of popular music for over 45 years, Mr. Hair holds degrees in music from the University of Southern Mississippi and the University of North Texas, where taught Drum Set and Percussion from 1975 through 1983.
Mr. Hair was elected president-secretary of the Fort Worth Professional Musicians Association in 1983, and was first elected to the AFM’s International Executive Board in 1989, a position he held when elected as AFM International President in June, 2010. He facilitated a merger of the Fort Worth and Dallas musicians’ association in 1991, creating the largest entertainment union in the southwest, now headquartered in Arlington.

Mr. Hair pioneered the free-to-attend, continuous, multi-stage festival entertainment format in North Texas in 1985 with Denton Jazzfest, now the Denton Arts and Jazz Festival, and with the Fort Worth Main Street Arts Festival in 1986. Representing the D/FW Musicians Association, he has served as music director for most free-to-attend outdoor music and arts festivals in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, including the Bedford Blues Festival, Arlington’s Pecan Street Festival, Racefest, The Taste of Dallas, Mansfield Music Festival and Feastfest, in addition to the Denton and Fort Worth Arts Festivals.

Mr. Hair serves as a member of the Executive Board of the Tarrant County Central Labor Council and is a former member of the North Central Texas Workforce Development Board.